• 


Lupealux.and  Dcsrochcs 

Photogravure—  From  an  Original  Drawing 


Illustrated  Sterling  Edition 


The  Rise  and  Fall  of  Cesar  Birotteau 


The  Secrets  of  a  Princess 


The  Middle  Classes 

BY 
HONORE  de  BALZAC 


With  Introductions  by 

GEORGE  SAINTSBURY 


BOSTON 
DANA    KSTKS   \:   COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


COPYRIGHTED    1901 
BY 

JOHN  D.   AVIL 


All  Rights  Reserved 


CONTENTS 


PART  I 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION ix 


THE   RISE  AND  FALL    OF  CESAR 
BIROT7EAU: 

(Grandtur  et  Decadence de  Cksar  Birotteau) 

I.    HIS   APOGEE      -  I 

II.    CESAR'S  STRUGGLES  WITH  MISFORTUNE     -  -      171 

THE  SECRETS   OF  A    PRINCESS          •  -  -     325 

• 
(Les  Secrets  de  la  Princes se  de  Cadignan) 

Translator,  ELLEN  MARRIAGE 


PART  II 
INTRODUCTION     .... 

THE  MIDDLE   CLASSES  .... 
(Les  Petits  Bourgeois  :  Translator.  CLARA  BELL) 


TOL.     14—1 


THE  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 


AND 
THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 


INTRODUCTION 

FEW  books  of  Balzac's  have  been  the  subject  of  more  diverse 
judgment  than  Cesar  Birotteau.  From  the  opinion  of  the 
unnamed  solicitor,  who  told  Madame  Serville  that  it  was  an| 
invaluable  work  to  consult  on  bankruptcy,  to  that  of  M.  Paul 
Lacroix  (beloved  of  many  as  the  Bibliophile  Jacob),  that  it 
might  be  forgiven  for  the  sake  of  Le  Pere  Goriot  and  the 
Peau  de  Chagrin,  there  is  not  perhaps  quite  so  great  a  dis- 
tance as  may  appear;  but  other  expressions,  opposed  not 
merely  in  form,  but  in  fact,  might  probably  be  collected. 

As  for  the  unfavorable  division  of  these  opinions  there  is 
no  difficulty  in  discovering  their  causes ;  and  there  should  be 
little,  save  in  the  case  of  blind  partisans,  in  acknowledging 
their  partial  validity.  Although  the  book  opens  with  one  of 
Balzac's  most  brilliant  pieces  of  actual  human  observation — 
the  description  of  the  vague  and  half-delirious  terror  of 
waking  from  a  bad  dream, — and  though  the  subsequent  con- 
versation between  Cesar  and  Constance  has  the  merit  of  no 
vulgar  curtain-lecture,  it  soon  goes  off  into  one  of  those 
endless  retrospective  narrations  which  are  among  the  greatest 
blots  on  the  Comedie,  which  utterly  stop  the  action,  and 
which,  in  the  case  of  very  many  readers  who  are  not  gifted 
with  the  faculty  of  what  may  be  called  literary  mountaineer- 
ing, are  very  likely  to  cause  the  putting  down  of  the  book. 
To  this  initial  difficulty  has  to  be  added  the  choking  of  the 
latter  part  with  those  bankruptcy  details  which  did  so  charm 
the  professional  mind  of  Laure  Balzac's  learned  friend,  and 

(W. 


x  INTRODUCTION 

which,  for  unprofessional  minds,  have  something  which  is 
very  much  the  reverse  of  charm.  The  reader  of  only  moderate 
athletic  powers,  who  has  with  difficulty  struggled  through 
and  up  the  sloughs  and  slopes  of  the  previous  history  of  the 
Birotteau  business,  is  hardly  to  be  blamed  if  he  gives  up  the 
attempt  in  despair  after  some  attempt  on  the  slippery  "screes" 
of  commercial  law  which  Balzac  has  delighted  to  strew  over 
the  higher  ground. 

Complaints  of  these  drawbacks,  I  repeat,  would  be,  and 
are,  just.  Nevertheless,  though  the  list  of  the  faults  of  the 
book  is  not  even  yet  exhausted,  it  will  be  a  very  great  pity 
if  any  one  is  baffled  by  them  and  fails  to  go  through  to  the 
end.  For  Cesar  Birotteau  is  a  book  than  which  none  of  Bal- 
zac's is  more  thoroughly  vecu,  as  his  countrymen  say,  more 
thoroughly  inspired  with  the  personal  sympathies  and  ex- 
periences of  the  author;  and  this  with  Balzac  was  always  a 
guarantee  of  success.  He,  too,  knew  bankruptcy  well,  and 
not  merely  by  his  studies  in  the  lawyer's  office ;  for  though  I 
believe  he  never  actually  "passed  the  court"  (even  his  print- 
ing and  publishing  operations,  disastrous  as  they  were,  termi- 
nated in  arrangements),  he  was  face  to  face  with  it  all  his 
life.  He,  too,  knew  the  attraction,  the  fatal  attraction  of 
une  bonne  affaire,  such  as  he  speaks  of  in  one  of  his  letters — 
une  bonne  affaire  qui  ne  demande  que  cent  mille  francs.  He 
was  perfectly  capable  of  buying  up  all  the  nuts  in  Paris  in 
order  to  make  hair-oil  of  them;  I  should  not  be  at  all  sur- 
prised if  he  had  actually  had  in  view  this  very  speculation. 
And  he  thought  he  knew  the  ways  of  bankers  and  folk  of 
that  kind ;  though,  whether  he  did  or  not,  the  sons  of  Zeruiah 
were  usually  as  much  too  hard  for  him  as  they  were  for 
Birotteau.  Hence  there  is  even  in  the  driest  details,  even  in 


INTRODUCTION  xl 

the  most  long-winded  reportage  of  the  book,  the  throb  of  per- 
sonal interest,  the  pulse  and  pant  of  life. 

The  action  and  characters  also  are  interesting,  if  not,  on 
the  whole,  quite  artistically  probable.  It  will  be  observed 
that  the  hero  does  a  little  underlie  the  constant  objection  of 
the  Devil's  Advocate  to  Balzac,  that  almost  every  one  of  his 
good  characters  is  more  or  less  of  a  fool.  Even  a. keen  man 
of  business  may,  of  course,  be  easily  outwitted  in  a  game 
of  pure  speculation — a  proposition  which  we  need  not  go  to 
France,  or  examine  the  long  list  of  "crashes"  from  the  ficti- 
tious terrains  de  la  Madeleine  to  the  real  Panama,  in  order 
to  establish.  And  a  very  keen  man  of  business  may  be  im- 
prudently expensive  in  a  combined  fit  of  personal  vanity  and 
affection  for  his  family.  But  it  is  a  little  of  a  stretch  on  the 
credulity  of  the  reader  to  represent  a  plodding  tradesman 
like  Birotteau,  who,  as  we  are  expressly  told,  had  an  old- 
fashioned  horror  of  "paper,"  as  not  merely  incurring  large 
speculative  obligations,  but  as  stripping  himself  of  every  rap 
of  ready  money  while  exposing  himself  to  an  unusual  demand 
for  it.  The  picture  of  his  going  a-borrowing  and  a-sorrowing 
is  drawn  with  great  power  and  with  much  vivacity ;  but  here, 
too,  his  simplicity  is  a  thought  exaggerated.  And  Con- 
stance's affection  for,  and  fidelity  to,  an  unattractive  man, 
whom  she  saw  to  be  little  better  than  a  fool,  may  be  thought 
improbable  in  an  ideal  beauty  with  a  clear  head,  while  some 
may  even  say  that  ideal  beauties  are  almost  always  extremely 
stupid.  Yet,  again,  in  Cesarine,  Momus  may  point  to  that 
superficiality  and  vagueness  which  usually,  if  not  always, 
mar  Balzac's  treatment  of  an  "honest"  girl. 

Yet  these  things  will  not,  any  more  than  those  formerly 
mentioned,  make  any  fair  or  genial  judge  give  up  the  book  to 


Xii  INTRODUCTION 

a  lower  class  than  that  of  Balzac's  best,  if  not  of  his  very  best. 
Whatever  faults  Birotteau  may  have,  his  goodness  and  his 
probity  and,  let  us  add  (though  it  be  a  little  illegitimate), 
his  tragic  end,  make  him  one  of  the  author's  most  sympa- 
thetic personages,  as  are  also  his  wife  and  daughter.  If 
Popjnot  is  rather  the  virtuous  apprentice  of  the  stage,  and 
Du  Tillet.  the  wicked  ditto,  who  is  not  punished,  the  former 
is  at  least  attractive ;  and  Pillerault,  the  good  uncle,  certainly 
cannot  be  accused  of  foolishness.  All  the  minor  figures 
come  in  well  for  the  action  whenever  Balzac  will  let  them 
act,  and  not  be  talking  himself;  and  even  the  bankruptcy 
affair  acquires  a  sort  of  interest  from  the  rapidity  and  bustle 
of  its  conduct.  As  for  the  ball — that  famous  and  elaborate 
instance  of  the  penalties  and  disappointments  of  elaborately 
engineered  and  anticipated  pleasure — it  is  excellent.  Nor 
should  we  close  without  special  commendation  for  Claparon, 
a  less  labored  personage  than  some  of  the  author's,  but  a  very 
happy  sketch  of  rascality  which  is  not  exactly  scoundrelism, 
because,  though  entirely  unscrupulous,  it  is  not  in  the  least 
malign. 

The  book  was  originally  published  after  a  fashion  not  un- 
common in  France,  but,  I  think,  hardly,  if  at  all,  known  in 
England,  with  no  publisher's  name,  and  not  for  sale,  but  as  a 
bonus  jointly  given  by  the  Figaro  and  the  Estafette  to  their 
subscribers  for  1838.  It  bore  that  date,  but  was  actually 
issued  in  November  1837.  In  this  form  it  had  two  volumes, 
three  parts  (the  present  two,  and  a  third,  Le  Triomphe  de 
Cesar),  and  sixteen  chapters  with  headings.  Eepublished  by 
Charpentier  in  1839,  it  lost  the  chapter-,  but  kept  the  part- 
headings,  the  last  being  omitted  when  it  became  a  Scene  de  la 
Vie  Parisienne  in  the  general  arrangement  of  the  Comedie 
(1844). 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

Les  Secrets  de  la  Princesse  de  Cadignan  is,  or  rather  is  part 
of,  one  of  Balzac's  most  remarkable  fictitious  creations — the 
history  of  Diane  de  Maufrigneuse.  This  lady,  who  pervades  at 
least  a  dozen  of  the  stories,  shorter  and  longer,  is  the  subject 
of  dispute  between  those  who  say  that  Balzac's  grandes  dames 
are  rather  creatures  of  the  stage  and  of  the  inner  conscious- 
ness than  of  life,  and  those  who,  as  the  saying  is,  take  them 
for  gospel.  The  latter  do  not  seem  to  bring  forward  any 
argument  except  Balzac's  greatness  and  a  certain  fascination 
about  the  personage.  The  former,  besides  dwelling  on  the 
obvious  touches  of  exaggeration  in  the  portrait,  ask  what  op- 
portunity Balzac  had  of  really  acquainting  himself  with  the 
ways  and  manners  of  the  Faubourg  Saint-Germain  ?  They 
admit  the  competence  of  the  Duchesse  de  Castries,  but  point 
out  that  he  did  not  know  her  very  long;  that  he  was  to  all 
appearance  in  the  position,  dangerous  for  a  faithful  portrait- 
painter,  of  having  been  taken  up  and  dropped  by  her ;  and 
that  she  was,  so  far  as  is  known,  his  only  intimate  or  much- 
frequented  acquaintance  of  the  kind.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
argue  this  question  at  length.  The  piece,  however,  has  the 
special  interest  of  having  been  at  first  dedicated  to  Theophile 
Gautier.  It  was  written  at  Les  Jardies  in  June  1839,  and 
first  appeared  two  months  afterwards  in  the  Presse,  under  the 
title  of  La  Princesse  Parisienne.  This  it  kept  when  it  ap- 
peared next  year  in  volume  form,  published  by  Souverain, 
but  forming  part  of  a  collection  entitled  Lc  Foyer  de  V  Optra. 
In  both  these  forms  it  was  divided  into  eight  chapters,  with 
titles  in  the  newspaper,  without  them  in  the  book.  In  1844, 
when  it  entered  the  Comedie  as  a  Scdne  de  la  Vie  Parisienne, 
it  lost  its  old  divisions  and  took  its  present  title. 

G.  S. 


THE  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR 
BIROTTEAU 

Eetail  Perfumer, 

|  Deputy-Mayor  of  the  Second  Arrondissement,  Paris,  Chev- 
alier of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  etc. 

To  Monsieur  Alphonse  de  Lamartine, 
from  his  admirer, 

De  Balzac. 

I. 

CESAR'S  APOGEE 

THERE  is  but  one  brief  interval  of  silence  during  a  winter 
night  in  the  Hue  Saint-Honore ;  for  to  the  sounds  of  carriages 
rolling  home  from  balls  and  theatres  succeeds  the  rumbling 
of  market  gardeners'  carts  on  their  way  to  the  Great  Market. 
During  this  pause  in  the  great  symphony  of  uproar  sent  up 
by  the  streets  of  Paris,  this  cessation  of  traffic  towards  one 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  wife  of  M.  Cesar  Birotteau,  of 
the  retail  perfumery  establishment  near  the  Place  Vendome, 
dreamed  a  frightful  dream,  and  awoke  with  a  start. 

She  had  met  her  double.  She  had  appeared  to  herself, 
clad  in  rags,  laying  a  meagre,  shriveled  hand  on  her  own  shop- 
door  handle.  She  had  been  at  once  in  her  chair  at  the  cash 
desk  and  on  the  threshold;  she  had  heard  herself  begging; 
she  had  heard  two  selves  speaking  in  fact,  the  one  from  the 
desk,  the  other  from  the  doorstep.  She  turned  and  stretched 
out  her  hand  for  her  husband,  and  found  his  place  cold.  At 
that  her  terror  grew  to  such  a  pitch  that  she  could  not  move 
her  head,  her  neck  seemed  stiffened  to  stone,  the  walls  of  her 
throat  were  glued  together,  her  voice  failed  her;  she  sat  up 

(1) 


2  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

rigid  and  motionless,  staring  before  her  with  wide  eyes.  Her 
hair  rose  with  a  painful  sensation,  strange  sounds  rang  in  her 
ears,  something  clutched  at  her  heart  though  it  beat  hard,  she 
was  covered  with  perspiration,  and  yet  shuddering  with  cold 
in  the  alcove  behind  the  two  open  folding  doors. 
•  Fear,  with  its  partially  morbific  effects,  is  an  emotion  which 
puts  so  violent  a  strain  upon  the  human  mechanism,  that  the 
mental  faculties  are  either  suddenly  stimulated  by  it  to  the 
highest  degree  of  activity,  or  reduced  to  the  last  extremity 
of  disorganization.  Physiology  has  long  been  puzzled  to  ac- 

1  count  for  a  phenomenon  which  upsets  its  theories  and  stulti- 
fies its  hypotheses,  although  it  is  simply  and  solely  a  shock 

.  brought  about  spontaneously,  but,  like  all  electrical  phenom- 
ena, erratic  and  unaccountable  in  its  manifestations.  This 
explanation  will  become  a  commonplace  when  men  of  science 
will  recognize  the  great  part  played  by  electricity  in  human 
thinking  power. 

Mme.  Birotteau  was  just  then  enduring  the  pangs  which 
bring  about  a  certain  mental  lucidity  consequent  on  those 
terrible  discharges  when  the  will  is  contracted  or  expanded 
by  a  mysterious  mechanism.  So  that,  during  a  lapse  of  time, 
exceedingly  short  if  measured  by  the  tickings  of  a  clock,  but 
incommensurable  by  reason  of  the  infinite  rapid  impressions 
which  it  brought,  the  poor  woman  had  the  prodigious  power 
of  uttering  more  thoughts  and  of  calling  up  more  memories 
than  would  have  arisen  in  her  mind  in  its  normal  state  in  the 
course  of  a  whole  day.  Her  soliloquy  during  this  vivid  and 
painful  experience  may  be  resumed  in  a  few  words  she 
uttered,  incongruous  and  nonsensical  as  they  were : — 

"There  is  no  reason  whatever  why  Birotteau  should  be  out 

i  of  bed. — He  ate  so  much  veal ;  perhaps  it  disagreed  with  him. 
— But  if  he  had  been  taken  ill,  he  would  have  waked  me  up. 
— These  nineteen  years  that  we  have  slept  here  together  under 
this  roof,  he  has  never  got  up  in  the  middle  of  the  night  with-' 
out  telling  me,  poor  dear! — He  has  never  slept  out  except 
when  he  was  on  guard. — Did  he  go  to  bed  when  I  did  ?  Why, 
yes.  Dear  me !  how  stupid  I  am 1" 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  3 

She  glanced  over  the  bed.  There  lay  her  husband's  night- 
cap, moulded  to  the  almost  conical  shape  of  his  head. 

"Can  he  be  dead? — Can  he  have  made  away  with  him- 
self?— Why  should  he?"  she  thought.  "Since  they  made 
him  deputy-mayor  two. years  ago,  I  haven't  known  what  to 
make  of  him. — To  get  mixed  up  with  public  affairs,  on  the 
word  of  an  honest  woman,  isn't  it  enough  to  make  you  feel 
sorry  for  a  man? — The  business  is  doing  well. — He  has  just 
given  me  a  shawl. — Perhaps  it  is  doing  badly ! — Pshaw !  I 
should  know  of  it  if  it  were. — But  is  there  any  knowing  what 
is  in  the  bottom  of  a  man's  mind?  Or  a  woman's  either? 
There  is  no  harm  in  that. — Haven't  sales  amounted  to  five 
thousand  francs  this  very  day! — And  then  a  deputy-mayor 
is  not  likely  to  kill  himself;  he  knows  the  law  too  well  for 
that. — But  where  can  he  be  ?" 

She  had  no  power  to  turn  her  head;  she  could  not  stretch 
out  a  hand  to  the  bell-rope,  which  would  have  set  in  motion  a 
general  servant,  three  shopmen,  and  the  errand  boy.  The 
nightmare  that  lasted  on  into  her  waking  moments  was  so 
strong  upon  her  that  she  forgot  her  daughter,  peacefully  sleep- 
ing in  the  next  room,  beyond  the  door  which  opened  at  the 
foot  of  the  bed. 

"Birotteau!"  She  received  no  answer.  She  fancied  that 
she  had  called  aloud,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  she  had  only 
spoken  in  her  thoughts. 

"Suppose  he  should  have  a  mistress?  But  he  has  not  wit 
enough  for  that,"  she  thought,  "and  then  he  is  too  fond  of 
me. — Didn't  he  tell  Mme.  Eoguin  that  he  had  never  been  un- 
faithful to  me,  even  in  thought? — Why,  the  man  is  honesty 
itself ! — If  any  one  deserves  to  go  to  heaven,  he  does. — What 
he  finds  to  say  to  his  confessor,  I  don't  know.  He  tells  him 
make-believes. — For  a  Eoyalist  as  he  is  (without  any  reason 
to  give  for  it,  by  the  by),  he  does  not  make  much  of  a  puff 
of  his  religion. — Poor  dear,  he  slips  out  to  mass  at  eight 
o'clock  as  if  he  were  running  off  to  amuse  himself  on  the  sly. 
It  is  the  fear  of  God  that  he  has  before  his  eyes ;  he  does  not 
trouble  himself  much  about  hell.  How  should  he  have  a 


4  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

mistress?  He  keeps  so  close  to  my  apron-strings  that  I  get 
tired  of  it.  He  loves  me  like  the  apple  of  his  eye ;  he  would 
put  out  his  eyes  for  me. — All  these  nineteen  years  he  has 
never  spoken  a  harsh  word  to  myself. — I  come  before  his 
daughter  with  him. — Why,  Cesarine  is  there  .  .  .  (Cesarine! 
Cesarine!) — Birotteau  never  has  a  thought  that  he  does  not 
tell  me. — It  was  a  true  word  he  said  when  he  came  to  the  sign 
of  the  Little  Sailor  and  told  me  that  it  would  take  time  to 
know  him.  And  he's  gone !  .  .  .  that  is  the  extraor- 
dinary thing!" 

She  turned  her  head  with  an  effort,  and  peered  into  the 
darkness.  Night  filled  the  room  with  picturesque  effects, 
the  despair  of  language,  the  exclusive  province  of  the  painter 
of  genre.  What  words  could  reproduce  the  whimsical  shapes 
that  the  curtains  took  as  the  draught  swelled  them,  or  the 
startling  zigzag  shadows  that  they  cast?  The  dim  night- 
light  flickered  over  the  red  cotton  folds;  the  brass  rosette  of 
the  curtain-rest  reflected  the  crimson  gleams  from  a  central 
boss,  bloodshot  like  a  robber's  eyes ;  a  ghostly  gown  was  kneel- 
ing there;  the  room  was  filled,  in  fact,  with  all  the  strange, 
unfamiliar  appearances  which  appall  the  imagination  at  a 
time  when  it  can  only  see  horrors  and  exaggerate  them. 

Mme.  Birotteau  fancied  that  she  saw  a  bright  light  in  the 
next  room,  and  a  thought  of  fire  flashed  across  her;  but  she 
caught  sight  of  a  red  bandana  handkerchief,  which  looked 
to  her  like  a  pool  of  blood,  and  in  another  moment  she  dis- 
covered traces  of  a  struggle  in  the  arrangement  of  the  furni- 
ture, and  could  think  of  nothing  but  burglars.  She  remem- 
bered that  there  was  a  sum  of  money  in  the  safe,  and  a  gen- 
erous fear  extinguished  the  cold  ague  of  nightmare.  Thor- 
oughly alarmed,  she  sprang  out  on  to  the  floor  in  her  night- 
dress, to  go  to  the  assistance  of  the  husband  whom  she  fancied 
as  engaged  in  a  hand-to-hand  conflict  with  assassins. 

"Birotteau !     Birotteau !"  she  cried  in  a  voice  of  anguish. 

The  retail  perfumer  was  standing  in  the  middle  of  the 
adjacent  room,  apparently  engaged  in  measuring  the  air 
with  a  yard  stick.  His  dressing-gown  (of  green  cotton, 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  6 

with  chocolate-colored  spots)  covered  him  so  ill  that  his  bare 
legs  were  red  with  the  cold,  but  he  did  not  seem  to  notice  this. 

\yhen  Cesar  turned  round  with  a  "Well,  what  is  it,  Con- 
stance?" he  looked  as  a  man  absorbed  by  his  schemes  is  apt 
to  look — so  ludicrously  foolish,  that  Mme.  Birotteau  began 
to  laugh. 

"Dear  me,  Cesar,  how  queer  you  look !"  said  she.  "What 
made  you  leave  me  alone  without  saying  anything?  I 
nearly  died  of  fright.  I  did  not  know  what  to  think.  What 
are  you  after,  open  to  every  wind  that  blows  ?  You  will  catch 
your  death  of  cold.  Birotteau !  do  you  hear  ?" 

"Yes,  wife;  here  I  am,"  and  the  perfumer  returned  to  the 
bedroom. 

"There,  come  along  and  warm  yourself,  and  tell  me  what 
crotchet  you  have  in  your  head,"  returned  Mme.  Birotteau, 
raking  among  the  ashes,  which  she  hastily  tried  to  rekindle. 
"1  am  frozen.  How  stupid  it  was  of  me  to  get  up  in  my 
night-dress !  But  I  really  thought  you  were  being  murdered." 

The  merchant  set  down  the  bedroom  candlestick  on  the 
chimney-piece,  huddled  himself  in  his  dressing-gown,  and 
looked  about  in  an  absent  fashion  for  his  wife's  flannel  petti- 
coat. 

"Here,  pussie,  just  put  this  on,"  said  he.     "Twenty-two 

by  eighteen "  he  added,  continuing  his  soliloquy.     "We 

could  have  a  magnificent  drawing-room." 

"Look  here !  Birotteau,  you  seem  to  be  in  a  fair  way  to  lose, 
your  wits.  Are  you  dreaming?" 

"No;  I  am  thinking,  wife." 

"Then  you  might  wait ;  your  follies  will  keep  till  daylight 
at  any  rate,"  cried  she,  and,  fastening  her  petticoat  under 
her  sleeping  jacket,  she  went  to  open  the  door  of  their  daugh- 
ter's room. 

"Cesarine  is  fast  asleep.  She  will  not  hear  a  word. 
Come,  Birotteau,  tell  me  about  it.  What  is  it?" 

"We  can  give  the  ball." 

"Qive  a  ball !  We  give  a  ball !  My  dear !  on  the  word 
of  an  honest  woman,  you  are  dreaming !" 

"Dreaming?  not  a  bit  of  it,  darling. 
»•    2 


6  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Listen ;  you  should  always  do  your  duty  according  to  your 
station  in  life.  Now  the  Government  has  brought  me  into 
prominence,  I  belong  to  the  Government,  and  it  is  incum- 
bent upon  us  to  study  its  spirit  and  to  forward  its  aims 
by  developing  them.  The  Due  de  Richelieu  has  just  put  an 
end  to  the  occupation  of  the  Allied  troops.  According  to  M. 
de  la  Billardiere,  official  functionaries  who  represent  the  city 
of  Paris  ought  to  regard  it  as  a  duty — each  in  his  own  sphere 
of  influence — to  celebrate  the  liberation  of  French  soil.  Let 
us  establish  beyond  proof  a  genuine  patriotism  which  shall 
put  those  accursed  schemers  that  call  themselves  Liberals  to 
the  blush,  eh  ?  Do  you  think  that  I  do  not  love  my  country  ? 
I  mean  to  show  the  Liberals  and  my  enemies  that  to  love  the 
King  is  to  love  France !" 

"Then  do  you  think  that  you  have  enemies,  my  poor 
Birotteau?" 

.  "Why,  yes,  we  have  enemies,  wife.  And  half  our  friends 
in  the  quarter  are  among  them.  They  all  say,  'Birotteau 
has  such  luck ;  Birotteau  was  once  a  nobody,  and  look  at  him 
now!  He  is  deputy-mayor;  everything  has  prospered  with 
him.'  Very  well ;  there  is  a  nice  disappointment  still  in  store 
for  them.  You  should  be  the  first  to  hear  that  I  am  a  Cheva- 
lier of  the  Legion  of  Honor;  the  King  signed  the  patent 
yesterday !" 

"Oh !  well  then,  dear,  we  must  give  the  ball,"  cried  Mme. 
Birotteau,  greatly  excited.  "But  what  can  you  have  done 
so  great  as  to  have  the  Cross?" 

Birotteau  was  embarrassed. 

"When  M.  de  la  Billardiere  told  me  about  it  yesterday," 
said  he,  "I  asked  myself,  just  as  you  did,  what  claim  I  had  to 
it.  But,  after  thinking  it  over,  I  saw  that  I  deserved  it,  and 
ended  by  approving  the  action  of  the  Government.  To  begin 
with,  I  am  a  Royalist,  and  I  was  wounded  at  Saint-Roch  in 
Vendemiaire;  it  is  something,  isn't  it,  to  have  borne  arms 
for  the  good  cause  in  those  times?  Then  some  of  the  mer- 
chants think  that  the  way  I  discharged  my  duties  as  arbi- 
trator at  the  Consular  Tribunal  had  given  general  satisfac- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  1 

lion;  and  lastly,  I  am  a  deputy-mayor,  and  the  King  is  dis- 
tributing four  Crosses  among  the  municipal  authorities  in 
the  city  of  Paris.  After  they  had  gone  into  the  claims  of  the 
deputy-mayors  for  a  decoration,  the  Prefect  put  me  down 
at  the  top  of  the  list.  The  King,  too,  is  sure  to  know  my 
name;  thanks  to  old  Kagon,  I  supply  him  with  the  only  hair 
powder  he  will  use ;  no  one  else  has  the  recipe  -for  the  powder 
the  late  Queen  used  to  wear,  poor  dear  august  victim !  The 
Mayor  hacked  me  up  with  all  his  might.  What  was  I  to 
do?  If  the  King  gives  me  the  Cross  when  I  don't  ask  him 
for  it,  it  looks  to  me  as  if  I  could  not  decline  it  without  fail- 
ing in  respect.  Was  it  my  doing  that  I  was  made  a  deputy- 
mayor?  So  as  we  have  the  wind  in  our  sails,  wife,  as  your 
uncle  Pillerault  says  when  he  is  in  a  joking  humor,  I  have 
made  up  my  mind  that  we  must  live  up  to  our  high  position. 
If  I  am  to  be  somebody,  I  will  have  a  try  at  being  whatever 
Providence  meant  me  to  be;  a  sub-prefect,  if  such  is  my 
destiny.  And  you  make  a  great  mistake,  wife,  when  you 
imagine  that  a  citizen  has  discharged  all  the  duty  he  owes 
his  country  when  he  has  supplied  his  customers  with  scent 
across  the  counter  for  a  score  of  years.  If  the  State  de- 
mands the  co-operation  of  our  intelligence,  we  are  as  much 
bound  to  give  it,  as  to  pay  succession  duty,  or  the  door  and 
window  tax,  et  cetera.  Do  you  want  to  sit  at  your  desk  all 
your  life?  You  have  been  there  a  pretty  long  time  (God 
be  thanked).  The  ball  will  be  a  private  fete  of  our  own. 
No  more  of  the  shop;  for  you,  that  is.  I  shall  burn  the 
signboard  The  Queen  of  Roses,  and  the  words  CESAR  BIROT- 
TEAU (LATE  KAGON),  EETAIL  PERFUMER,  shall  be  painted 
out  on  the  shop-front.  I  shall  simply  put  up  PERFUMERY 
in  big  gold  letters  instead.  There  will  be  room  on  the  mez- 
zanine floor  for  a  cash  desk  and  the  safe,  and  a  nice  little 
room  for  you.  I  shall  make  the  back-shop  and  the  present 
dining-room  and  kitchen  into  a  warehouse.  Then  I  mean 
to  take  the  first  floor  next  door,  and  make  a  way  into  it 
through  the  wall.  The  staircase  must  be  altered  so  that 
we  can  walk  on  the  level  out  of  one  house  and  into  the 


8  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

other.  We  shall  have  a  fine  set  of  rooms  then,  furnished 
up  to  the  nines. 

"Yes.  I  will  have  your  room  done  up,  and  contrive  a 
boudoir  for  you,  and  C6sarine  shall  have  a  pretty  room. 
You  must  engage  a  young  lady  for  the  shop,  and  she  and 
the  assistant  and  your  waiting-maid  (yes,  madame,  you 
shall  have  a  waiting-maid)  shall  have  rooms  on  the  second 
floor.  The  kitchen  must  be  on  the  third  floor.  The  cook 
and  the  errand-boy  shall  be  lodged  up  there,  and  we  will 
keep  the  stock  of  bottles,  and  flasks  and  china  on  the  fourth. 
The  workrooms  can  be  in  the  attics,  so  when  people  come 
in  they  will  not  see  bottles  being  filled  and  stoppered  and 
labeled,  nor  sachets  being  made.  That  sort  of  thing  is  all 
very  well  for  the  Rue  Saint-Denis,  but  it  won't  do  in  the 
Eue  Saint-Honore !  Bad  style.  Our  shop  ought  to  be  as 
snug  as  a  drawing-room.  Just  tell  me  this :  are  we  the  only 
perfumers  who  have  come  in  for  honors?  Aren't  there 
vinegar  makers  and  mustard  manufacturers  who  have  a 
command  in.  the  National  Guard,  and  are  well  looked  on  at 
the  Tuileries?  Let  us  do  as  they  do,  and  extend  the  busi- 
ness, at  the  same  time  making  our  way  in  society." 

"One  moment,  Birotteau.  Do  you  know  what  I  think 
while  I  hear  you  talk?  Well,  to  me,  it  is  just  as  if  a  man 
was  starting  out  on  a  wild-goose  chase.  Don't  you  remem- 
ber what  I  told  you  when  there  was  talk  of  your  being  made 
mayor?  A  quiet  life  before  all  things,  I  said;  you  are  about 
as  fit  for  public  life  as  my  arm  for  a  windmill  sail.  Grand 
doings  will  be  the  ruin  of  you. 

"You  did  not  listen  to  me;  and  here  the  ruin  has  come 
upon  us.  If  you  are  going  to  take  part  in  politics,  you  must 
have  money ;  and  have  we  money  ?  What !  you  mean  to  burn 
the  signboard  that  cost  six  hundred  francs,  and  give  up  the 
Queen  of  Roses  and  your  real  glory?  Leave  ambition  to 
other  people.  If  you  put  your  hand  in  the  fire,  you  get 
singed,  don't  you?  Politics  are  very  hot  nowadays.  We 
have  a  hundred  thousand  francs  good  money  invested  out- 
side the  business,  the  stock,  and  the  factory,  have  we?  If 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  9 

you  have  a  mind  to  increase  it,  do  now  as  you  did  in  1793. 
The  funds  are  at  seventy-two,  buy  rentes;  you  would  have 
ten  thousand  livres  a  year  coming  in  without  drawing  any- 
thing out  of  the  business.  Then  take  advantage  of  the 
transfer  to  marry  our  Cesarine,  sell  the  business,  and  let 
us  go  and  live  in  your  part  of  the  world.  Why,  any  time 
for  these  fifteen  years  you  have  talked  of  buying  the  Treas- 
ury Farm,  that  nice  little  place  near  Chinon,  with  streams, 
and  meadows,  and  woods,  and  vineyards,  and  crofts.  It 
would  bring  you  in  a  thousand  crowns  a  year,  and  we  both 
of  us  like  the  house.  It  is  still  to  be  had  for  sixty  thou- 
sand crowns,  and  my  gentleman  must  meddle  and  make  in 
politics,  must  he? 

"Just  remember  what  we  are — we  are  perfumers.  Six- 
teen years  ago,  before  you  thought  of  the  Superfine  Pate 
des  Sultanes  and  the  Carminative  Toilet  Lotion,  if  any  one 
had  come  and  said  to  you,  'You  will  have  money  enough 
to  buy  the  Treasury  Farm,'  wouldn't  you  have  been  wild 
with  joy?  Very  well;  and  now,  when  you  can  buy  the 
property  which  you  wanted  so  much  that  you  talked  of 
nothing  else  every  time  that  you  opened  your  mouth,  you 
begin  to  talk  of  squandering  the  money  that  we  have  earned 
by  the  sweat  of  our  brows,  ours  I  may  say,  for  all  along  I 
have  sat  there  at  the  desk  like  a  dog  in  a  kennel.  Now,  in- 
stead of  turning  five  halfpence  into  six  farthings,  and  six 
farthings  into  nothing  at  all,  wouldn't  it  be  better  to  have 
a  daughter  married  to  a  notary  in  Paris,  and  a  house  that 
you  can  stay  at,  and  to  spend  eight  months  in  the  year  at 
Chinon? 

''Wait  till  the  funds  rise.  You  can  give  your  daughter 
eight  thousand  livres  a  year;  we  will  keep  two  thousand  for 
ourselves,  and  the  sale  of  the  business  will  pay  for  the 
Treasury  Farm.  We  will  take  the  furniture  down  into  the 
country,  dear,  it  is  quite  worth  while,  and  there  we  can  live 
like  princes,  while  here  one  must  have  at  least  a  million  to 
cut  a  figure." 

"That  is  just  what   I   expected,"   said   Cesar   Birotteau, 


10  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Oh !  you  think  I  am  very  foolish,  no  doubt,  but  I  am  not 
so  foolish  but  that  I  have  looked  at  the  thing  all  round.  At- 
tend to  what  I  am  going  to  say.  Alexandra  Crottat  is  a 
son-in-law  that  would  suit  us  to  a  T,  and  he  will  have  Ro- 
guin's  practice;  but  do  you  imagine  that  he  would  be  satis- 
fied with  a  hundred  thousand  francs?  (always  supposing 
that  we  pay  down  all  our  ready  money  when  we  marry  our 
daughter;  and  I  am  of  that  way  of  thinking,  for  I  would 
have  nothing  but  dry  bread  for  the  rest  of  my  days  to  see 
her  as  happy  as  a  queen  and  the  wife  of  a  Paris  notary,  as 
you  say.)  Very  well,  but  a  hundred  thousand  francs  down, 
or  even  eight  thousand  francs  of  rentes,  would  go  no  way 
towards  buying  Roguin's  practice. 

"Young  Xandrot  (as  we  call  him)  thinks,  like  every- 
body else,  that  we  are  a  great  deal  richer  than  we  are.  If 
that  father  of  his,  a  rich  farmer  who  sticks  to  his  property 
like  a  leech,  does  not  sell  something  like  a  hundred  thou- 
sand francs  worth  of  land,  Xandrot  will  not  be  a  notary, 
for  Roguin's  practice  is  worth  four  or  five  hundred  thou- 
sand francs.  If  Crottat  does  not  pay  half  the  money  down, 
how  will  he  manage  the  business?  Cesarine  ought  to  have 
a  portion  of  two  hundred  thousand  francs,  and  we  should 
retire  like  decent  citizens  of  Paris  on  fifteen  thousand 
livres  a  year  in  the  funds;  that  is  what  I  should  like.  If  I 
could  make  you  see  all  this  as  clear  as  daylight,  you  would 
have  nothing  left  to  say  for  yourself,  eh  ?" 

"Oh !  if  you  have  the  wealth  of  the  Indies " 

"So  I  have,  darling.  Yes/'  he  put  his  arm  round  his 
wife's  waist,  and  tapped  her  gently  with  his  fingers,  im- 
pelled by  the  joy  that  shone  from  every  feature  of  his  face. 
"I  did  not  want  to  say  a  word  about  this  to  you  till  the 
thing  was  ripe,  but,  faith !  to-morrow  perhaps  it  will  be 
settled.  This  it  is. 

"Roguin  has  been  proposing  a  business  speculation  to  me, 
so  safe  that  he  and  one  or  two  of  his  clients,  and  Ragon,  and 
your  uncle  Pillerault,  are  going  into  it.  We  are  to  buy 
some  building  land  near  the  Madeleine.  Roguin  thinks 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  11 

that  we  can  buy  it  now  for  a  quarter  of  the  price  it  will  fetch, 
in  three  years'  time  when  the  leases  will  be  out,  and  we 
shall  be  free  to  exploit  it.  There  are  six  of  us;  each  agrees 
to  take  so  much;  I  am  finding  three  hundred  thousand 
francs  for  the  purchase  of  three-eighths.  If  any  of  us  are 
short  of  money,  Roguin  will  advance  it,  taking  a  mortgage 
on  the  share  of  the  land  as  security.  Pillerault,  old  Ragon, 
and  I  are  going  to  take  half  of  it  among  us;  but  I  want  to 
have  it  registered  in  my  name,  so  as  to  keep  hold  of  the 
handle  of  the  pan  and  see  how  the  fish  are  frying.  Roguin 
himself,  under  the  name  of  M.  Charles  Claparon,  will  be 
joint-owner  with  me ;  he  will  give  a  guarantee  to  each  of  his 
partners,  and  I  shall  do  the  same  with  mine.  The  deeds 
of  purchase  will  be  private  deeds  until  we  have  all  the  lands 
in  our  hands.  Roguin  will  look  into  it,  and  see  which  of  the 
purchases  must  be  completed,  for  he  is  not  sure  that  we  can 
dispense  with  intermediary  registration,  and  yet  transfer  a 
separate  title  to  the  buyers  when  we  break  up  the  estate  into 
separate  lots ;  but  it  would  take  too  long  to  explain  it  to  you. 

"When  the  building  land  has  been  paid  for,  we  shall  have 
nothing  to  do  but  fold  our  arms,  and  in  three  years'  time 
we  shall  have  a  million.  Cesarine  will  be  twenty  years  old, 
we  shall  have  sold  the  business,  and  then,  God  willing,  we 
will  go  modestly  toward  greatness." 

"Well,  but  where  are  the  three  hundred  thousand  francs 
to  come  from?"  asked  Mme.  Birotteau. 

"My  dear  little  woman,  you  know  nothing  of  business. 
There  are  the  hundred  thousand  francs  in  Roguin's  hands; 
I  will  pay  them  down.  Then  I  shall  borrow  forty  thou-t 
sand  francs  on  the  buildings  and  the  land  that  our  factory 
stands  on,  over  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple,  and  we  have 
^twenty  thousand  francs  in  bills  and  acceptances  in  the  port- 
folio— altogether  that  makes  a  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 
francs.  There  remain  a  hundred  and  forty-thousand  francs 
to  be  raised;  I  will  draw  bills  to  the  order  of  M.  Charles 
Claparon  the  banker;  he  -will  advance  the  money,  less  the 
discount.  And  there  are  our  three  hundred  thousand 


12  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

francs ;  and  you  don't  owe  an  account  until  it  is  due.  When 
the  bills  fall  due,  we  shall  be  ready  for  them,  with  the  profits 
of  the  business.  If  we  should  find  any  difficulty  in  meeting 
them,  Roguin  would  lend  me  the  money  at  five  per  cent  on  a 
mortgage  on  my  share  of  the  building  land.  But  there  is 
no  need  to  borrow.  I  have  discovered  a  specific  for  making 
the  hair  grow,  a  Comagen  oil.  Livingston  has  put  up  a 
hydraulic  press  for  me  down  yonder  for  the  hazel-nuts;  all 
the  oil  should  be  squeezed  out  at  once  under  such  strong 
pressure.  In  a  year's  time  the  probabilities  are  that  I  shall 
have  made  a  hundred  thousand  francs  at  least.  I  am  thinking 
about  a  placard  with  Down  with  Wigs!  for  a  heading.  It 
would  make  a  prodigious  sensation.  You  don't  notice  how 
I  lie  awake.  These  three  months  past  Macassar  Oil  has  not 
let  me  sleep.  I  mean  to  do  for  Macassar!" 

"So  these  are  the  fine  plans  that  have  been  running  in 
your  head  for  a  couple  of  months,  and  not  a  word  to  me 
about  them.  And  I  have  just  seen  myself  begging  at  my 
own  door ;  what  a  warning  from  Heaven !  There  will  be 
nothing  left  to  us  after  a  while  except  our  eyes  to  cry  with 
over  our  troubles.  Never  shall  you  do  it  so  long  as  I  am 
alive;  do  you  hear,  Cesar?  There  is  some  underhand  work 
somewhere  that  you  do  not  see;  you  are  so  straightforward 
and  honest  that  you  don't  suspect  others  of  cheating.  What 
makes  them  come  to  offer  you  millions?  You  are  giving 
bills;  you  are  going  beyond  your  means;  and  how  if  the  Oil 
does  not  take?  Suppose  that  the  money  does  not  come  in, 
— suppose  that  you  do  not  sell  the  building  lots,  how  are  you 
going  to  meet  the  bills?  With  the  hazel-nut  shells?  You 
want  to  rise  in  the  world ;  you  don't  intend  to  have  your 
name  over  your  own  shop-door  any  longer;  you  mean  to 
take  down  the  sign — the  Queen  of  Roses — and  yet  you  are 
making  up  rigmaroles  of  prospectuses  and  placards,  and 
Cesar  Birotteau's  name  will  be  posted  up  at  every  street- 
corner,  and  all  over  the  hoardings,  wherever  there  is  build- 
ing going  on." 

"Oh,   no   such  thing!     I   shall  open   a   branch  business 


RISE  AND  FALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  13 

under  the  name  of  Popinot.  I  shall  take  a  shop  somewhere 
near  the  Rue  des  Lombards,  and  put  in  young  Anselme 
Popinot  to  look  after  it.  I  shall  pay  a  debt  of  gratitude 
which  we  owe  to  M.  and  Mme.  Ragon  by  starting  their 
nephew  in  a  business  that  may  make  his  fortune.  The  poor 
Eagons  have  looked  very  seedy  for  some  time  past,  I  have 
thought." 

"There !  those  people  are  after  your  money." 
"Why,  what  people,  my  charmer?  Your  own  uncle,  who 
loves  us  like  his  own  life,  and  comes  to  dine  here  every  Sun- 
day? Then  there  is  that  kind  old  Ragon,  our  predecessor, 
who  plays  boston  with  us;  old  Ragon,  with  a  record  of  forty 
years  of  fair  dealing.  And  lastly,  do  you  mean  Roguin,  a 
notary  of  Paris,  a  man  of  fifty,  who  has  been  in  practice  for 
twenty-five  years?  A  notary  of  Paris  would  be  the  best  of 
the  bunch  if  all  honest  folk  were  not  equally  good.  My 
partners  will  help  me  out  at  a  pinch.  Where  is  the  plot,, 
darling? — Look  here,  I  must  give  you  a  piece  of  my  mind. 
On  my  word  as  an  honest  man,  it  weighs  upon  me. — You 
have  always  been  as  suspicious  as  a  cat !  As  soon  as  we  had 
two  pennyworth  of  goods  in  the  shop,  you  began  to  think 
that  the  customers  were  thieves. — A  man  has  to  go  down 
on  his  knees  to  beg  and  pray  of  you  to  allow  your  fortune 
to  be  made.  For  a  daughter  of  Paris,  you  have  scarcely  any 
ambition!  If  it  were  not  for  your  eternal  fears,  there 
would  not  be  a  happier  man  than  I  am. — If  I  had  listened 
to  you,  I  should  never  have  made  the  Pate  des  Sultanes  nor 
the  Carminative  Toilet  Lotion.  We  have  made  a  living  out 
of  the  shop,  but  it  was  those  two  discoveries  and  our  soaps 
that  brought  in  the  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  francs 
which  we  have  over  and  above  the  business! — But  for  my 
genius,  for  I  have  talent  as  a  perfumer,  we  should  be  petty 
shopkeepers,  hard  put  to  it  to  make  both  ends  meet,  and  I 
should  not  be  one  of  the  notable  merchants  who  elect  the 
judges  at  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce;  I  should  neither  have 
been  a  judge  nor  a  deputy-mayor.  Do  you  know  what  I 
should  have  been?  A  shopkeeper  like  old  Ragon, — no 


14  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

offence  to  him,  for  I  respect  shops ;  a  shop  has  been  the  mak- 
ing of  us.  After  selling  perfumery  for  forty  years,  we 
should  have  had  three  thousand  livres  a  year,  as  he  has;  and 
as  prices  go  now,  when  things  are  twice  as  dear  as  they  used 
to  be,  we  too  should  have  had  hardly  enough  to  live  upon. 
(Day  after  day,  it  goes  to  my  heart  more  and  more  to  think 
of  that  old  couple.  I  must  come  at  the  truth;  I  will  have 
it  out  of  Popinot  to-morrow.) — Yes,  if  I  had  taken  advice 
of  you,  of  you  that  are  afraid  of  your  own  luck,  and  are 
always  asking  if  you  will  have  to-morrow  what  you  hold  to- 
day, I  should  have  no  credit,  nor  the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor,  and  I  should  not  be  looked  on  as  a  man  who  knows 
what  he  is  about.  Oh,  you  may  shake  your  head;  if  this 
succeeds,  I  may  be  deputy  for  Paris  some  day.  Aha!  I  was 
not  named  Cesar  for  nothing;  everything  has  succeeded  with 
me. — This  is  inconceivable!  Everybody  out  of  my  own 
house  admits  that  I  have  some  capacity;  but  here  at  home, 
the  one  person  that  I  want  so  much  to  please,  and  I  toil  and 
moil  to  make  her  happy,  is  just  the  very  one  who  takes  me 
for  a  fool." 

There  was  such  a  depth  of  real  and  constant  affection  in 
these  phrases,  divided  up  by  eloquent  pauses  and  hurled 
forth  like  cannon  balls  (as  is  the  wont  of  those  who  take  up 
a  recriminating  attitude),  that  Mme.  Birotteau  in  her  secret 
heart  felt  touched,  but,  wife-like,  she  took  advantage  of  the 
love  she  inspired  to  gain  her  own  ends. 

"Very  well,  Birotteau/'  said  she,  "if  you  love  me,  let  me 
be  happy  in  my  own  way.  Neither  you  nor  I  have  had  any 
education;  we  do  not  know  how  to  talk,  nor  how  to  flatter 
like  worldly-wise  people,  and  how  can  you  expect  that  we 
should  succeed  in  office  under  Government?  I  myself 
should  be  quite  happy  at  the  Treasury  Farm.  I  have  always 
been  fond  of  animals  and  birds,  and  I  could  spend  my  time 
quite  well  in  looking  after  the  poultry,  and  living  like  a 
farmer's  wife.  Let  us  sell  the  business,  marry  our  Cesarine, 
and  let  your  Imogen  alone.  We  will  pass  the  winters  in  Paris 
in  our  son-in-law's  house,  and  we  shall  be  happy ;  nothing  in 


EISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  15 

politics  nor  in  business  could  change  our  ways.  Why  should 
you  try  to  eclipse  other  people?  Is  not  our  fortune  enough 
for  us  ?  When  you  are  a  millionaire,  will  you  be  able  to  eat 
two  dinners  a  day?  Do  you  want  another  wife?  Look  at 
uncle  Pillerault !  He  is  wisely  satisfied  with  what  he  has, 
and  spends  his  life  in  doing  good.  What  does  HE  want  with 
fine  furniture?  For  I  know  you  have  been  ordering  furni- 
ture; I  saw  Braschon  in  the  shop,  and  he  was  not  here  to 
buy  scent."  .  j 

"Well,  yes,  darling,  there  is  some  furniture  ordered  for 
you.  The  workmen  will  begin  to-morrow  under  an  archi- 
tect recommended  by  M.  de  la  Billardiere." 

"Good  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us!" 

"Why,  you  are  unreasonable,  pet.  Do  you  think  that, 
fresh  and  pretty  as  you  are,  you  can  go  and  bury  yourself 
at  thirty-seven  at  Chinon?  I  myself,  thank  the  Lord,  am 
only  thirty-nine.  Chance  has  opened  up  a  fine  career  to 
me,  and  I  am  going  to  enter  upon  it.  If  I  manage  wisely, 
I  can  found  a  house  famous  among  Paris  citizens,  as  people 
used  to  do,  build  up  a  business,  and  the  Birotteaus  shall 
be  like  Eoguin,  Cochin,  Guillaume,  Le  Bas,  Nucingen,  Sail- 
lard,  Popinot,  and  Matifat,  all  of  whom  are  making,  or  have 
made,  their  mark  in  their  quarter.  Come !  come !  if  this 
speculation  were  not  as  safe  as  gold  ingots " 

"Safe !" 

"Yes,  safe.  I  have  been  reckoning  it  out  these  two 
months.  Without  appearing  to  do  so,  I  have  been  making 
inquiries  as  to  building,  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  of  archi- 
tects and  contractors.  M.  Grindot,  the  young  architect 
who  is  to  remodel  our  place,  is  in  despair  because  he  has  no 
capital  to  invest  in  our  speculation." 

"He  knows  that  there  will  be  houses  to  build;  he  is  urg- 
ing you  on  so  as  to  gobble  you  up." 

"Can  people  like  Pillerault,  like  Charles  Claparen,  and 
Eoguin  be  taken  in?  The  gain  is  as  certain  as  the  profits 
on  the  Pate,  you  see." 

"But  why  should  Eoguin  want  to  spoei^tej  -de^r,  when 


1C  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

he  nas  bought  his  practice  and  made  his  fortune?  I  see 
him  go  by  sometimes;  he  looks  as  thoughtful  as  a  minister; 
he  has  an  underhand  look  that  I  do  not  like;  he  has  secret 
cares.  In  five  years  he  has  come  to  look  like  an  old  rake. 
Whose  word  have  you  for  it  that  he  will  not  take  to  his  heels 
as  soon  as  your  money  is  in  his  hands?  Such  things  have 
been  known.  Do  we  know  much  about  him  ?  It  is  true  that 
we  have  been  acquainted  for  fifteen  years,  but  he  is  not  one 
that  I  would  put  my  hand  into  the  fire  for.  I  have  it !  he 
has  ozaena;  he  does  not  live  with  his  wife;  he  has  mistresses 
no  doubt,  and  they  are  ruining  him ;  there  is  no  other  reason 
for  his  low  spirits  that  I  see.  As  I  dress  in  the  morning, 
I  look  through  the  blinds,  and  I  see  him  going  home  on  foot. 
Where  does  he  come  from?  Nobody  knows.  It  looks  to 
me  as  if  he  had  another  establishment  somewhere  in  town, 
and  he  spends  one  way,  and  madame  another. 

"Is  that  a  life  for  a  notary?  If  they  make  fifty  thou- 
sand francs  and  get  through  sixty  thousand,  there  will  be 
an  end  of  the  money;  in  twenty  years  time  they  would  be 
as  bare  as  shorn  lambs;  but  if  a  man  is  used  to  shine,  he  will 
plunder  his  friends  without  mercy.  Charity  should  prop- 
erly begin  at  home.  The  little  rascal  du  Tillet,  who  used  to 
be  with  us,  is  one  of  his  cronies,  and  I  see  nothing  good  in 
that  friendship.  If  he  could  not  find  out  du  Tillet,  he  is 
very  blind ;  and  if  he  knows  him,  why  does  he  make  so  much 
of  him?  You  will  say  that  there  is  something  between  Ro- 
guin's  wife  and  du  Tillet.  Very  well;  I  look  for  no  good 
from  a  man  who  has  no  sense  of  honor  where  his  wife  is  con- 
cerned. And  in  any  case,  aren't  the  owners  of  the  building 
lots  very  stupid  to  sell  the  worth  of  a  hundred  francs  for  a 
hundred  sous?  If  you  were  to  meet  a  child  who  did  not 
know  what  a  louis  was  worth,  would  you  not  tell  him? 
Your  stroke  of  business  looks  to  me  myself  very  much  like 
a  robbery,  no  offence  to  you." 

"Dear  me!  what  queer  things  women  are  sometimes,  and 
how  they  mix  up  their  ideas !  If  Roguin  had  never  med- 
dled in  the  matter,  you  would  have  said,  'Stay,  Cesar,  stop 


EISB  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  17 

a  bit ;  .you  are  acting  without  consulting  Eoguin,  it  will  come 
to  no  good.'  In  this  present  instance  he  is  pledged  as  it 
were,  and  you  tell  me '* 

"No;  it  is  a  M.  Claparon." 

"But  a  notary's  name  cannot  appear  in  a  speculation." 

"Then  why  should  he  do  something  against  the  law? 
What  do  you  say  to  that,  you  who  are  such  a  stickler  for 
the  law?" 

"Just  let  me  go  on.  Eoguin  is  going  into  it  himself,  and 
you  tell  me  that  it  will  come  to  no  good.  Is  that  sensible? 
Again  you  say,  'He  is  doing  something  against  the  law/ 
But  his  name  will  appear  in  it  if  necessary.  And  now  you 
tell  me  that  'he  is  rich.'  Might  not  people  say  as  much  of 
me?  Eagon  and  Pillerault  might  just  as  well  say  of  me, 
'Why  are  you  going  into  this  when  you  are  wallowing  in 
riches?'" 

"A  tradesman  is  one  thing  and  a  notary  another,"  ob- 
jected Mme.  Birotteau. 

"In  short,  my  conscience  is  quite  clear,"  Cesar  went  on. 
"People  who  sell,  sell  because  they  cannot  help  it;  we  are 
no  more  robbing  them  than  we  rob  fund-holders  when  we 
buy  at  seventy-five.  To-day  you  buy  building  lots  at  to- 
day's prices;  in  two  years  time  it  will  be  different,  just  as 
it  is  with  rentes.  You  may  be  quite  sure,  Constance-Barbe- 
Josephine  Pillerault,  that  you  will  never  catch  Cesar  Birot- 
teau doing  anything  that  is  against  the  law,  nor  against  his 
conscience,  nor  unscrupulous,  or  not  strictly  just  and  fair. 
That  a  man  who  has  been  in  business  eighteen  years  should 
be  suspected  in  his  own  family  of  cheating!" 

"Come,  Cesar,  be  pacified !  A  wife  who  has  known  you 
all  that  time  knows  the  depths  of  your  soul.  You  are  the 
master  after  all.  You  made  the  money,  didn't  you?  It  is 
yours ;  you  can  spend  it.  We  might  be  brought  to  the  lowest 
depths  of  poverty,  but  neither  your  daughter  nor  I  would 
ever  say  a  single  word  of  reproach.  But  listen.  When  you 
invented  the  Pate  des  Sultanes  and  the  Carminative  Toilet 
Lotion,  what  risk  did  you  run?  Five  or  six  thousand 


18 

francs  perhaps.  To-day  you  are  risking  all  you  have  on  a 
single  stake,  and  you  are  not  the  only  player  in  this  game, 
and  some  of  the  others  may  turn  out  sharper  than  you  are. 

"You  could  give  this  ball  and  have  the  rooms  redecorated, 
and  spend  a  thousand  francs  over  it — a  useless  expense,  but 
not  ruinous — but  as  to  the  Madeleine  affair,  I  am  against  it, 
once  and  for  all.  You  are  a  perfumer;  be  a  perfumer,  and 
jnot  a  speculator  in  building  land.  We  women  have  an  in- 
stinct that  does  not  lead  us  astray.  I  have  warned  you; 
now  act  on  your  own  ideas.  You  have  been  a  judge  at  the 
Tribunal  of  Commerce,  you  know  the  law,  you  have  steered 
your  boat  wisely,  and  I  will  follow  you,  Cesar !  But  I  shall 
have  misgivings  until  I  see  our  fortune  on  a  sound  basis  and 
Cesarine  well  married.  God  send  that  my  dream  was  not 
prophetic !" 

This  meekness  was  annoying  to  Birotteau.  He  had  re- 
course to  a  simple  stratagem,  which  he  found  useful  on  such 
occasions. 

"Listen,  Constance;  I  have  not  really  given  my  word, 
though  it  is  as  good  as  if  I  had." 

"Oh !  Cesar,  there  is  nothing  m'ore  to  be  said,  so  let  us 
say  no  more  about  it.  Honor  before  riches.  Come,  get  into 
bed,  dear;  there  is  no  firewood  left.  Besides,  it  is  easier 
to  talk  in  bed  if  it  amuses  you. — Oh !  the  bad  dream  I  had ! 
Good  Lord,  to  see  yourself!  Why,  it  was  fearful!  .  .  . 
Cesarine  and  I  will  make  a  pretty  number  of  neuvaines  for 
the  success  of  the  land." 

"Of  course,  the  help  of  God  would  do  us  no  harm,"  Bi- 
rotteau said  gravely,  "but  the  essence  of  hazel-nuts  is  a 
power  likewise,  wife.  I  discovered  this,  like  the  Pate  des 
Sultanes,  by  accident;  the  first  time  it  was  by  opening  a 
book,  but  it  was  an  engraving  of  Hero  and  Leander  that 
suggested  this  new  idea  to  me.  A  woman,  you  know,  pour- 
ing oil  on  her  lover's  head;  isn't  it  nice?  The  most  certain 
speculations  are  those  that  are  based  on  vanity,  self-love,  or 
a  regard  for  appearances.  Those  sentiments  will  never  be 
extinct." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  19 

"Alas,  I  see  that  clearly." 

"At  a  certain  age,"  pursued  Birotteau,  "men  will  do  any- 
thing to  grow  hair  on  their  heads  when  they  have  none. 
Hairdressers  have  told  me  for  some  time  past  that  they  are 
selling  hair-dyes  and  all  sorts  of  drugs  that  are  said  to  pro- 
mote the  growth  of  the  hair  as  well  as  Macassar  Oil.  Since 
the  peace,  men  live  more  among  women,  and  women  do  not 
like  bald  heads,  eh!  eh!  mimi!  So  the  demand  for  that 
class  of  article  can  be  explained  by  the  political  situation. 

"A  composition  which  would  keep  your  hair  in  good  con- 
dition would  sell  like  bread,  and  all  the  more  so  because  the 
essence  will  doubtless  be  approved  by  the  Academie  des 
Sciences.  Perhaps  kind  M.  Vauquelin  will  do  me  another 
good  turn.  I  shall  go  to  submit  my  notion  to  him  to-mor- 
row, and  ask  him  to  accept  that  engraving  which  I  have 
found  at  last  after  inquiring  for  it  for  two  years  in  Ger- 
many. M.  Vauquelin  is  engaged  in  analyzing  hair,  pre- 
cisely the  subject,  so  Chiffreville  (who  is  associated  with 
him  in  the  production  of  chemicals)  tells  me.  If  my  dis- 
covery concurs  with  his,  my  essence  will  be  bought  by  both 
sexes.  There  is  a  fortune  in  my  idea,  I  repeat.  Good 
Heavens!  I  cannot  sleep  for  it.  Eh!  luckily,  little  Popinot 
has  the  finest  head  of  hair  in  the  world.  With  a  young  lady 
in  the  shop  whose  hair  should  reach  to  the  ground,  and  who 
should  say  (if  the  thing  is  possible  without  sinning  against 
God  or  your  neighbor)  that  the  Comagen  Oil  (for  it  is  de- 
cidedly an  oil)  counts  for  something  in  bringing  that  about; 
all  the  grizzled  heads  will  be  down  upon  it  like  poverty  upon 
the  world.  And  I  say,  dearie,  how  about  your  ball?  I  am 
not  spiteful,  but  I  really  should  like  to  have  that  little  rogue 
of  a  du  Tillet,  who  swaggers  about  and  never  sees  me  on 
'Change.  He  knows  that  I  know  something  that  is  not 
pretty  about  him.  Perhaps  I  let  him  off  too  easily.  How 
funny  it  is,  wife,  that  one  should  always  be  punished  for  good 
actions ;  here  below,  of  course !  I  have  been  like  a  father  to 
him ;  you  do  not  know  all  that  I  have  done  for  him." 

"Simply  to  hear  you  talk  of  him  makes  my  flesh  creep. 


20  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEATJ 

If  you  had  known  what  he  intended  to  do  to  you,  you  would 
not  have  kept  the  theft  of  three  thousand  francs  so  quiet  (for 
I  have  guessed  how  the  thing  was  arranged).  If  you  had 
put  him  in  the  police  court,  perhaps  you  might  have  done  a 
good  many  people  a  service." 

"What  did  he  mean  to  do  to  me?" 

"Nothing.     Birotteau,  if  you  were  inclined  to  listen  to 
me  to-night,  I  would  give  you  a  bit  of  sound  advice,  and  that  • 
is  to  let  du  Tillet  alone." 

"Would  not  people  think  it  very  strange  if  I  were  to  for- 
bid an  old  assistant  my  house  after  I  had  been  his  surety 
for  twenty  thousand  francs  when  he  first  started  in  business 
for  himself.  There,  let  us  do  good  for  its  own  sake.  And 
perhaps  du  Tillet  has  mended  his  ways." 

"Everything  must  be  put  topsy-turvy  here !" 

"What  is  this  about  topsy-turvy?  Why,  it  will  all  be 
ruled  like  a  sheet  of  music.  So  you  have  forgotten  already 
what  I  have  just  told  you  about  the  staircase,  and  how  I 
have  arranged  with  Cayron,  the  umbrella  merchant  next 
door,  to  take  part  of  his  house !  He  and  I  must  go  together 
in  the  morning  to  see  his  landlord,  M.  Molineux.  I  have 
as  much  business  on  hand  to-morrow  as  a  Minister." 

"You  have  made  me  dizzy  with  your  plans,"  said  Con- 
stance; "I  am  muddled  with  them;  and  besides,  Birotteau, 
I  am  sleepy." 

"Good-morning,"  returned  her  husband.  "Just  listen — 
I  say  good-morning,  because  it  is  morning  now,  mimi!  Ah, 
she  has  dropped  off  to  sleep,  dear  child !  There !  you  shall 
be  the  richest  of  the  rich,  or  my  name  will  not  be  Cesar  any 
longer,"  and  a  few  minutes  later  Constance  and  Cesar  were 
peacefully  snoring. 

A  rapid  glance  over  the  previous  history  of  this  house- 
hold will  confirm  the  impression  which  should  have  been 
conveyed  by  the  friendly  dispute  between  the  two  principal 
personages  in  this  Scene,  in  which  the  lives  of  a  retail  shop- 
keeper and  his  wife  are  depicted.  This  sketch  will  explain, 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTBAU  21 

moreover,  the  strange  chances  by  which  Cesar  Birotteau  be- 
came a  perfumer,  a  deputy-mayor,  an  ex-officer  of  the  Na- 
tional Guard,  and  a  Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  By 
laying  bare  the  depths  of  his  character  and  the  springs  of 
his  greatness,  it  will  be  possible  to  comprehend  how  it  is  that 
the  vicissitudes  of  commerce,  which  strong  heads  turn  to 
their  advantage,  become  irreparable  catastrophes  for  weaker 
spirits.  Events  are  never  absolute;  their  consequences  de- 
pend entirely  upon  the  individual.  The  misfortune  which 
is  a  stepping-stone  for  genius,  becomes  a  piscina  for  the 
Christian,  a  treasure  for  a  quick-witted  man,  and  for  weak- 
lings an  abyss. 

A  cotter,  Jacques  Birotteau  by  name,  living  near  Chinon, 
took  unto  himself  a  wife,  a  domestic  servant  in  the  house  of  a 
lady,  who  employed  him  in  her  vineyard.  Three  sons  were 
born  to  them;  his  wife  died  at  the  birth  of  the  third,  and 
the  poor  fellow  did  not  long  survive  her.  Then  the  mistress, 
out  of  affection  for  her  maid,  adopted  the  oldest  of  the  cot- 
ter's boys ;  she  brought  him  up  with  her  own  son,  and  placed 
him  in  a  seminary.  This  Frangois  Birotteau  took  orders, 
and  during  the  Revolution  led  the  wandering  life  of  priests 
who  would  not  take  the  oath,  hiding  from  those  who  hunted 
them  down  like  wild  beasts,  lucky  to  meet  with  no  worse  fate 
than  the  guillotine.  At  the  time  when  this  story  begins  he 
was  a  priest  of  the  cathedral  at  Tours,  and  had  but  once  left 
that  city  to  see  his  brother  Cesar.  On  that  occasion  the 
traffic  in  the  streets  of  Paris  so  bewildered  the  good  man 
that  he  dared  not  leave  his  room;  he  called  the  cabs  "half- 
coaches,"  and  was  astonished  at  everything.  He  stayed  one 
week,  and  then  went  back  to  Tours,  promising  himself  that 
he  would  never  revisit  the  capital. 

The  vinedresser's  second  son,  Jean  Birotteau,  was  drawn 
by  the  army,  and  during  the  early  wars  of  the  Revolution 
promptly  became  a  captain.  At  the  battle  of  the  Trebbia, 
Macdonald  called  for  volunteers  to  storm  a  battery,  and 
Captain  Jean  Birotteau  charged  with  his  company  and  fell. 


22  RISE  AND  FALL  QF  CESAR  BiKO'iTEAU 

It  appeared  to  be  the  destiny  of  the  Birotteaus  that  other 
men  should  supplant  them,  or  that  events  should  be  too 
strong  for  them  wherever  they  might  be. 

The  youngest  son  is  the  chief  actor  in  this  Scene.  When 
Cesar  was  fourteen  years  old,  and  could  read,  write,  and 
cipher,  he  left  the  district,  and  with  one  louis  in  his  pocket 
set  out  on  foot  for  Paris  to  make  his  fortune.  On  the  rec- 
ommendation of  an  apothecary  in  Tours,  M.  and  Mme. 
Ragon,  retail  perfumers,  took  him  as  errand  boy.  Cesar 
at  that  time  was  possessed  of  a  pair  of  hobnailed  shoes,  a 
pair  of  breeches,  blue  stockings,  a  sprigged  waistcoat,  a 
countryman's  jacket,  three  ample  shirts  of  good  linen,  and 
a  stout  walking-stick.  His  hair  might  be  clipped  like  a 
chorister's,  but  he  was  a  solidly-built  Tourangeau;  and  any 
tendency  to  the  laziness  rampant  in  his  district  was  coun- 
teracted in  him  by  a  strong  desire  to  make  his  way  in  the 
world.  Perhaps  he  was  lacking  somewhat  in  brains  as  in 
education,  but  he  had  inherited  upright  instincts  and  scrupu- 
lous integrity  from  his  mother,  who  had  "a  heart  of  gold," 
as  they  say  in  Touraine. 

Cesar  was  paid  six  francs  a  month  by  way  of  wages.  He 
boarded  in  the  house,  and  slept  on  a  truckle-bed  in  the  attics 
next  to  the  servant's  room.  The  shopmen  showed  him  how 
to  fetch  and  carry  and  tie  up  parcels,  to  sweep  out  the  shop 
and  the  pavement  before  it,  and  made  a  butt  of  him,  break- 
ing him  in  to  business  after  the  manner  of  their  kind,  and 
contriving  to  blend  a  good  deal  of  amusement  (for  them- 
selves) with  his  instruction.  M.  and  Mme.  Ragon  spoke  to 
him  as  if  he  were  a  dog.  Nobody  cared  how  tired  the  ap- 
prentice might  be,  and  he  was  often  very  tired  and  footsore 
of  a  night  after  tramping  over  the  pavements,  and  his 
shoulders  often  ached.  The  principle  "each  for  himself," 
that  gospel  of  great  cities,  put  in  application,  made  Cesar's 
life  in  Paris  a  very  hard  one.  He  used  to  cry  sometimes 
when  the  day  was  over,  and  he  thought  of  Touraine,  where 
the  peasant  works  leisurely,  and  the  mason  takes  his  time 
about  laying  a  stone,  and  toil  is  judiciously  tempered  by 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  23 

idleness;  but  he  usually  fell  asleep  before  he  reached  the 
point  of  thinking  of  running  away,  for  his  morning's  round 
of  work  awaited  him,  and  he  did  his  duty  with  the  instinc- 
tive obedience  of  a  yard  dog.  If  he  happened  to  complain, 
the  first  shopman  would  smile  jocosely.  "Ah,  my  boy,"  said 
he,  "life  is  not  all  roses  at  the  Queen  of  Roses,  and  larks 
don't  drop  ready  roasted  into  your  mouth;  first  catch  your 
lark,  and  then  you  want  the  other  things  before  you  cook  it." 

The  cook,  a  stout  Picarde,  kept  the  best  morsels  for  her- 
self, and  never  spoke  to  Cesar  but  to  complain  of  M.  and 
Mme.  Eagon,  who  -left  her  nothing  to  purloin.  On  one 
Sunday  at  the  end  of  every  month  she  was  obliged  to  stop 
in  the  house,  and  then  she  broke  ground  with  Cesar.  Ur- 
sule,  scoured  for  Sunday,  was  a  charming  creature  in  the 
eyes  of  the  poor  errand  boy,  who,  but  for  a  chance,  was 
about  to  make  shipwreck  on  the  first  sunken  reef  in  his 
career.  Like  all  human  beings  who  have  no  one  to  care  for 
them,  he  fell  in  love  with  the  first  woman  who  gave  him  a 
kind  glance.  The  cook  took  Cesar  under  her  wing,  and 
secret  love  passages  followed,  at  which  the  assistants  jeered 
unmercifully.  Luckily,  two  years  later,  the  cook  threw 
over  Cesar  for  a  young  runaway  from  the  army,  a  fellow- 
countryman  of  hers  who  was  hiding  in  Paris;  and  the 
Picard,  a  land-owner  to  the  extent  of  several  acres,  allowed 
himself  to  be  drawn  into  a  marriage  with  Ursule. 

But  during  those  two  years  the  cook  fed  her  lad  Cesar 
well,  and  explained  to  him  the  seamy  side  of  not  a  few  of 
the  mysteries  of  Paris.  Motives  of  jealousy  led  her  to  instil 
into  him  a  perfect  horror  of  low  haunts,  whose  perils  seem- 
ingly were  not  unknown  to  her.  In  1792  Cesar,  the  basely 
deserted,  had  grown  accustomed  to  his  life;  his  feet  were 
used  to  the  pavements,  his  shoulders  accommodated  to  pack- 
ing-cases, his  wits  to  what  he  called  the  humbug  of  Paris. 
So,  when  TJrsule  threw  him  over,  he  promptly  took  comfort, 
for  she  had  not  realized  any  of  his  intuitive  ideas  as  to  senti- 
ments. Lascivious,  bad-tempered,  fawning,  and  rapacious, 
a  selfish  woman,  given  to  drink,  she  had  jarred  on  Birot- 


24  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

teau's  unsophisticated  nature,  and  had  opened  out  no  fair 
future  to  him.  At  times  the  poor  boy  saw  with  dismay 
that  he  was  bound  by  the  strongest  of  ties  for  a  simple  heart 
to  a  creature  with  whom  he  had  no  sympathy.  By  the  time 
that  he  was  set  free  he  had  developed,  and  had  reached  the 
age  of  sixteen.  His  wits  had  been  sharpened  by  Ursule  and  by 
the  shopmen's  jokes;  he  set  himself  to  learn  the  business. 
Intelligence  was  hidden  beneath  his  simplicity.  He  watched 
the  customers  with  shrewd  eyes.  In  his  spare  moments  he 
asked  for  explanations  concerning  the  goods;  he  remem- 
bered where  everything  was  kept;  one  fine  day  he  knew  the 
goods,  prices,  and  quantities  in  stock  better  than  the  newer 
comers,  and  thenceforward  M.  and  Mme.  Ragon  looked  on 
him  as  a  settled  institution. 

When  the  Requisition  of  the  terrible  year  II.  made  a  clean 
sweep  of  Citizen  Ragon's  house,  Cesar  Birotteau,  promoted 
to  be  second  assistant,  improved  his  position,  received  a 
salary  of  fifty  livres  per  month,  and  seated  himself  at  the 
Ragons'  table  with  joy  unspeakable.  The  second  assistant 
at  the  sign  of  the  Queen  of  Roses  had  by  this  time  saved  six 
hundred  francs,  and  he  now  had  a  room  filled  with  furni- 
ture such  as  he  had  for  a  long  time  coveted,  in  which  he 
could  keep  the  belongings  which  he  had  accumulated  under 
lock  and  key.  On  Decadis,  dressed  after  the  fashion  of  an 
epoch  which  affected  rough  and  homely  ways,  the  quiet, 
humble  peasant  lad  looked  at  least  the  equal  of  other  young 
citizens,  and  in  this  way  he  overleapt  the  social  barriers 
which  in  domestic  life  would,  in  different  times,  have  been 
raised  between  the  peasant  and  the  trading  classes. 
Towards  the  end  of  that  year  his  honesty  won  for  him  the 
control  of  the  till.  The  awe-inspiring  Citoyenne  Ragon 
saw  to  his  linen,  and  husband  and  wife  treated  him  like  one 
of  the  family. 

In  Vendemiaire  1794  Cesar  Birotteau,  being  possessed  of 
one  hundred  gold  louis,  exchanged  them  for  six  thousand 
francs  in  assignats,  bought  rentes  therewith  ?.t  thirty  francs, 
paid  for  them  when  depreciated  prices  ruled  on  the  Ex- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  25 

• 

change,  and  hoarded  his  stock-receipt  with  unspeakable  de- 
light. From  that  day  forward  he  followed  the  rise  and  fall 
of  the  funds  and  the  course  of  events  with  a  secret  anxiety 
that  made  his  heart  beat  fast  at  the  tidings  of  every  victory 
or  defeat  which  marked  the  history  of  that  period. 

At  this  critical  period  M.  Ragon,  sometime  purveyor  of 
perfumes  to  Her  Majesty  Queen  Marie- Antoinette,  confided 
to  Cesar  Birotteau  his  attachment  to  the  fallen  tyrants. 
This  confidence  was  an  event  of  capital  importance  in 
Cesar's  life.  The  Tourangeau  was  transformed  into  a 
fanatical  adherent  of  Royalty  in  the  course  of  evening  con- 
versations after  the  shutters  were  put  up,  the  books  posted, 
and  the  streets  quiet  without.  Cesar  was  simply  obeying 
his  natural  instincts.  His  imagination  kindled  at  the  tale 
of  the  virtuous  deeds  of  Louis  XVI.,  followed  by  anecdotes 
told  by  husband  and  wife  of  the  good  qualities  of  the  Queen 
whom  they  extolled.  His  tender  heart  was  revolted  by  the 
horrible  fate  of  the  two  crowned  heads,  struck  off  but  a  few 
paces  from  the  shop  door,  and  he  conceived  a  hatred  for  a 
system  of  government  which  poured  forth  innocent  blood 
that  cost  nothing  to  shed. 

Commercial  instincts  made  him  quick  to  see  the  death 
of  trade  in  the  law  of  maximum  prices,  and  in  political 
storms,  which  always  bode  ill  to  business.  In  his  quality 
of  perfumer,  moreover,  he  loathed  a  Revolution  that  for- 
bade powder,  and  was  responsible  for  the  fashion  of  wear- 
ing the  hair  a  la  Titus.  The  tranquillity  secured  to  the  na- 
tion by  an  absolute  monarchy  seemed  to  be  the  one  possible 
condition  in  which  life  and  property  would  be  safe,  so  he 
waxed  zealous  for  a  monarchy. 

M.  Ragon,  finding  so  apt  a  disciple,  made  him  his  assist- 
ant in  the  shop,  and  initiated  him  into  the  secrets  of  the 
Queen  of  Roses.  Some  of  the  customers  were  the  most 
active  and  devoted  of  the  secret  agents  of  the  Bourbons,  and 
kept  up  a  correspondence  between  Paris  and  the  West. 
Carried  away  by  youthful  enthusiasm,  electrified  by  contact 
with  such  men  as  Georges,  La  Billardiere,  Montauran,  Bau- 


26  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

• 

van,  Longuy,  Manda,  Bernier,  du  Guenic,  and  Fontaine, 
Cesar  flung  himself  into  the  conspiracy  of  the  13th  Vende- 
miaire,  when  Eoyalists  and  Terrorists  combined  against  the 
dying  Convention. 

Cesar  had  the  honor  of  warring  against  Napoleon  on  the 
steps  of  the  Church  of  Saint-Koch,  and  was  wounded  at  the 
beginning  of  the  action.  Every  one  knows  the  result  of  this 
attempt.  The  obscurity  from  which  Barras'  aide-de-camp 
then  emerged  was  Birotteau's  salvation.  A  few  friends 
carried  the  bellicose  counter-hand  home  to  the  Queen  of 
Roses,  where  he  lay  in  hiding  in  the  garret,  nursed  by  Mme. 
Ragon,  and  lucky  to  be  forgotten.  Cesar's  military  courage 
had  been  nothing  but  a  flash.  During  his  month  of  con- 
valescence he  came  to  some  sound  conclusions  as  to  the  ludi- 
crous alliance  of  politics  and  perfumery.  If  a  Royalist  he  re- 
mained, he  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  be  simply  and 
solely  a  Royalist  perfumer,  that  he  would  never  compromise 
himself  again,  and  he  threw  himself  body  and  soul  into  his 
calling. 

After  the  18th  Brumaire,  M.  and  Mme.  Ragon,  despair- 
ing of  the  Royalist  cause,  determined  to  retire  from  the  per- 
fumery trade,  to  live  like  respectable  private  citizens,  and  to 
cease  to  meddle  in  politics.  If  they  were  to  receive  the  full 
value  of  their  business,  it  behoved  them  to  find  a  man  who 
had  more  honesty  than  ambition,  and  more  homely  sense  than 
brilliancy,  so  Ragon  broached  the  matter  to  Ms  first  assistant. 
Birotteau  hesitated.  He  was  twenty  years  old,  with  a  thou- 
sand francs  a  year  invested  in  the  public  funds;  it  was  his 
ambition  to  go  to  live  near  Chinon  as  soon  as  he  should  have 
fifteen  hundred  francs  a  year,  and  the  First  Consul,  after  con- 
solidating his  position  at  the  Tuileries,  should  have  consoli- 
dated the  national  debt.  He  asked  himself  why  he  should 
risk  his  little  honestly-earned  independence  in  business.  He 
had  never  expected  to  make  so  much  wealth;  it  was  entirely 
owing  to  chances  which  are  only  embraced  in  youth ;  and  now 
he  was  thinking  of  taking  a  wife  in  Touraine,  a  woman  who 
should  have  an  equal  fortune,  so  that  he  might  buy  and  cul- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  27 

tivate  a  little  property  called  the  Treasury  Farm,  a  bit  of  land 
on  which  he  had  set  longing  eyes  since  he  had  come  to  man's 
estate.  He  dreamed  of  adding  more  land  to  the  Treasury 
Farm,  of  making  a  thousand  crowns  a  year,  of  leading  a  happy 
and  obscure  life  there.  He  was  on  the  point  of  refusing  the 
perfumer's  offer,  when  love  suddenly  altered  his  resolutions 
and  multiplied  the  total  of  his  ambitions  by  ten. 

Since  Ursule's  base  desertion,  Cesar  had  led  a  steady  life; 
this  was  partly  a  consequence  of  hard  work,  partly  a  dread  of 
the  risks  run  in  pursuit  of  pleasure  in  Paris.  Desire  that 
remains  unsatisfied  becomes  a  craving,  and  marriage  for  the 
lower  middle  classes  becomes  a  fixed  idea,  for  it  is  the  one  way 
open  to  them  of  winning  and  appropriating  a  woman.  Cesar 
Birotteau  was  in  this  case.  The  first  assistant  was  the  respon- 
sible person  at  the  Queen  of  Roses;  he  had  not  a  moment  to 
spare  for  amusement.  In  such  a  life  the  craving  is  still  more 
imperatively  felt;  so  it  happened  that  the  apparition  of  a 
handsome  girl,  to  whom  a  dissipated  young  fellow  would 
scarcely  have  given  a  thought,  was  bound  to  make  the  greatest 
impression  upon  the  steady  Cesar. 

One  fine  June  day,  as  he  was  about  to  cross  the  Pont  Marie 
to  the  He  Saint-Louis,  he  saw  a  girl  standing  in  the  doorway 
of  a  corner  shop  on  the  Quai  d'Anjou.  Constance  Pillerault 
was  a  forewoman  in  a  linen-drapery  establishment,  at  the  sign 
of  the  Little  Sailor,  a  pioneer  instance  of  a  kind  of  shop  which 
has  since  spread  all  over  Paris,  with  painted  signboards  more 
or  less  in  evidence,  flying  flags,  much  display.  Shawls  are 
suspended  in  the  windows,  and  piles  of  cravats  erected  like 
card  castles,  together  with  countless  devices  to  attract  custom, 
ribbon  streamers,  showcards,  notices  of  fixed  prices;  optical 
illusions  and  effects  carried  to  the  pitch  of  perfection  which 
has  made  of  shop  windows  the  fairyland  of  commerce. 

The  low  prices  asked  at  the  sign  of  the  Little  Sailor  for  the 
goods  described  as  "novelties"  had  brought  this  shop,  in  one 
of  the  quietest  and  least  fashionable  quarters  of  Paris,  an 
unheard-of  influx  of  custom. 

The  aforesaid  young  lady  behind  the  counter  was  as  cele- 


28  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

brated  for  her  beauty  as  La  belle  Limonadiere  of  the  Cafe 
des  Milles  Colonnes  at  a  later  day,  and  not  a  few  others  whose 
unfortunate  lot  it  has  been  to  attract  faces  young  and  old, 
more  numerous  than  the  paving  stones  of  Paris,  to  the  win- 
dows of  milliners'  shops  and  cafes.  The  first  assistant  from 
the  Queen  of  Roses,  whose  life  was  spent  between  Saint-Koch 
and  the  Rue  de  la  Sourdiere,  in  the  daily  routine  of  the  per- 
fumery business,  did  not  so  much  as  suspect  the  existence  of 
the  Little  Sailor,  for  retailers  in  Paris  know  very  little  of 
each  other. 

Cesar  was  so  violently  smitten  with  the  beautiful  Constance 
that  he  hurried  tempestuously  into  the  Little  Sailor  to  bar- 
gain for  half-a-dozen  linen  shirts.  Long  did  he  haggle  over 
the  price,  bale  after  bale  of  linen  was  displayed  for  his  inspec- 
tion; he  behaved  exactly  like  an  Englishwoman  in  a  humor 
for  shopping.  The  young  lady  condescended  to  interest  her- 
self in  Cesar's  purchase;  perceiving,  by  certain  signs  which 
women  understand,  that  he  had  come  to  the  shop  more  for 
the  sake  of  the  saleswoman  than  for  her  goods.  He  gave  his 
name  and  address  to  the  young  lady,  who  became  quite  indif- 
ferent to  the  customer's  admiration  as  soon  as  he  had  made 
his  purchase.  The  poor  assistant  had  done  but  little  to  gain 
Ursule's  good  graces ;  if  he  had  been  sheepish  then,  love  now 
made  him  more  sheepish  still;  he  did  not  dare  to  say  a  syl- 
lable, and  was,  moreover,  too  much  dazzled  to  note  the  in- 
difference which  succeeded  to  the  smiles  of  this  siren  of  com- 
merce. 

Every  evening  for  a  week  he  took  up  his  post  before  the 
Little  Sailor,  hanging  about  for  a  glance  as  a  dog  waits  for 
a  bone  at  a  kitchen  door;  regardless  of  the  jibes  in  which  the 
shopmen  and  saleswomen  indulged  at  his  expense;  making 
way  meekly  for  customers  or  passers-by,  watchful  of  every 
little  change  that  took  place  in  the  shop.  A  few  days  later, 
he  again  entered  the  paradise  where  his  angel  dwelt,  not  so 
much  to  purchase  pocket-handkerchiefs  of  her  as  with  a  view 
of  communicating  a  luminous  idea  to  the  angel's  mind. 

"If  you  should  require  any  perfumery,  mademoiselle,"  he 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  29 

remarked,  as  he  paid  the  bill,  "I  could  supply  you  in  the  same 
way." 

Constance  Pillerault  daily  received  brilliant  proposals,  in 
which  there  was  never  any  mention  of  marriage ;  and  though 
her  heart  was  as  pure  as  her  white  forehead,  it  was  not  until 
the  indefatigable  Cesar  had  proved  his  love  by  six  months  of 
strategical  operations,"  that  she  deigned  to  receive  his  atten- 
tions. Even  then  she  would  not  commit  herself.  Prudence 
had  been  demanded  of  her  by  the  multitudinous  number  of 
her  admirers — wholesale  wine  merchants,  well-to-do  bar-keep- 
ers, and  others,  who  made  eyes  at  her.  The  lover  found  a  sup- 
porter in  her  guardian,  M.  Claude-Joseph  Pillerault,  an  iron- 
monger on  the  Quai  de  la  Ferraille,  a  discovery  made  by  the 
secret  espionage  which  is  pre-eminently  a  lover's  shift. 

In  this  rapid  sketch,  it  is  impossible  to  describe  the  delights 
of  this  harmless  Parisian  love-intrigue;  the  little  extrava- 
gances characteristic  of  the  shopman — the  first  melons  of  the 
season,  the  little  dinners  at  Venua's,  followed  by  the  theatre, 
the  drives  into  the  country  in  a  cab  on  Sunday — must  be 
passed  over  in  silence.  Cesar  was  not  a  positively  handsome 
young  fellow,  but  there  was  nothing  in  his  appearance  to  repel 
love.  Life  in  Paris  and  days  spent  in  a  dark  shop  had  toned 
down  the  high  color  natural  to  the  peasant  lad.  His  thick 
black  hair,  his  Norman  breadth  of  shoulder,  his  sturdy  limbs, 
his  simple  straightforward  look,  all  contributed  to  prepossess 
people  in  his  favor.  Uncle  Pillerault,  the  responsible  guar- 
dian of  his  brother's  child,  made  various  inquiries  about  the 
Tourangeau,  and  gave  his  consent ;  and  in  the  fair  month  of 
May  1800,  Mile.  Pillerault  promised  to  marry  Cesar  Birot- 
teau.  He  nearly  fainted  with  joy  when  Constance-Barbe- 
Josephine  accepted  him  as  her  husband  under  a  lime-tree  at 
Sceaux. 

"You  will  have  a  good  husband,  my  little  girl,"  said  M. 
Pillerault.  "He  has  a  warm  heart  and  sentiments  of  honor. 
He  is  as  straight  as  a  line,  and  as  good  as  the  Child  Jesus; 
he  is  a  king  of  men,  in  short." 

Constance  put  away  once  and  for  all  the  dreams  of  a  brill- 


30  RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

iant  future,  which,  like  most  shop  girls,  she  had  sometimes 
indulged.  She  meant  to  be  a  faithful  wife  and  a  good  mother, 
and  took  up  this  life  in  accordance  with  the  religious  pro- 
gramme of  the  middle  classes.  After  all,  this  part  suited  her 
ideas  much  better  than  the  dangerous  vanities  tempting  to 
a  youthful  Parisian  imagination.  Constance's  intelligence 
was  a  narrow  one;  she  was  the  typical  small  tradesman's 
wife,  who  always  grumbles  a  little  over  her  work,  who  re- 
fuses a  thing  at  the  outset,  and  is  vexed  when  she  is  taken 
at  her  word;  whose  restless  activity  takes  all  things,  from 
cash-box  to  kitchen,  as  its  province,  and  supervises  every- 
thing, from  the  weightiest  business  transactions  down  to 
almost  invisible  darns  in  the  household  linen.  Such  a 
woman  scolds  while  she  loves,  and  can  only  conceive 
ideas  of  the  very  simplest;  only  the  small  change,  as  it 
were,  of  thought  passes  current  with  her;  she  argues  about 
everything,  lives  in  chronic  fear  of  the  unknown,  makes  con- 
stant forecasts,  and  is  always  thinking  of  the  future.  Her 
statuesque  yet  girlish  beauty,  her  engaging  looks,  her  fresh- 
ness, prevented  Cesar  from  thinking  of  her  shortcomings; 
and,  moreover,  she  made  up  for  them  by  a  Roman's  sensitive 
conscientiousness,  an  excessive  thrift,  by  her  fanatical  love 
of  work,  and  genius  as  a  saleswoman. 

Constance  was  just  eighteen  years  old,  and  the  possessor  of 
eleven  thousand  francs.  Cesar,  in  whom  love  had  developed 
the  most  unbounded  ambition,  bought  the  perfumery  business, 
and  transplanted  the  Queen  of  Roses  to  a  handsome  shop  near 
the  Place  Vendome.  He  was  only  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
married  to  a  beautiful  and  adored  wife,  and  almost  the  owner 
of  his  establishment,  for  he  had  paid  three-fourths  of  the 
amount.  He  saw  (how  should  he  have  seen  otherwise?)  the 
future  in  fair  colors,  which  seemed  fairer  still  as  he  measured 
his  career  from  its  starting-point. 

Roguin  (Eagon's  notary)  drew  up  the  marriage-contract, 
and  gave  sage  counsels  to  the  young  perfumer ;  he  it  was  who 
interfered  when  the  latter  was  about  to  complete  the  purchase 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  31 

of  the  business  with  his  wife's  money.  "Just  keep  the  money 
by  you,  my  boy ;  ready  money  is  sometimes  a  handy  thing  in 
a  business,"  he  had  said. 

Birotteau  gazed  at  the  notary  in  admiration,  fell  into  the 
habit  of  consulting  him,  and  made  a  friend  of  Roguin.  Like 
Ragon  and  Pillerault,  he  had  so  much  faith  in  notaries  as  a 
class,  that  he  placed  himself  in  Roguin's  hands  without  ad- 
mitting a  doubt  of  him.  Thanks  to  this  advice,  Cesar  started 
ibusiness  with  the  eleven  thousand  francs  brought  him  by 
Constance;  and  would  not  have  "changed  places"  with  the 
First  Consul,  however  brilliant  Napoleon's  lot  might  seem 
to  be. 

At  first  the  Birotteau  establishment  had  but  one  servant- 
maid.  They  lodged  on  the  mezzanine  floor  above  the  shop. 
In  this  sort  of  den,  passably  furnished  by  an  upholsterer,  the 
newly-wedded  pair  entered  upon  a  perennial  honeymoon. 
Mme.  Cesar  at  her  cash  desk  was  a  marvel  to  see.  Her  famous 
beauty  exercised  an  enormous  influence  on  the  sales ;  the  dan- 
dies of  the  Empire  talked  of  nothing  but  the  lovely  Mme. 
Birotteau.  If  Cesar's  political  principles  were  tainted  with 
Royalism,  it  was  acknowledged  that  his  business  principles 
were  above  suspicion;  and  if  some  of  his  fellow-tradesmen 
envied  him  his  luck,  he  was  believed  to  deserve  it.  That  shot 
on  the  steps  of  the  Church  of  Saint-Roch  had  gained  him  a 
certain  reputation — he  was  looked  upon  as  a  brave  man,  and 
a  man  deep  in  political  secrets;  though  he  had  nothing  of 
a  soldier's  courage  in  his  composition,  and  not  even  a  rudi- 
mentary political  notion  in  his  head. 

On  these  data  the  good  folk  of  the  Arrondissement  made 
him  a  Captain  of  the  National  Guard,  but  he  was  cashiered 
by  Napoleon  (according  to  Birotteau,  that  matter  of  Vende- 
miaire  still  rankled  in  the  First  Consul's  mind),  and  thence- 
forward Cesar  was  invested  with  a  certain  halo  of  martyrdom, 
cheaply  acquired,  which  made  him  interesting  to  opponents, 
and  gave  him  a  certain  importance. 

Here,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  this  household,  so  happy 
in  itself,  and  disturbed  by  none  but  business  cares. 


32  EIS3  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTBAU 

During  the  first  year,  Cesar  instructed  his  wife  in  all  the 
ins  and  outs  of  the  perfumery  business,  which  she  was  admi- 
rably quick  to  grasp;  she  might  have  been  brought  into  the 
world  for  that  sole  purpose,  so  well  did  she  adapt  herself  to 
her  customers.  The  result  of  the  stocktaking  at  the  end  of 
the  year  alarmed  the  ambitious  perfumer.  After  deducting 
all  expenses,  he  might  perhaps  hope,  in  twenty  years'  time, 
to  make  the  modest  sum  of  a  hundred  thousand  francs,  the 
price  of  his  felicity.  He  determined  then  and  there  to  find 
some  speedier  road  to  fortune,  and,  by  way  of  a  beginning, 
to  be  a  manufacturer  as  well  as  a  retailer. 

Acting  against  his  wife's  counsel,  he  took  the  lease  of  a  shed 
on  some  building  land  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple,  and 
painted  up  thereon,  in  huge  letters,  CESAR  BIROTTEAU'S  FAC- 
TORY. He  enticed  a  workman  from  Grasse,  and  with  him 
began  to  manufacture  several  kinds  of  soap,  essences,  and 
eau-de-cologne,  on  the  system  of  half  profits.  The  partner- 
ship only  lasted  six  months,  -and  ended  in  a  loss,  which  he  had 
to  sustain  alone ;  but  Birotteau  did  not  lose  heart.  He  meant 
to  obtain  a  result  at  any  price,  if  it  were  only  to  escape  a 
scolding  from  his  wife ;  and,  indeed,  he  confessed  to  her  after- 
wards that,  in  those  days  of  despair,  his  head  used  to  boil  like 
a  pot  on  the  fire,  and  that  many  a  time,  but  for  religious  prin- 
ciples, he  would  have  thrown  himself  into  the  Seine. 

One  day,  depressed  by  several  unsuccessful  experiments,  he 
was  sauntering  home  to  dinner  along  the  boulevards  (the 
lounger  in  Paris  is  a  man  in  despair  quite  as  often  as  a 
genuine  idler),  when  a  book  among  a  hamperful  at  six  sous 
apiece  caught  his  attention;  his  eyes  were  attracted  by  the 
yellow  dusty  title-page,  AbdeJcer,  so  it  ran,  or  the  Art  of 
Preserving  Beauty. 

Birotteau  took  up  the  work.  It  claimed  to  be  a  translation 
from  the  Arabic,  but  in  reality  it  was  a  sort  of  romance 
written  by  a  physician  in  the  previous  century.  Cesar  hap- 
pened to  stumble  upon  a  passage  therein  which  treated  of 
perfumes,  and  with  his  back  against  a  tree  in  the  boulevard, 
he  turned  the  pages  over  till  he  reached  a  footnote,  wherein 


\M 


With  his  back  against  a  tree  in  the  Boulevard,  he  turned  the  pages  over 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIlxuiTEAU  33 

the  learned  author  discoursed  of  the  nature  of  the  dermis  and 
epidermis.  The  writer  showed  conclusively  that  such  and 
such  an  unguent  or  soap  often  produced  an  effect  exactly 
opposite  to  that  intended,  and  the  ointment,  or  the  soap,  acted 
as  a  tonic  upon  a  skin  that  required  a  lenitive  treatment,  or 
vice  versa. 

Birotteau  saw  a  fortune  in  the  book,  and  bought  it.  Yet, 
feeling  little  confidence  in  his  unaided  lights,  he  went  to 
Vauquelin,  the  celebrated  chemist,  and  in  all  simplicity  asked 
him  how  to  compose  a  double  cosmetic  which  should  produce 
the  required  effect  upon  the  human  epidermis  in  either  case. 
The  really  learned — men  so  truly  great  in  this  sense  that  they 
can  never  receive  in  their  lifetime  all  the  fame  that  should  re- 
ward vast  labors  like  theirs — are  almost  always  helpful  and 
kindly  to  the  poor  in  intellect.  So  it  was  with  Vauquelin. 
He  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  perfumer,  gave  him  a  for- 
mula for  a  paste  to  whiten  the  hands,  and  allowed  him  to 
style  himself  its  inventor.  It  was  this  cosmetic  that  Birot- 
teau called  the  Superfine  Pate  des  Sultanes.  The  more 
thoroughly  to  accomplish  his  purpose,  he  used  the  recipe  for 
the  paste  for  a  wash  for  the  complexion,  which  he  called  the 
Carminative  Toilet  Lotion. 

He  took  a  hint  from  the  Little  Sailor.,  and  was  the  first 
among  perfumers  to  make  the  lavish  use  of  placards,  hand- 
bills, and  divers  kinds  of  advertisement,  which,  perhaps  not 
undeservedly,  are  called  quackery.  The  Pate  des  Sultanes 
and  the  Carminative  Toilet  Lotion  were  introduced  to  the 
polite  world  and  to  commerce  by  gorgeous  placards,  with  the 
words  Approved  by  the  Institute  at  the  head.  The  effect  of 
this  formula,  employed  thus  for  the  first  time,  was  magical. 
Not  France  only,  but  the  face  of  Europe  was  covered  with 
flaming  proclamations,  yellow,  scarlet,  and  blue,  which  in- 
formed the  world  that  the  sovereign  lord  of  the  Queen  of 
Roses  manufactured,  kept  in  stock,  and  supplied  everything 
in  his  line  of  business  at  moderate  charges. 

At  a  time  when  the  East  was  the  one  topic  of  conversation, 
in  a  country  where  every  man  has  a  natural  turn  for  the  part 


34  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

of  a  sultan,  and  every  woman  is  no  less  minded  to  become  a 
sultana,  the  idea  of  giving  to  any  cosmetic  such  a  name  as 
the  Pate  des  Sultanes  might  have  occurred  to  any  ordinary 
man,  it  needed  no  cleverness  to  foresee  its  fascination;  but 
the  public  always  judges  by  results,  and  Birotteau's  reputa- 
tion for  business  ability  but  grew  the  more  when  he  indited  a 
prospectus,  and  the  very  absurdity  of  its  language  contributed 
to  its  success.  In  France  we  only  laugh  at  men  and  things 
who  are  talked  about,  and  those  who  fail  to  make  any  mark 
are  not  talked  about.  So  although  Birotteau's  stupidity  was 
real  and  not  feigned,  people  gave  him  credit  for  playing  the 
fool  on  purpose. 

A  copy  of  the  prospectus  has  been  procured,  not  without 
difficulty,  by  the  house  of  Popinot  &  Co.,  druggists  in  the  Rue 
des  Lombards.  In  a  more  elevated  connection  this  curious 
piece  of  rhetoric  would  be  styled  an  historical  document,  and 
valued  for  the  light  that  it  sheds  on  contemporary  manners. 
Here,  therefore,  it  is  given : — 

CESAR  BIROTTEAU'S 
SUPERFINE  PATE  DES  SULTANES 

AND 

CARMINATIVE  TOILET  LOTION. 

A  MARVELOUS  DISCOVERY  ! 

Approved  by  the  Institute. 

"  For  some  time  past  a  preparation  for  the  hands,  and  a  toilet 
lotion  more  efficacious  than  Eau-de-Cologne,  have  been  generally 
desired  by  both  sexes  throughout  Europe.  After  devoting  long 
nights  to  the  study  of  the  dermis  and  epidermis  of  both  sexes — for 
both  attach,  and  with  reason,  the  greatest  importance  to  the  soft- 
ness, suppleness,  bloom,  and  delicate  surface  of  the  skin — M.  Birot- 
teau,  a  perfumer  of  high  standing,  and  well  known  in  the  capital 
and  abroad,  has  invented  two  preparations,  which  from  their  first 
appearance  have  been  deservedly  called  '  marvelous '  by  people  of 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  35 

the  highest  fashion  in  Paris.  Both  preparations  possess  astonish- 
ing properties,  and  act  upon  the  skin  without  bringing  about  pre- 
mature wrinkles,  the  inevitable  result  of  the  rash  use  of  the  druga 
hitherto  compounded  by  ignorance  and  cupidity. 

"These  inventions  are  based  upon  the  difference  of  tempera- 
ments, which  are  divided  into  two  great  classes,  are  indicated  by 
the  difference  of  color  in  the  pate  and  the  lotion ;  the  rose-colored 
preparations  being  intended  for  the  dermis  and  epidermis  of  per- 
sons of  lymphatic  constitution,  and  the  white  for  those  endowed 
with  a  sanguine  temperament. 

"The  pate  is  called  the  '  Pate  des  Sultanes, '  because  the  specific 
was  in  the  first  instance  invented  for  the  Seraglio  by  an  Arab 
physician.  It  has  been  approved  by  the  Institute  on  the  report  of 
our  illustrious  chemist  Vauquelin,  and  the  lotion,  likewise  approved, 
is  compounded  upon  the  same  principles. 

' '  The  Pate  des  Sultanes,  an  invaluable  preparation,  which  exhales 
the  sweetest  fragrance,  dissipates  the  most  obstinate  freckles, 
whitens  the  skin  in  the  .Host  stubborn  cases,  and  represses  the  per- 
spiration of  the  hand  from  which  women  suffer  no  less  than  men. 

' '  The  '  Carminative  Toilet  Lotion  '  removes  the  slight  pimples 
which  sometimes  appear  inopportunely  on  ladies'  faces,  and  contra- 
vene their  projects  for  the  ball ;  it  refreshes  and  revives  the  color 
by  opening  or  closing  the  pores  of  the  skin  in  accordance  with  the 
exigencies  of  the  temperament,  while  its  efficacy  in  arresting  the 
ravages  of  time  is  so  well  known  already  that  many  ladies,  out  of 
gratitude,  call  it  the  '  Friend  of  Beauty. ' 

"Eau-de-Cologne  is  purely  and  simply  an  ordinary  perfume  with- 
out special  efficacy,  while  the  Superfine  Pute  des  Sultanes  and  the 
Carminative  Toilet  Lotion  are  two  active  remedies,  powerful  agents, 
perfectly  harmless  in  their  operation  of  seconding  the  efforts  of 
nature ;  their  perfumes,  essentially  balsamic  and  exhilarating, 
admirably  refresh  the  animal  spirits,  and  charm  and  revive  ideas. 
Their  merits  are  as  marvelous  as  their  simplicity ;  in  short,  to 
woman  they  offer  an  added  charm,  while  a  means  of  attraction  is 
put  within  the  reach  of  man. 

"The  daily  use  of  the  Carminative  Toilet  Lotion  allays  the  smart- 
ing sensation  caused  by  shaving,  while  it  keeps  the  lips  red  and 
smooth,  and  prevents  chapping;  it  gradually  dissipates  freckles  by 
natural  means ;  and  finally,  it  restores  tone  to  the  complexion. 
These  results  are  the  signs  of  that  perfect  equilibrium  of  the 


36  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

humors  of  the  body,  which  ensures  immunity  from  the  migraine 
to  those  who  are  subject  to  that  distressing  complaint.  In  short, 
the  Carminative  Toilet  Lotion,  which  may  be  used  in  all  the  opera- 
tions of  the  toilet,  is  a  preventive  of  cutaneous  affections,  by  per- 
mitting free  transpiration  through  the  tissues,  while  imparting  a 
permanent  bloom  to  the  skin. 

' '  All  communications  should  be  prepaid,  and  addressed  to  M. 
C£sar  Birotteau  (late  Ragon),  Perfumer  to  her  late  Majesty,  Queen 
Marie-Antoinette,  at  the  '  Queen  of  Roses, '  Rue  Saint- Honore, 
near  the  Place  Vend&me,  Paris. 

"The  price  of  the  Pate  is  three  livres  per  tablet,  and  of  the  Toilet 
Lotion,  six  livres  per  bottle. 

"  To  prevent  fradulent  imitations,  M.  Birotteau  warns  the  public 
that  the  wrapper  of  every  tablet  bears  his  signature,  and  that  his 
name  is  stamped  on  every  bottle  of  the  Toilet  Lotion. ' ' 

The  success  of  this  scheme  was  due,  as  a  matter  of  fact 
(though  Cesar  did  not  suspect  it),  to  Constance,  who  pro- 
posed that  they  should  send  sample  cases  of  the  Carminative 
Toilet  Lotion  and  the  Superfine  Pate  des  Sultanes  to  every 
perfumer  in  France  or  abroad,  offering,  at  the  same  time,  a 
discount  of  thirty  per  cent  as  an  inducement  to  take  a  gross 
of  either  article  at  a  time. 

The  Pate  and  the  Lotion  were  really  better  than  similar 
cosmetics,  and  the  simple  were  attracted  by  that  distinction 
made  between  the  two  temperaments.  The  discount  was 
tempting  to  hundreds  of  perfumers  all  over  France,  and  each 
would  take  annually  three  hundred  gross  or  more  of  both 
preparations;  and  if  the  profits  on  each  article  were  small, 
the  demand  was  great,  and  the  output  enormous.  Cesar  \v;is 
able  to  buy  the  sheds  and  the  plot  of  land  in  the  Faubourg 
du  Temple.  He  built  a  large  factory  there,  and  had  the 
Queen  of  Roses  magnificently  decorated.  The  household  be- 
gan to  feel  the  small  comforts  of  an  easier  existence,  and  the 
wife  quaked  less  than  heretofore. 

In  1810  Mme.  Cesar  predicted  a  rise  in  house  rents.  At 
her  instance  her  husband  took  the  lease  of  the  whole  house 
above  the  shop,  and  they  removed  from  the  mezzanine  floor 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  37 

(where  they  had  begun  housekeeping  together)  to  the  first 
floor.  A  piece  of  luck  which  befell  them  about  this  time  de- 
cided Constance  to  shut  her  eyes  to  Birotteau's  follies  in  the 
matter  of  decorating  a  room  for  her.  The  perfumer  was  made 
a  judge  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce.  It  was  his  character 
for  integrity  and  conscientiousness,  together  with  the  esteem 
in  which  he  was  held,  that  gained  this  dignity  for  him; 
thenceforward  he  must  be  considered  as  a  notable  among  the 
tradesmen  of  Paris. 

He  used  to  rise  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  read  hand- 
books on  jurisprudence  and  works  which  treated  of  commer- 
cial law.  With  his  instinct  for  fair  dealing,  his  uprightness, 
his  readiness  to  take  trouble — all  qualities  essential  for  the 
appreciation  of  the  knotty  points  submitted  to  arbitration — 
he  was  one  of  the  most  highly  esteemed  judges  in  the  Tribu- 
nal. His  faults  contributed  no  less  to  his  reputation.  Cesar 
was  so  conscious  of  his  inferiority  that  he  was  ready  and  will- 
ing to  take  his  colleagues'  opinion,  and  they  were  flattered  by 
the  attention  with  which  he  listened  to  them.  Some  of  them 
thought  a  good  deal  of  the  silent  approbation  of  such  a  lis- 
ener,  reputed  to  be  a  hard-headed  man ;  others  were  delighted 
with  his  amiability  and  modesty,  and  extolled  him  on  those 
grounds.  Those  amenable  to  his  jurisdiction  lauded  his  be- 
nevolence and  conciliatory  spirit,  and  he  was  often  called  in 
to  act  as  arbitrator  in  disputes  wherein  his  homely  sense  sug- 
gested to  him  a  kind  of  Cadi's  justice. 

He  managed  to  invent  and  use  throughout  his  term  of  office 
a  style  of  his  own ;  it  was  stuffed  with  platitudes,  interspersed 
with  trite  sayings,  and  pieces  of  reasoning  rounded  into 
phrases  which  came  out  without  effort,  and  sounded  like  elo- 
quence in  the  ears  of  shallow  people.  In  this  way  he  com- 
mended himself  to  the  naturally  mediocre  majority,  con- 
demned to  penal  servitude  for  life  and  to  views  of  the  earth 
earthy. 

Cesar  lost  so  much  time  at  the  Tribunal  that  his  wife  put 
pressure  upon  him,  and  thenceforward  he  declined  the  costly 
honor. 

* 


38  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

In  the  year  1813  this  household,  thanks  to  its  constant 
unity,  after  plodding  along  through  life  in  a  humdrum  fash- 
ion, entered  upon  an  era  of  prosperity  which  nothing  seem- 
ingly ought  to  check. 

M.  and  Mme.  Eagon  (their  predecessors),  Uncle  Pillerault, 
Eoguin  the  notary,  the  Matifats  (druggists  in  the  Eue 
des  Lombards  who  supplied  the  Queen  of  Roses),  Joseph 
Lebas  (a  retail  draper,  a  leading  light  in  the  Eue  Saint- 
Denis,  successor  to  Guillaume  at  the  Cat  and  Racket),  Judge 
Popinot  (Mme.  Bagon's  brother),  Chiffreville  (of  the  firm 
of  Protez  &  Chiffreville),  M.  Cochin  (a  clerk  of  the  Treasury, 
and  a  sleeping  partner  in  Matifat's  business),  his  wife,  Mme. 
Cochin,  and  the  Abbe  Loraux  (confessor  and  director  of  the 
devout  among  this  little  circle)  made  up,  with  one  or  two 
others,  the  number  of  their  acquaintance.  Cesar  Birotteau 
might  be  a  Eoyalist,  but  public  opinion  at  that  time  was  in  his 
favor ;  and  though  he  had  scarcely  a  hundred  thousand  francs 
beside  his  business,  was  looked  upon  as  a  very  wealthy  man. 
His  steady-going  ways,  his  punctuality,  his  habit  of  paying 
ready  money  for  everything,  of  never  discounting  bills,  while 
he  would  take  paper  to  oblige  a  customer  of  whom  he  was 
sure, — all  these  things,  together  with  his  readiness  to  oblige, 
had  brought  him  a  great  reputation.  And  not  only  so;  he 
had  really  made  a  good  deal  of  money,  but  the  building  of  his 
factories  had  absorbed  most  of  it,  and  he  paid  nearly  twenty 
thousand  francs  a  year  in  rent.  The  education  of  their  only 
daughter,  whom  Constance  and  Cesar  both  idolized,  had  been 
a  heavy  expense.  Neither  the  husband  nor  the  wife  thought 
of  money  where  Cesarine's  pleasure  was  concerned,  and  they 
had  never  brought  themselves  to  part  with  her. 

Imagine  the  delight  of  the  poor  peasant-parvenu  when  he 
heard  his  charming  Cesarine  play  a  sonata  by  Steibelt  or  sing 
a  ballad ;  when  he  saw  her  writing  French  correctly,  or  making 
sepia  drawings  of  landscape,  or  listened  while  she  read  aloud 
from  the  Eacines,  father  and  son,  and  explained  the  beauties 
of  the  poetry.  What  happiness  it  was  for  him  to  live  again  in 
this  fair,  innocent  flower,  not  yet  plucked  from  the  parent 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  39 

stem;  this  angel,  over  whose  growing  graces  and  earliest  de- 
velopment they  had  watched  with  such  passionate  tenderness; 
this  only  child,  incapable  of  despising  her  father  or  of  laugh- 
ing at  his  vant  of  education,  so  much  was  she  his  little 
daughter. 

When  Cesar  came  to  Paris,  he  had  known  how  to  read, 
write,  and  cipher,  and  at  that  point  his  education  had  been 
arrested.  There  had  been  no  opportunity  in  his  hard-working 
life  of  acquiring  new  ideas  and  information  beyond  the  per- 
fumery trade.  He  had  spent  his  time  among  folk  to  whom 
science  and  literature  were  matters  of  indifference,  and  whose 
knowledge  was  of  a  limited  and  special  kind;  he  himself, 
having  no  time  to  spare  for  loftier  studies,  became  perforce 
a  practical  man.  He  adopted  (how  should  he  have  done  other- 
wise?) the  language,  errors,  and  opinions  of  the  Parisian 
tradesman  who  admires  Moliere,  Voltaire,  and  Eousseau  on 
hearsay,  and  buys  their  works,  but  never  opens  them ;  who  will 
have  it  that  the  proper  way  to  pronounce  armoire  is  ormoire : 
or  means  gold,  and  moire  means  silk,  and  women's  dresses 
used  almost  always  to  be  made  of  silk,  and  in  their  cup- 
boards they  locked  up  silk  and  gold — therefore,  ormoire  is 
right  and  armoire  is  an  innovation.  Potier,  Talma,  Mile. 
Mars,  and  other  actors  and  actresses  were  millionaires  ten 
times  over,  and  did  not  live  like  ordinary  mortals ;  the  great 
tragedian  lived  on  raw  meat,  and  Mile.  Mars  would  have  a 
fricassee  of  pearls  now  and  then — an  idea  she  had  taken  from 
some  celebrated  Egyptian  actress.  As  to  the  Emperor,  his 
waistcoat  pockets  were  lined  with  leather,  so  that  he  could 
take  a  handful  of  snuff  at  a  time ;  he  used  to  ride  at  full  gal- 
lop up  the  staircase  of  the  orangery  at  Versailles.  Authors 
and  artists  ended  in  the  workhouse,  the  natural  close  to  their 
eccentric  careers;  they  were,  every  one  of  them,  atheists  into 
the  bargain,  so  that  you  had  to  be  very  careful  not  to  admit 
anybody  of  that  sort  into  your  house.  Joseph  Lebas  used  to 
advert  with  horror  to  the  story  of  his  sister-in-law  Augustine 
who  married  the  artist  Sommervieux.  Astronomers  lived  on 
spiders.  These  bright  examples  of  the  attitude  of  the  bour- 


4fl  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

geois  mind  towards  philology,  the  drama,  politics,  and  science 
will  throw  light  upon  its  breadth  of  view  and  powers  of  com- 
prehension. 

Let  a  poet  pass  along  the  Hue  des  Lombards,  and  some  stray 
sweet  scent  shall  set  him  dreaming  of  the  East;  for  him, 
with  the  odor  of  the  Khuskus  grass,  would  come  a  vision  of 
Nautch  girls  in  an  Eastern  bath.  The  brilliant  red  lac  would 
call  up  thoughts  of  Vedic  hymns,  of  alien  creeds  and  castes; 
and  at  a  chance  contact  with  an  ivory  tusk,  he  would  mount 
an  elephant  and  make  love,  like  the  king  of  Lahore,  in  a 
muslin-curtained  howdah. 

But  the  petty  tradesman  does  not  so  much  as  know  whence 
the  raw  materials  of  his  business  are  brought.  Of  natural 
history  or  of  chemistry,  Birotteau  the  perfumer,  for  instance, 
knew  nothing  whatever.  It  is  true  that  he  regarded  Vauque- 
lin  as  a  great  man,  but  Vauquelin  was  an  exception.  Cesar 
himself  was  about  on  a  par  with  the  retired  grocer,  who  sum- 
med up  a  discussion  on  the  ways  of  growing  tea  by  announc- 
ing with  a  knowing  air  that  "there  are  only  two  ways  of 
obtaining  tea — from  Havre  or  by  the  overland  route."  And 
Birotteau  thought  that  aloes  and  opium  were  only  to  be  found 
in  the  Rue  des  Lombards.  People  told  you  that  attar  of 
roses  came  from  Constantinople,  but,  like  eau-de-cologne,  it 
was  made  in  Paris.  These  names  of  foreign  places  were 
humbug;  they  had  been  invented  to  amuse  the  French  nation, 
who  cannot  abide  anything  that  is  made  in  France.  A  French 
merchant  has  to  call  his  discovery  an  English  invention,  or 
people  will  not  buy  it;  it  is  just  the  same  in  England,  the 
druggists  there  tell  you  that  things  come  from  France. 

Yet  Cesar  was  not  altogether  a  fool  or  a  dunce ;  an  honest 
and  kind  heart  shed  a  lustre  over  everything  that  he  did  and 
made  his  a  worthy  life,  and  a  kindly  deed  absolves  all  possible 
forms  of  ignorance.  His  unvarying  success  gave  him  assur- 
ance; and,  in  Paris,  assurance,  the  sign  of  power,  is  taken 
for  power  itself. 

Cesar's  wife,  who  had  learned  to  know  her  husband's  char- 
acter during  the  early  years  of  their  marriage,  led  a  life  of 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  41 

perpetual  terror;  she  represented  sound  sense  and  foresight 
in  the  partnership ;  she  was  doubt,  opposition,  and  fear,  while 
Cesar  represented  boldness,  ambition,  activity,  the  element 
of  chance  and  undreamed-of  good  luck.  In  spite  of  appear- 
ances, the  merchant  was  the  weaker  vessel,  and  it  was  the  wife 
who  really  had  the  patience  and  courage.  So  it  had  come  to 
pass  that  a  timid  mediocrity,  without  education,  knowledge, 
or  strength  of  character,  a  being  who  could  in  nowise  have 
succeeded  in  the  world's  slipperiest  places,  was  taken  for  a 
remarkable  man,  a  man  of  spirit  and  resolution,  thanks  to 
his  instinctive  uprightness  and  sense  of  justice,  to  the  good- 
ness of  a  truly  Christian  soul,  and  love  for  the  one  woman 
who  had  been  his. 

The  public  only  see  results.  Of  all  Cesar^s  circle,  only 
Pillerault  and  Judge  Popinot  saw  beneath  the  surface;  none 
of  the  rest  could  pronounce  on  his  character.  Those  twenty 
or  thirty  friends,  moreover,  who  met  at  one  another's  houses, 
retailed  the  same  platitudes,  repeated  the  same  stale  common- 
places, and  each  one  among  them  regarded  himself  as  superior 
to  his  company.  There  was  a  rivalry  among  the  women  in 
dinners  and  dress ;  each  one  summed  up  her  husband  in  some 
contemptuous  word. 

Mme.  Birotteau  alone  had  the  good  sense  to  show  respect 
and  deference  to  her  husband  in  public.  She  saw  in  him  the 
man  who,  in  spite  of  his  private  weaknesses,  had  made  the 
wealth  and  earned  the  esteem  which  she  shared  along  with 
him;  though  she  sometimes  privately  wondered  if  all  men 
who  were  spoken  of  as  superior  intellects  were  like  her  hug- 
band.  This  attitude  of  hers  contributed  not  a  little  to  main- 
tain the  respect  and  esteem  shown  by  others  to  the  merchant, 
in  a  country  where  wives  are  quick-witted  enough  to  belittle 
their  husbands  and  to  complain  of  them. 

The  first  days  of  the  year  1814,  so  fatal  to  Imperial  France, 
were  memorable  in  the  Birotteau  household  for  two  events, 
which  would  have  passed  almost  unnoticed  anywhere  else; 
but  they  were  of  a  kind  to  leave  a  deep  impression  on  simple 
Bouls  like  Cesar  and  his  wife,  who,  looking  back  upon  their 
past,  found  no  painful  memories. 


42  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

They  had  engaged  a  young  man  of  two-and-twenty,  Ferdi- 
nand du  Tillet  by  name,  as  first  assistant.  The  lad  had  come 
to  them  from  another  house  in  the  perfumery  trade,  where 
they  had  declined  to  give  him  a  percentage  of  the  profits.  He 
was  thought  to  be  a  genius,  and  he  had  been  very  anxious  to 
go  to  the  Queen  of  Roses,  knowing  the  place,  and  the  people, 
and  their  ways.  Birotteau  had  engaged  him  at  a  salary  of  a 
thousand  francs,  meaning  that  du  Tillet  should  be  his  succes- 
sor. This  Ferdinand  du  Tillet  was  destined  to  exercise  so 
great  an  influence  over  the  family  fortunes,  that  a  few  words 
must  be  said  about  him. 

He  had  begun  life  simply  on  his  Christian  name  of  Ferdi- 
nand. There  was  an  immense  advantage  in  anonymity,  he 
thought,  at  a  time  when  Napoleon  was  pressing  the  young 
men  of  every  family  into  the  army;  but  if  he  had  no  name, 
he  had  been  born  somewhere,  and  owed  his  birth  to  some 
cruel  or  voluptuous  fancy.  Here,  in  brief,  are  the  few  facts 
known  as  to  his  name  and  designation. 

In  1793  a  poor  girl  of  Tillet,  a  little  hamlet  near  the  An- 
delys,  bore  a  child  one  night  in  the  cure's  garden  at  Tillet, 
tapped  on  the  shutters,  and  then  drowned  herself.  The  good 
man  received  the  child,  named  him  after  the  saint  of  that  day 
in  the  calendar,  and  reared  him  as  if  he  had  been  his  own  son. 
In  1804  the  cure  died,  and  the  little  property  that  he  left  was 
insufficient  to  complete  the  education  thus  begun.  Ferdinand, 
thrown  upon  Paris,  there  led  the  life  of  a  freebooter,  amid 
chances  that  might  bring  him  to  the  scaffold  or  to  fortune, 
to  the  bar,  the  arnw,  commerce,  or  private  life.  Ferdinand, 
compelled  to  live  like  a  very  Figaro,  first  became  a  commer- 
cial traveler,  then,  after  traveling  round  France,  and  seeing 
life,  became  a  perfumer's  assistant,  with  a  fixed  determination 
to  make  his  way  at  all  costs.  In  1813  he  considered  is  expe- 
dient to  ascertain  his  age,  and  to  acquire  a  status  as  a  citizen; 
he  therefore  petitioned  the  Tribunal  of  the  Andelys  to 
transfer  the  entry  of  his  baptism  from  the  church  records  to 
the  mayor's  register;  and,  further,  he  asked  that  they  should 
insert  the  surname  of  du  Tillet,  which  he  had  assumed,  on 


RISE"  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  43 

the  ground  of  his  exposure  at  birth  in  the  commune  of  that 
name. 

He  had  neither  father  nor  mother;  he  had  no  guardian 
save  the  procureur-imperial ;  he  was  alone  in  the  world,  and 
owed  no  account  of  himself  to  any  one ;  society  was  to  him 
a  harsh  stepdame,  and  he  showed  no  mercy  in  his  dealings 
with  society,  knew  no  guide  but  his  own  interests,  found  all 
( means  of  success  permissible.  The  Norman,  armed  with 
these  dangerous  capacities,  combined  with  his  desire  to  suc- 
ceed the  crabbed  faults  for  which  the  natives  of  his  province 
are,  rightly  or  wrongly,  blamed.  Beneath  his  insinuating 
manner  there  was  a  contentious  spirit ;  he  was  a  most  formi- 
dable antagonist — a  blustering  litigant,  disputing  another's 
least  rights  audaciously,  while  he  never  yielded  a  point  him- 
self. He  had  time  on  his  side,  and  wearied  out  his  opponent 
by  his  inflexible  pertinacity.  His  principal  merits  were  those 
of  the  Scapins  of  old  comedy;  he  possessed  their  fertility  of 
resource,  their  skill  in  sailing  near  the  wind,  their  itch  to 
seize  on  what  seems  good  to  have  and  hold.  Indeed,  he  meant 
to  apply  to  his  poverty  a  motto  which  the  Abbe  Terray  applied 
in  statecraft;  he  would  make  a  clean  record  by  turning  hon- 
est later  on. 

He  was  endowed  with  strenuous  energy,  with  the  military 
intrepidity  which  demands  good  deeds  or  bad  indifferently 
of  everybody,  justifying  his  demand  by  the  theory  of  personal 
interest ;  he  was  bound  to  succeed ;  he  had  too  great  a  scorn  of 
human  nature ;  he  believed  too  firmly  that  all  men  have  their 
price;  he  was  too  little  troubled  by  scruples  as  to  the  choice 
of  means,  when  all  were  alike  permissible;  his  eyes  were  too 
fixedly  set  upon  the  success  and  wealth  that  should  purchase 
absolution  for  a  system  of  morals  which  worked  thus  not  to 
be  successful. 

Such  a  man,  between  the  convict's  prison  on  the  one  hand, 
and  millions  upon  the  other,  must  of  necessity  become  vin- 
dictive, domineering,  swift  in  his  decisions,  a  dissembling 
Cromwell  scheming  to  cut  off  the  head  of  probity.  A  light, 
mocking  wit  concealed  the  depth  of  his  character ;  mere  shop- 


44  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIKOTTEAU 

man  though  he  was,  his  ambition  knew  no  bounds;  he  had 
comprehended  society  in  one  glance  of  hatred,  and  said  to 
himself,  "You  are  in  my  power."  He  had  vowed  that  he 
would  not  marry  before  he,  was  forty  years  old.  He  kept  his 
word  with  himself. 

As  to  Ferdinand's  outward  appearance,  he  was  a  slim, 
well-shaped  young  fellow,  with  adaptable  manners  that  en- 
abled him  at  need  to  take  any  tone  through  the  whole  gamut 
of  society.  At  first  sight  his  weasel  face  was  not  displeasing ; 
but  after  more  observation,  you  detected  the  strange  expres- 
sions which  are  visible  on  the  surface  of  those  who  are  not  at 
peace  with  themselves,  or  who  hear  at  times  the  warning  voice 
of  conscience.  His  hard  high  color  glowed  under  the  soft 
Norman  skin.  There  was  a  furtive  look  in  the  wall-eyes, 
lined  with  silver  leaf,  which  grew  terrible  when  they  were 
fixed  full  on  his  victim.  His  voice  was  husky,  as  if  he  had 
been  speaking  for  long.  The  thin  lips  were  not  unpleasing, 
but  the  sharply-pointed  nose  and  slightly  rounded  forehead 
revealed  a  defect  of  race.  Indeed,  the  coloring  of  his  hair, 
which  looked  as  if  it  had  been  dyed  black,  indicated  the  social 
half-breed,  who  had  his  cleverness  from  a  dissolute  great  lord, 
his  low  ideas  from  the  peasant  girl,  the  victim  of  seduction; 
who  owed  his  knowledge  to  an  incomplete  education;  whose 
vices  were  those  of  the  waif  and  stray. 

Birotteau  learned,  to  his  unbounded  amazement,  that  his 
assistant  went  out  very  elegantly  arrayed,  came  in  very  late, 
and  went  to  balls  at  bankers'  and  notaries'  houses.  These 
habits  found  no  favor  with  Cesar.  To  his  way  of  thinking, 
a  shopman  should  study  the  ledgers,  and  think  of  nothing  but 
the  business.  The  perfumer  had  no  patience  with  folly.  He 
spoke  gently  to  du  Tillet  about  wearing  such  fine  linen,  about 
visiting  cards,  which  bore  the  name  F.  du  Tillet — manners 
and  customs  which,  according  to  his  commercial  jurispru- 
dence, should  be  confined  to  the  fashionable  world. 

But  Ferdinand  had  established  himself  in  this  house  to 
play  Tartuffe  to  Birotteau's  Orgon;  he  paid  court  to  Mme. 
Cesar,  tried  to  seduce  her,  and  gauging  his  employer  with 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  45 

appalling  quickness,  judged  him  as  his  wife  had  previously 
judged.  Du  Tillet  only  said  what  he  meant  to  say,  and  waa 
both  reserved  and  discreet;  but  he  unveiled  opinions  of  man- 
kind and  views  of  life  in  a  fashion  that  dismayed  a  timorous, 
conscientious  woman,  who  thought  it  a  sin  to  do  the  slightest 
wrong  to  her  neighbor.  In  spite  of  the  tact  which  Mme. 
Birotteau  employed,  du  Tillet  felt  her  contempt  for  him; 
and  Constance,  to  whom  Ferdinand  had  written  several 
amorous  epistles,  soon  noticed  a  change  in  the  manners  of 
her  assistant.  He  began  to  behave  presumptuously,  to  give 
others  the  impression  that  there  was  an  understanding  be- 
tween them.  Without  informing  her  husband  of  her  private 
reasons,  she  recommended  him  to  dismiss  the  man,  and  Birot- 
teau was  of  his  wife's  opinion  on  this  head.  Du  Tillet's  dis- 
missal was  resolved  upon;  but  one  evening,  on  the  Saturday 
before  he  gave  notice,  Birotteau  balanced  his  books,  as  he  was 
wont  to  do  every  month,  and  found  that  he  was  three  thou- 
sand francs  short.  He  was  in  terrible  consternation.  It  was 
not  so  much  the  actual  loss  that  affected  him  as  the  suspicion 
that  hung  over  his  three  assistants  and  the  servant,  the 
errand-boy,  and  the  workmen.  On  whom  was  he  to  lay  the 
blame  ?  Mme.  Birotteau  was  never  away  from  the  cash  desk. 
The  book-keeper,  who  lodged  in  the  house,  was  a  young  man 
of  eighteen,  Popinot  by  name,  a  nephew  of  M.  Ragon,  and 
honesty  itself.  Indeed,  on  Popinot's  own  showing,  the  money 
was  missing,  for  the  cash  did  not  agree  with  the  balance. 
Husband  and  wife  agreed  to  say  nothing,  and  to  watch  every 
one  in  the  house. 

Monday  came,  and  their  friends  came  to  spend  the  evening. 
Every  family  in  this  set  entertained  in  turn.  While  they 
played  at  bouillotte,  Roguin  the  notary  put  down  on  the  table 
some  old  louis-d'or  which  Mme.  Cesar  had  taken  some  days 
before  of  a  bride,  Mme.  d'Espart. 

"Have  you  been  robbing  the  poor-box?"  asked  the  per- 
fumer, laughing. 

Roguin  said  that  he  had  won  the  money  of  du  Tillet  at  a 
banker's  house  on  the  previous  evening,  and  du  Tillet  bore 


46  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAtf 

him  out-  in  this  without  a  blusL  As  for  the  perfumer,  he 
turned  crimson.  When  the  visitors  had  gone,  and  Ferdinand 
was  about  to  go  to  bed,  Birotteau  called  him  down  into  the 
shop,  on  pretence  of  business  to  discuss. 

"We  are  three  thousand  francs  short  in  the  cash,  du  Tillet," 
the  good  man  said,  "and  I  cannot  suspect  anybody.  The  mat- 
ter of  the  old  louis-d'or  seems  to  be  too  much  against  you  to 
be  passed  over  entirely,  so  we  will  not  go  to  bed  till  we  have 
found  out  the  mistake,  for,  after  all,  it  can  be  nothing  but  a 
mistake.  Very  likely  you  took  the  louis  on  account  of  your 
salary." 

Du  Tillet  owned  to  having  taken  the  louis.  The  perfumer 
thereupon  opened  the  ledger;  the  assistant's  account  had  not 
yet  been  debited  with  the  sum. 

"I  was  in  a  hurry.  I  ought  to  have  asked  Popinot  to  enter 
it,"  said  Ferdinand. 

"Quite  true,"  said  Birotteau,  disconcerted  by  this  off-hand 
coolness.  The  Norman  had  taken  the  measure  of  the  good 
folk  among  whom  he  had  come  with  a  view  to  making  his 
fortune. 

The  perfumer  and  his  assistant  spent  the  night  in  checking 
the  books,  the  worthy  merchant  knowing  all  the  while  that 
it  was  trouble  thrown  away.  As  he  came  and  went  he  slipped 
three  banknotes  of  a  thousand  francs  each  into  the  safe, 
pressing  them  between  the  side  of  the  drawer  and  the  groove 
in  the  safe;  then  he  pretended  to  be  tired  out,  seemed  to  be 
fast  asleep,  and  snored.  Du  Tillet  awakened  him  in  triumph, 
and  showed  exaggerated  delight  over  the  discovery  of  the  mis- 
take. 

The  next  morning  Birotteau  scolded  little  Popinot  and 
Mme.  Cesar  in  public,  and  waxed  wrathful  over  their  care- 
lessness. 

A  fortnight  later,  Ferdinand  du  Tillet  entered  a  stock- 
broker's office.  The  perfumery  trade  did  not  suit  him,  he 
said;  he  wanted  to  study  banking.  At  the  same  time,  he 
spoke  of  Mme.  Cesar  in  a  way  that  gave  the  impression  that 
motives  of  jealousy  had  procured  his  dismissal. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  47 

A  few  months  later  du  Tillet  came  to  see  his  late  employer, 
and  asked  him  to  be  his  surety  for  twenty  thousand  francs, 
to  complete  the  guarantees  required  in  a  matter  which  was  to 
put  him  in  the  way  of  making  his  fortune.  Seeing  Birot- 
teau's  surprise  at  this  piece  of  effrontery,  du  Tillet  scowled 
and  asked  the  perfumer  whether  he  had  no  confidence  in  him. 
Matifat  and  two  men  with  whom  Birotteau  did  business  were 
there  at  the  time;  his  indignation  did  not  escape  them, 
though  he  controlled  his  anger  in  their  presence.  Perhaps 
du  Tillet  had  returned  to  honesty;  a  gambling  debt  or  some 
woman  in  distress  might  have  been  at  the  root  of  that  error 
of  his ;  and  the  fact  that  an  honest  man.  publicly  declined  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  him  might  launch  a  man,  still 
young,  and  perhaps  penitent,  on  a  career  of  crime  and  mis- 
fortune. The  angel  of  mercy  took  up  the  pen  and  set  his 
signature  on  du  Tillet's  papers,  saying  as  he  did  so  that  he 
was  heartily  glad  to  do  a  small  service  for  a  lad  who  had  been 
very  useful  to  him.  The  color  came  into  the  good  man's  face 
as  he  told  that  kindly  lie.  Du  Tillet  could  not  meet  his  eyes, 
and  doubtless  at  that  moment  vowed  an  eternal  enmity,  the 
truceless  hate  that  the  angels  of  darkness  bear  the  angels  of 
light. 

Du  Tillet  kept  his  balance  so  skilfully  upon  the  tight  rope 
of  speculation,  that  he  was  always  fashionably  dressed,  and 
was  apparently  rich  long  before  he  was  rich  in  reality.  When 
he  set  up  a  cabriolet  he  never  put  it  down  again;  he  held  his 
own  in  the  lofty  spheres  where  pleasure  and  business  are 
mingled,  among  the  Turcarets  of  the  epoch  for  whom  the 
crush-room  of  the  Opera  is  a  branch  of  the  Stock  Exchange. 

Thanks  to  Mme.  Eoguin,  whom  he  had  met  among  the 
Birotteaus'  circle,  he  became  rapidly  known  in  high  financial 
regions.  Ferdinand  du  Tillet  had  attained  a  prosperity  in 
nowise  delusive ;  he  was  on  an  excellent  footing  with  the  firm 
of  Nucingen,  to  whom  Eoguin  had  introduced  him;  and  he 
had  not  been  slow  to  secure  the  Keller  connection,  and  to 
make  friends  among  the  upper  banking  world.  Nobody 
knew  where  the  young  fellow  found  the  vast  capital  which 


46  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAE  BIROTTEAU 

he  could  command,  but  they  set  down  his  luck  to  his  intelli- 
gence and  honesty. 

The  Kestoration  made  a  personage  of  Cesar  Birotteau, 
and,  in  the  vortex  of  political  crises,  he  not  unnaturally 
forgot  these  two  cross  events  in  his  household.  The  tenacity 
with  which  he  had  held  to  his  opinions — for  though  since  his 
wound  it  had  been  a  strictly  passive  tenacity,  he  still  held  to 
his  principles  for  decency's  sake — had  brought  him  patronage 
in  high  quarters,  precisely  because  he  had  asked  for  nothing. 
He  received  an  appointment  as  major  in  the  National  Guard, 
though  he  did  not  so  much  as  know  a  single  word  of  com- 
mand. 

In  1815  Napoleon,  inimical  as  ever  to  Birotteau,  ejected 
him  from  his  post.  During  the  Hundred  Days,  Birotteau 
became  the  bete  noire  of  the  Liberals  in  his  quarter ;  for  party 
feeling  began  to  run  high  in  that  year  among  the  commercial 
class,  who  hitherto  had  been  unanimous  in  voting  for  peace 
for  business  reasons. 

After  the  second  Eestoration,  the  Royalist  Government 
found  it  necessary  to  manipulate  the  municipal  body.  The 
prefect  wanted  to  transform  Birotteau  into  a  mayor,  but, 
thanks  to  his  wife,  the  perfumer  accepted  the  less  conspicu- 
ous position  of  deputy-mayor.  His  modesty  added  not  a  little 
to  his  reputation,  and  brought  him  the  friendship  of  the 
mayor,  M.  Flamet  de  la  Billardiere.  Birotteau,  who  had  seen 
him  at  the  Queen  of  Roses  in  the  days  when  Royalist  plotters 
used  to  meet  at  Ragon's  shop,  suggested  his  name  to  the 
Prefect  of  the  Seine,  who  consulted  the  perfumer  on  the 
choice.  M.  and  Mme.  Birotteau  were  never  forgotten  in  the 
mayor's  invitations,  and  Mme.  Birotteau  often  asked  for 
charitable  subscriptions  at  Saint-Roch  in  good  society. 

La  Billardiere  warmly  supported  Birotteau  when  it  was  pro- 
posed to  distribute  the  Crosses  awarded  to  the  municipal  body; 
when  names  were  being  weighed,  he  laid  stress  upon  Cesar's 
wound  received  at  Saint-Roch,  on  his  attachment  to  the 
Bourbons,  and  on  the  respect  in  which  Birotteau  was  held. 
So  the  minister,  who,  while  he  endeavored  to  undo  the  work 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  49 

of  Napoleon,  was  wishful  to  make  creatures  of  his  own,  and 
to  secure  partisans  for  the  Bourbons  from  the  ranks  of  com- 
merce, and  among  men  of  art  and  science,  included  Birotteau 
in  the  list  of  those  to  be  distinguished. 

This  favor,  together  with  the  glory  which  Cesar  already 
ghed  around  him  in  his  Arrondissement,  put  him  in  a  posi- 
tion that  was  bound  to  magnify  the  ideas  of  a  man  who  had 
met  hitherto  with  nothing  but  success;  and  when  the  mayor 
told  him  of  the  approaching  distinction,  it  was  the  final  argu- 
ment which  urged  the  perfumer  into  the  speculation  which 
he  had  just  disclosed  to  his  wife;  for  it  opened  up  a  way  of 
quitting  the  perfumery  trade,  and  of  rising  to  the  upper 
ranks  of  the  Parisian  bourgeoisie. 

Cesar  was  forty  years  old.  Hard  work  at  his  factory  had 
set  one  or  two  premature  wrinkles  in  his  face,  and  slightly 
silvered  the  long  bushy  hair,  on  which  the  constant  pressure  of 
his  hat  had  impressed  a  glossy  ring.  The  outlines  of  his  hair 
described  five  points  on  his  forehead,  which  told  a  story  of 
simplicity  of  life.  There  was  nothing  alarming  about  the 
bushy  eyebrows,  for  the  blue  eyes,  with  their  clear,  straight- 
forward expression,  were  in  keeping  with  the  honest  man's 
brow.  His  nose,  broken  at  his  birth,  and  blunt  at  the  tip, 
gave  him  the  astonished  look  of  the  typical  Parisian  cockney. 
His  lips  were  very  thick,  his  chin  heavy  and  straight.  It 
was  a  high-colored  face  with  square  outlines,  and  a  peculiar 
disposition  of  the  wrinkles, — altogether  it  was  of  the  ingen- 
uous, shrewd  peasant  type ;  and  his  evident  physical  strength, 
his  sturdy  limbs,  broad  shoulders,  and  big  feet,  all  denoted 
the  countryman  transported  to  Paris.  The  large  hands, 
covered  with  hair,  the  creases  in  the  plump  finger-joints, 
and  broad,  square-shaped  nails  at  the  tips,  would  ajone  have 
attested  his  origin  if  there  had  not  been  signs  of  it  about  his 
whole  person. 

He  always  wore  the  bland  smile  with  which  a  shopkeeper 
welcomes  a  customer;  but  this  smile,  assumed  for  business 
purposes  in  his  case,  was  the  outward  and  visible  expression 
of  inward  content,  and  reflected  the  serenity  of  a  kindly  soul 


50  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

His  distrust  of  his  species  was  strictly  confined  to  the  bus- 
iness; he  parted  company  with  his  shrewdness  as  he  came 
away  from  the  Exchange  or  shut  his  ledger.  Suspicion  for 
him  was  one  of  the  exigencies  of  business,  like  his  printed 
bill-heads. 

There  was  a  comical  mixture  of.  assurance,  fatuity,  and 
good-nature  in  his  face,  which  gave  it  a  certain  character  of 
its  own,  and  redeemed  it,  to  some  extent,  from  the  vapid  uni- 
formity of  Parisian  bourgeois  countenances.  But  for  the  ex- 
pression of  artless  wonder  and  trustfulness,  people  would 
have  stood  too  much  in  awe  of  him ;  it  was  thus  that  he  paid 
his  quota  of  absurdity  that  put  him  on  a  footing  of  equality 
with  his  kind. 

It  was  a  habit  of  his  to  cross  his  hands  behind  him  while 
speaking;  and  when  he  meant  to  say  something  particularly 
civil  or  striking,  he  gradually  raised  himself  on  tiptoe  once 
or  twice,  and  came  down  heavily  upon  his  heels,  as  if  to  em- 
phasize his  remark.  Sometimes  in  the  height  of  a  discussion 
he  would  suddenly  swing  himself  round,  take  a  step  or  two  as 
if  in  search  of  objections,  and  then  turn  abruptly  upon  his 
opponent.  He  never  interrupted  anybody,  and  not  seldom 
fell  a  victim  to  his  finer  punctilious  observance  of  good  man- 
ners, for  others  did  not  scruple  to  take  the  words  out  of  his 
mouth,  and  when  the  worthy  man  came  away  he  had  been  un- 
able to  put  in  a  word. 

In  his  wide  experience  of  business  he  had  acquired  habits 
which  others  sometimes  described  as  a  mania.  For  instance, 
if  a  bill  had  not  been  met,  he  would  put  it  in  the  hands  of  the 
process-server,  and  give  himself  no  further  trouble  about  it, 
save  to  receive  the  capital,  interest,  and  court  expenses.  The 
matter  might  drive  the  customer  into  bankruptcy,  and  then 
Cesar  went  no  further.  He  never  attended  a  meeting  of 
creditors;  his  name  never  appeared  in  any  list;  he  kept  his 
claims.  This  system,  together  with  an  implacable  contempt 
for  bankrupts,  had  been  handed  down  to  him  by  old  M.  Ra- 
gon,  who,  after  a  long  commercial  experience,  had  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  meagre  and  uncertain  dividend  paid 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  51 

under  the  circumstances  was  a  very  poor  return  for  the  time 
wasted  in  law  proceedings,  and  held  that  he  could  spend  his 
time  to  better  purpose  than  in  running  about  after  excuses 
for  dishonesty. 

"If  the  bankrupt  is  an  honest  man,  and  makes  his  way 
again,  he  will  pay  you,"  M.  Eagon  was  wont  to  say.  "If  he 
has  nothing,  and  is  simply  unfortunate,  what  is  the  good  of 
tormenting  him  ?  And  if  he  is  a  rogue,  you  will  get  nothing  ' 
in  any  case.  If  you  have  a  name  for  being  hard  on  people, 
they  will  not  try  to  make  terms  with  you ;  and  so  long  as  they 
can  pay  at  all,  you  are  the  man  whom  they  will  pay." 

Cesar  kept  his  appointments  punctually;  he  would  wait 
for  ten  minutes,  and  nothing  would  induce  him  to  stay  any 
longer,  a  characteristic  which  was  a  cause  of  punctuality 
in  others  who  had  to  do  with  him. 

His  dress  was  in  keeping  with  his  appearance  and  habits. 
No  power  on  earth  would  have  induced  him  to  resign  the  white 
lawn  neck-cloths  with  drooping  ends,  embroidered  by  his  wife 
or  daughter.  His  white  drill  waistcoats,  adorned  with  a 
double  row  of  buttons,  descended  low  upon  his  prominent 
abdomen,  for  Birotteau  was  inclined  to  corpulence.  He  wore 
blue  breeches,  black  silk  stockings,  and  walking-shoes  adorned 
with  ribbon  bows  that  were  apt  to  come  unfastened.  Out  of 
doors  his  too  ample  green  overcoat  and  broad-brimmed  hat 
gave  him  a  somewhat  Quakerly  appearance.  On  Sunday 
evenings  he  wore  a  coat  of  chestnut-brown  cloth,  with  long 
tails  and  ample  skirts,  and  black  silk  breeches;  the  corners 
of  the  inevitable  waistcoat  were  turned  down  a  little  to  dis- 
play the  pleated  shirt-front  beneath,  and  there  were  gold 
buckles  on  his  shoes.  Until  the  year  1819  his  person  was 
further  adorned  by  two  parallel  lines  of  watch-chain,  but  he 
only  wore  the  second  when  in  full  dress. 

Such  was  Cesar  Birotteau — a  worthy  soul,  from  whom  the 
mysterious  powers  that  preside  at  the  making  of  man  had 
withheld  the  faculty  of  seeing  life  or  politics  as  a  whole,  and 
the  capacity  of  rising  above  the  social  level  of  the  lower  mid- 
dle class;  in  all  things  he  was  destined  to  follow  in  the  ruts 


32  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

of  the  old  road ;  he  had  caught  his  opinions  like  an  infection, 
and  he  put  them  in  practice  without  examining  into  them. 
But  if  he  was  blind,  he  was  a  good  man;  if  he  was  not  very 
clever,  he  was  deeply  religious,  and  his  heart  was  pure.  In 
that  heart  there  shone  but  one  love,  the  light  of  his  life  and 
its  motive  power;  for  his  desire  to  rise  in  the  world,  like  the 
meagre  knowledge  that  he  had  learned  in  it,  had  its  source  in 
his  love  for  his  wife  and  daughter.  / 

As  for  Mme.  Cesar,  at  that  time,  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven, 
she  so  exactly  resembled  the  Venus  of  Milo,  that  when  the  Due 
de  Biviere  sent  the  beautiful  statue  to  France,  all  her  ac- 
quaintance recognized  the  likeness.  A  few  short  months, 
and  trouble  so  swiftly  spread  its  sallow  tinge  over  the  daz- 
zling fairness  of  her  face,  so  ruthlessly  darkened  and  hollowed 
the  blue-veined  circles  in  which  the  beautiful  hazel  eyes  were 
set,  that  she  came  to  look  like  an  aged  Madonna ;  for  in  the 
wreck  of  her  beauty  she  never  lost  her  sweet  ingenuousness, 
though  there  was  a  sad  expression  in  the  clear  eyes;  and  it 
was  impossible  not  to  see  in  her  a  still  beautiful  woman,  staid 
in  her  demeanor,  and  full  of  dignity.  Moreover,  during  this 
ball  of  Cesar's  planning,  her  beauty  was  to  shine  forth 
radiantly  for  the  last  time  to  the  admiration  of  beholders. 

Every  life  has  its  apogee;  there  is  a  time  in  every  exist- 
ence when  active  causes  bring  about  exactly  proportionate 
results.  This  high  noon  of  life,  when  the  vital  forces  are 
evenly  balanced  and  put  forth  in  all  the  glory  of  their 
strength,  is  common  not  only  to  organic  life ;  you  will  find  it 
even  in  the  history  of  cities  and  nations  and  institutions  and 
ideas,  in  commerce,  and  in  every  kind  of  human  effort,  for, 
like  noble  families  and  dynasties,  these  too  have  their  birth 
and  rise  and  fall. 

How  comes  it  that  this  argument  of  waxing  and  waning 
is  applied  so  inexorably  to  everything  throughout  the  system 
of  things? — to  death  as  to  life;  for  in  times  of  pestilence, 
death  runs  his  course,  abates,  returns  again,  lies  dormant. 
Who  knows  but  that  our  globe  itself  is  a  rocket  somewhat 
longer  lived  than  other  fireworks  ? 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  53 

History,  telling  over  and  over  again  the  reasons  of  the  rise 
and  fall  of  all  that  has  been  in  the  world  in  the  past,  might 
be  a  warning  to  man  that  there  is  a  moment  when  the  active 
play  of  all  his  faculties  must  cease;  but  neither  conquerors, 
nor  actors,  nor  women,  nor  writers  heed  the  wholesome 
admonition.  Cesar  Birotteau,  who  should  have  looked  upon 
himself  as  having  reached  the  apogee  of  his  career,  mistook 
the  summit  for  the  starting-point.  He  did  not  know  the 
reason  of  the  downfalls  of  which  history  is  full;  nay,  neither 
kings  nor  peoples  have  made  any  effort  to  engrave  in  imper- 
ishable characters  the  causes  of  the  catastrophes  of  which  the 
history  of  royal  and  of  commercial  houses  affords  such  con- 
spicuous examples.  Why  should  not  pyramids  be  reared  anew 
to  put  us  constantly  in  mind  of  the  immutable  law  which 
should  govern  the  affairs  of  nations  as  well  as  of  individuals : 
When  the  effect  produced  is  no  longer  in  direct  relation  with 
nor  in  exact  proportion  to  the  cause,  disorganization  sets  in? 
And  yet — these  monuments  are  all  about  us — in  legends,  in 
the  stones  that  cry  out  to  us  of  a  past,  and  bear  perpetual 
record  to  the  freaks  of  a  stubborn  Fate  whose  hand  sweeps 
away  our  illusions,  and  makes  it  clear  to  us  that  the  greatest 
events  resolve  themselves  at  last  into  an  Idea,  and  the  "Tale  of 
Troy"  and  the  "Story  of  Xapoleon"  are  poems  and  nothing 
more. 

Would  that  this  story  might  be  the  Epic  of  the  Bourgeoisie ; 
there  are  dealings  of  Fate  with  man  which  inspire  no  voice, 
because  they  lack  grandeur,  yet  are  even  for  that  very  reason 
immense:  for  this  is  not  the  story  of  an  isolated  soul,  but  of 
a  whole  nation  of  sorrows. 

Cesar  as  he  dropped  off  to  sleep  feared  that  his  wife  might 
bring  forward  some  peremptory  objection  in  the  morning, 
and  laid  it  upon  himself  to  wake  betimes  and  settle  everything. 
As  soon  as  it  grew  light,  he  rose  noiselessly,  leaving  his  wife 
asleep,  dressed  quickly,  and  went  down  into  the  shop  just  as 
the  boy  was  taking  clown  the  numbered  shutters.  Birotteau, 
finding  himself  in  solitary  possession,  stood  waiting  in  the 
doorway  for  the  assistants,  watching  critically  meanwhile 
5 


54  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

the  way  in  which  Eaguet  the  errand  boy  discharged  his  duties, 
for  Birotteau  was  an  old  hand.  The  weather  was  magnificent 
in  spite  of  the  cold. 

"Popinot,  fetch  your  hat  and  your  walking  shoes,  and  tell 
M.  Celestin  to  come  down ;  you  and  I  will  go  to  the  Tuileries 
and  have  a  little  talk  together,"  said  he,  when  Anselme  came. 

Popinot,  that  admirable  foil  to  du  Tillet,  whom  one  of 
those  happy  chances  which  induce  a  belief  in  a  protecting 
Providence  had  established  in  Cesar's  household,  will  play 
so  great  a  part  in  this  story,  that  it  is  necessary  to  give  a 
sketch  of  him  here. 

•  Mme.  Eagon's  maiden  name  was  Popinot.  She  had  two 
brothers.  One  of  them,  the  youngest  of  the  family,  was  at 
the  present  time  a  judge  in  the  Tribunal  of  First  Instance 
of  the  Seine.  The  older  had  gone  into  the  wool-trade,  had 
lost  his  patrimony,  and  died,  leaving  his  only  son  to  the 
Eagons  and  his  brother  the  judge,  who  had  no  children.  The 
child's  mother  had  died  at  his  birth. 

Mme.  Eagon  had  found  this  situation  for  her  nephew,  and 
hoped  to  see  him  succeed  to  Birotteau.  Anselme  Popinot 
(for  that  was  his  name)  was  short  and  club-footed,  a  dis- 
pensation common  to  Byron,  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  Talley- 
rand, lest  others  thus  afflicted  should  be  too  much  discouraged. 
He  had  the  brilliant  complexion  covered  with  freckles  which 
usually  distinguishes  red-haired  people;  but  a  clear  forehead^ 
eyes  like  agates  streaked  with  gray,  a  pretty  mouth,  a  pale 
face,  the  charm  of  youthful  diffidence,  and  a  want  of  confi- 
dence in  himself,  due  to  his  physical  deformity,  aroused  a 
kindly  feeling  towards  him  in  others.  We  love  the  weak, 
and  people  felt  interested  in  Popinot. 

Little  Popinot,  as  everybody  called  him,  took  after  his 
family.  They  were  people  essentially  religious,  whose  vir- 
tues were  informed  by  intelligence,  whose  quiet  lives  were  full 
of  good  deeds.  So  the  child,  brought  up  by  his  uncle  the 
judge,  united  all  the  qualities  pleasing  in  youth;  he  was  a 
good  and  affectionate  boy,  a  little  ba.-hful,  but  full  of  en- 
thusiasm; docile  as  a  lamb,  but  hard-working,  faithful,  and 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR   BIROTTEAU  55 

steady,  endowed  with  all  the  virtues  of  a  Christian  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Church. 

When  Popinot  heard  of  the  proposed  walk  to  the  Tuileries. 
the  most  unlooked-for  remark  that  his  awe-inspiring  em- 
ployer could  have  made  at  that  time  of  day,  his  thoughts 
went  to  his  own  settlement  in  life,  and  thence  all  at  once  to 
Cesarine,  the  real  queen  of  roses,  the  living  sign  of  the  house. 
He  had  fallen  in  love  on  his  very  first  day  in  the  shop,  two 
months  before  du  Tillet's  departure.  He  was  obliged  to  stop 
more  than  once  on  his  way  upstairs,  his  heart  so  swelled,  and 
his  pulses  beat  so  hard. 

In  another  moment  he  came  down,  followed  by  Celestin, 
the  first  assistant.  Then  Anselme  and  his  employer  set  out 
without  a  word  for  the  Tuileries. 

Anselme  Popinot  was  just  twenty-one  years  of  age;  Birot- 
teau  had  married  at  one-and-twenty,  so  Anselme  saw  no 
hindrance  to  his  marriage  with  Cesarine  on  that  score.  It 
was  her  beauty  and  her  father's  wealth  that  set  enormous 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  such  ambitious  wishes  as  his,  but  love 
grows  with  every  up-leaping  of  hope;  the  wilder  the  hopes, 
the  more  he  clung  to  them,  and  his  longings  grew  the  stronger 
for  the  distance  between  him  and  his  love.  Happy  boy,  who 
in  a  time  when  all  and  sundry  are  brought  down  to  the  same 
level,  when  every  head  is  crowned  with  a  precisely  similar  hat, 
can  still  contrive  to  create  a  distance  between  a  perfumer's 
daughter  and  himself — the  scion  of  an  old  Parisian  family ! 
And  he  was  happy,  in  spite  of  his  doubts  and  fears ;  every  day 
of  his  life  he  sat  next  to  Cesarine  at  dinner ;  he  set  about  his 
business  with  a  zeal  and  .enthusiasm  that  left  no  element  of 
drudgery  in  his  work;  he  did  everything  in  the  name  of 
Cesarine,  and  never  wearied.  At  one-and-twenty  devotion  is 
food  sufficient  for  love. 

"He  will  be  a  merchant  some  of  these  days ;  he  will  get  on," 
Cesar  would  say,  speaking  of  Anselme  to  Mme.  Ragon,  and 
he  would  praise  Anselme's  activity  in  the  filling-out  depart- 
ment, extolling  his  quickness  at  comprehending  the  mysteries 
of  the  craft,  relating  how  that,  when  goods  were  to  be  sent 


56  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

off  in  a  hurry,  Anselme  would  roll  up  his  sleeves  and  work 
bare-armed  at  packing  the  cases  and  nailing  down  the  lids, 
and  the  lame  lad  would  do  more  than  all  the  rest  of  them 
put  together. 

There  was  another  serious  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  or- 
phan's success.  It  was  a  well-known  and  recognized  fact  that 
Alexandre  Crottat,  Eoguin's  head-clerk,  the  son  of  a  rich 
farmer  of  la  Brie,  hoped  to  marry  Cesarine;  and  there  were 
other  difficulties  yet  more  formidable.  In  the  depths  of 
Popinot's  heart  there  lay  buried  sad  secrets  which  set  a  yet 
wider  gulf  between  him  and  Cesarine.  The  Eagons,  on  whom 
he  might  have  counted,  were  in  difficulties;  the  orphan  boy 
was  happy  to  take  them  his  scanty  salary  to  help  them  to  eke 
out  a  living.  But  in  spite  of  all  these  things,  he  hoped  to 
succeed !  More  than  once  he  had  caught  a  glance  from 
Cesarine,  and  beneath  her  apparent  pride  he  had  dared  to 
read  a  secret  thought  full  of  tender  hopes  in  the  depths  of  her 
blue  eyes.  So  he  worked  on,  set  in  a  ferment  by  that  gleam  of 
hope,  tremulous  and  mute,  like  all  young  men  in  a  like  case 
when  life  is  breaking  into  blossom. 

"Popinot,"  the  good  man  began,  "is  your  aunt  quite  well  ?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Somehow  she  has  seemed  to  me  to  have  an  anxious  look 
for  some  time  past;  can  something  have  gone  askew  with 
them?  Look  here,  my  boy,  you  must  not  make  a  stranger  of 
me,  that  am  almost  like  one  of  the  family,  for  I  have  known 
your  Uncle  Eagon  these  five-and-twenty  years.  When  I  first 
came  to  him,  I  was  fresh  from  the  country,  and  wore  a  pair  of 
hobnailed  boots.  They  call  the  place  the  Treasury  Farm, 
but  all  I  brought  away  with  me  was  one  gold  louis  which  my 
godmother  gave  me,  Madame  the  late  Marquise  d'Uxelles, 
who  was  related  to  le  Due  and  Mme.  la  Duchesse  de  Lenon- 
court,  who  are  among  our  patrons.  So  I  always  say  a  prayer 
every  Sunday  for  her  and  all  the  family  :  and  her  niece,  Mme. 
de  Mortsauf,  in  Touraine.  has  all  her  perfumery  from  us. 
Customers  are  always  coming  to  me  through  them.  There  is 
M.  de  Vandenesse,  for  example,  who  spends  twelve  hundred 


57 

francs  with  us  every  year.  One  ought  to  be  grateful  from 
prudence,  if  one  is  not  grateful  by  nature;  but  I  am  a  well- 
wisher  to  you,  without  an  afterthought,  and  for  your  own 
sake." 

"Ah,  sir,  if  you  will  allow  me  to  say  so,  you  had  a  level 
head." 

"No,  my  boy,  no;  that  won't  do  everything.  I  don't  say 
that  my  headpiece  isn't  as  good  as  another's,  but  I  stuck  to 
honesty  through  thick  and  thin;  I  was  steady,  and  I  never 
loved  any  one  but  my  wife.  Love  is  a  fine  vehicle,  a  neat  ex- 
pression of  M.  de  Villele's  yesterday  at  the  Tribune." 

"Love!"  cried  Popinot.    "Oh!  sir,  do  you ?" 

"Stop  a  bit,  stop  a  bit !  There  is  old  Roguin  coming  along 
the  further  side  of  the  Place  Louis  XV.  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  What  can  the  old  boy  be  about?"  said  Cesar  to 
himself,  and  he  forgot  Anselme  Popinot  and  the  hazel-nut  oil. 

His  wife's  theories  came  up  in  his  memory,  and  instead 
of  turning  into  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries,  he  walked  on  to 
meet  the  notary.  Anselme  followed  at  a  distance,  quite  at  a 
loss  to  explain  the  sudden  interest  which  Birotteau  appeared 
to  take  in  a  matter  so  unimportant;  but  very  happy  in  the 
encouragement  which  he  derived  from  his  employer's  little 
speech  about  hobnailed  boots,  and  louis-d'or,  and  love. 

Roguin,  a  tall,  burly  man,  with  a  pimpled  face,  an  almost 
bald  forehead,  and  black  hair,  had  not  formerly  been  lacking 
in  comeliness;  and  he  had  been  young  and  ambitious  once 
too,  and  from  a  mere  clerk  had  come  to  be  a  notary ;  but  now 
a  keen  observer  would  have  read  in  his  face  the  exhaustion 
and  fatigue  of  a  jaded  seeker  after  pleasure.  When  a  man 
plunges  into  the  mire  of  excess,  his  face  hardly  escapes  with- 
out a  splash,  and  the  lines  engraved  on  Roguin's  countenance 
and  its  florid  color  were  alike  ignoble.  Instead  of  the  pure 
glow  which  suffuses  the  tissues'  of  men  of  temperate  life  and 
imparts  a  bloom  of  health,  there  was  visible  in  Roguin  the 
tainted  blood  inflamed  by  a  strain  against  which  the  body 
rebelled.  His  nose  was  meanly  turned  up  at  the  end,  as  is  apt 
to  be  the  case  with  those  in  whom  humors  taking  this  channel 


58  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

induce  an  internal  affection,  which  a  virtuous  Queen  of 
France  innocently  believed  to  be  a  misfortune  common  to  the 
species,  never  having  approached  any  man  but  the  King  suf- 
ficiently closely  to  discover  her  mistake.  Roguin's  efforts  to 
disguise  his  infirmity  by  taking  quantities  of  Spanish  snuff 
served  rather  to  aggravate  the  troublesome  symptoms,  which 
had  been  the  principal  cause  of  his  misfortunes. 

Is  it  not  carrying  flattery  of  society  somewhat  too  far  to 
paint  individuals  always  in  false  colors,  to  conceal  in  certain 
cases  the  real  causes  of  their  vicissitudes,  so  often  brought 
about  by  disease?  Physical  ills,  in  their  moral  aspects  and 
the  influences  that  they  bring  to  bear  on  the  mechanism  of 
life,  have  perhaps  been  too  much  neglected  hitherto  by  the 
historian  of  manners.  Mme.  Cesar  had  rightly  guessed  the 
secret  of  Roguin's  married  life. 

His  wife,  a  charming  girl,  the  only  daughter  of  Chevrel, 
the  banker,  felt  an  unconquerable  repugnance  for  the  poor 
notary,  which  dated  from  the  night  of  her  marriage,  and  had 
been  determined  to  demand  an  immediate  divorce.  But 
Roguin,  too  happy  to  have  a  wife  who  brought  him  five  hun- 
dred thousand  francs,  to  say  nothing  of  her  expectations, 
had  implored  her  not  to  enter  her  plea,  leaving  her  her 
liberty,  and  accepting  all  the  consequences  of  such  a  compact. 
Mme.  Roguin,  mistress  of  the  situation,  treated  her  husband 
as  a  courtesan  treats  an  elderly  adorer.  Roguin  soon  found 
his  wife  too  dear,  and,  like  many  another  Parisian,  had  a 
second  establishment  in  the  town.  At  first  the  expenditure 
did  not  exceed  a  moderate  limit. 

For  a  while  Roguin  found,  at  no  great  outlay,  grisettes  who 
were  too  glad  of  his  protection ;  but  at  the  end  of  three  years 
he  fell  a  prey  to  a  violent  sexagenarian  passion  for  one  of  the 
most  magnificent  creatures  of  the  time,  known  as  La  belle 
Hollandaise  in  the  calendars  of  prostitution,  for  she  shortly 
afterwards  fell  back  into  that  gulf,  which  her  death  made 
illustrious.  One  of  Roguin's  clients  had  formerly  brought  her 
to  Paris  from  Bruges;  and  when,  in  1815,  political  considera- 
tions forced  him  to  fly,  he  made  her  over  to  the  notary. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  59 

Roguin  had  taken  a  little  house  in  the  Champs-filysees  for 
his  enchantress ;  he  had  "furnished  it  handsomely,  and  had 
allowed  himself  to  be  led  by  her,  until  he  had  squandered 
away  his  fortune  to  satisfy  her  extravagant  whims. 

The  gloomy  expression,  which  vanished  from  Roguin's 
countenance  at  the  sight  of  his  client,  was  connected  with 
mysterious  events,  wherein  lay  the  secret  of  du  Tillet's  rapid 
success.  While  du  Tillet  was  still  under  Birotteau's  roof,  on 
the  first  Sunday  which  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  observing 
how  M.  and  Mme.  Roguin  were  situated  with  regard  to  each 
other,  his  plans  had  undergone  a  change.  His  designs  upon 
Mme.  Cesar  had  been  subordinated  to  another  purpose;  he 
had  meant  to  compel  an  offer  of  Cesarine's  hand  as  compensa- 
tion for  repulsed  advances;  but  it  cost  him  the  less  to  give 
up  this  marriage  since  he  had  discovered  that  Cesar  was  not 
rich,  as  he  had  believed.  Then  du  Tillet  played  the  spy  on 
the  notary,  insinuated  himself  into  his  confidence,  obtained 
an  introduction  to  La  belle  Hollandalse,  ascertained  the  terms 
on  which  she  stood  with  Roguin,  and  learned  that  she  was 
threatening  to  dismiss  her  adorer  if  he  curtailed  her  ex- 
travagance. La  'belle  Hollandaise  was  one  of  those  scatter- 
brained creatures  who  take  money  without  disturbing  them- 
selves as  to  how  it  was  made,  or  how  they  come  by  it;  women 
who  would  give  a  banquet  with  a  parricide's  crowns.  She 
took  no  thought  for  the  morrow,  and  was  careless  of  yes- 
terday. The  future  for  her  meant  after  dinner,  and  eternity 
lay  between  the  present  moment  and  the  end  of  the  month, 
even  when  she  had  bills  to  fall  due.  Du  Tillet  was  delighted 
to  find  a  first  lever  to  his  hand,  and  began  his  campaign  by 
obtaining  a  reduction  from  La  belle  Hollandaise,  who  agreed 
to  solace  Roguin's  existence  for  thirty  thousand  francs  in- 
stead of  fifty  thousand,  a  kind  of  service  which  sexagenarian 
passion  rarely  forgets. 

At  length,  one  night  after  deep  potations,  Roguin  opened 
out  his  financial  position  to  du  Tillet  in  an  after-supper 
confidence.  His  real  estate  was  mortgaged  to  its  full  value 
under  his  wife's  marriage  settlement,  and  in  his  infatuation 


60  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

he  had  appropriated  moneys  deposited  with  him  by  his 
clients;  more  than  half  the  value  of  his  practice  had  been 
embezzled  in  this  way.  When  lie  had  run  through  the  rest; 
the  unfortunate  Roguin  would  blow  his  brains  out,  for  he 
thought  he  should  diminish  the  scandal  of  his  failure  by  ex- 
citing the  pity  of  the  public.  Du  Tillet,  listening,  beheld 
success,  rapid  and  assured,  gleaming  like  a  flash  of  lightning 
through  the  obscurity  of  drunkenness.  He  reassured  Roguin, 
and  repaid  his  confidence  by  persuading  him  to  fire  his  pistols 
into  the  air. 

"When  a  man  of  your  calibre  takes  such  risks  upon  him- 
self/' said  he,  "he  ought  not  to  flounder  about  like  a  fool ;  he 
should  set  to  work  boldly." 

Du  Tillet  counseled  Roguin  to  help  himself  to  a  large  sum 
of  money,  and  to  intrust  it  to  him  (du  Tillet)  to  speculate 
boldly  with  it  on  the  Stock  Exchange,  or  in  some  other  en- 
terprise among  the  hundreds  that  were  being  started  at  that 
speculative  epoch.  If  the  stroke  was  successful,  the  two  of 
them  should  found  a  bank,  speculate  with  the  deposits,  and 
with  the  profits  the  notary  should  satisfy  his  cravings.  If  the 
luck  went  against  them,  Roguin  should  go  abroad,  instead  of 
killing  himself,  for  his  devoted  du  Tillet  would  be  faithful  to 
the  last  penny.  It  was  a  rope  flung  out  to  a  drowning  man, 
and  Roguin  did  not  see  that  the  perfumer's  salesman  was 
fastening  it  round  his  neck. 

Du  Tillet,  master  of  Roguin's  secret,  used  it  to  establish 
his  power  over  the  wife,  the  husband,  and  the  mistress.  Mme. 
Roguin,  to  whom  he  gave  warning  of  a  disaster,  which  she 
was  far  from  suspecting,  accepted  du  Tillet's  assiduities,  and 
then  it  was  that  the  latter  left  the  perfumer's  shop,  feeling 
that  his  future  was  secure.  It  was  not  difficult  to  persuade 
the  mistress  to  risk  a  sum  of  money  that  in  case  of  need  she 
might  not  be  obliged  to  go  on  the  street.  The  wife  looked 
into  her  affairs,  and  accumulated  a  small  amount  of  capital, 
which  she  handed  over  to  the  man  in  whom  her  husband 
placed  confidence,  for  at  the  outset  the  notary  put  a  hundred 
thousand  francs  into  the  hands  of  his  accomplice.  Brought 


BISE  AND  FALL  OF  OKSAB  BIROTTEAU  61 

ixt  this  way  into  close  contact  with  Mme.  Roguin,  du  Tillet 
eontrived  to  transform  interest  into  affection,  and  to  inspire 
a,  violent  passion  in  that  handsome  woman.  In  his  specula- 
tions on  the  Stock  Exchange  he  naturally  shared  in  the  profits 
of  his  three  associates,  but  this  was  not  enough  for  him;  he 
had  the  audacity  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  an  oppo- 
nent, who  refunded  to  him  the  amount  of  fictitious  losses, 
for  he  played  for  his  own  hand  as  well  as  for  his  clients, 

As  soon  as  he  had  fifty  thousand  francs,  he  was  sure  of 
making  a  large  fortune.  He  watched  with  the  eagle's  eye  that 
was  one  of  his  characteristics,  over  the  phases  of  political  life 
in  France;  he  speculated  for  a  fall  in  the  Funds  during  the 
campaign  of  France,  and  for  a  rise  when  the  Bourbons  came 
back. 

Two  months  after  the  return  of  Louis  XVIII.,  Mme. 
Roguin  possessed  two  hundred  thousand  francs,  and  du  Tillet 
a  hundred  thousand  crowns.  In  the  notary's  eyes  this  young 
man  was  an  angel ;  he  had  restored  order  in  his  affairs.  But 
La  belle  Hollandaise  fell  a  victim  to  a  wasting  complaint 
which  nothing  could  cure,  a  virulent  cancer  called  Maxime 
de  Trailles,  one  of  the  late  Emperor's  pages.  Du  Tillet  dis- 
covered the  woman's  real  name  from  her  signature  to  a  docu- 
ment. It  was  Sarah  Gobseck.  Then  he  remembered  that  he 
had  heard  of  a  money-lender  of  the  name  of  Gobseck;  and, 
struck  by  the  coincidence,  paid  a  visit  to  that  aged  discounter 
of  bills,  and  providence  of  young  men  with  prospects,  to  find 
out  how  this  female  relative's  credit  stood  with  him.  The 
bill-broking  Brutus  proved  inexorable  where  his  grand-niece 
was  concerned,  but  du  Tillet  himself  managed  to  find  favor 
in  his  eyes  by  posing  as  Sarah's  banker  with  capital  to  invest. 
The  Norman  and  the  money-lender  found  each  other  con- 
genial. 

Gobseck  wanted  a  clever  young  fellow  who  could  look  after 
a  bit  of  business  abroad  for  him  just  then.  The  return  of  the 
Bourbons  had  taken  a  State  auditor  by  surprise.  To  this 
financier,  wishful  to  stand  well  at  Court,  it  had  occurred  that 
he  might  buy  up  the  debts  contracted  by  the  Princes  in  Get- 


62 

many  during  the  emigration.  He  offered  the  profits  of  the 
affair,  which  for  him  was  purely  a  matter  of  policy,  to  any 
one  who  would  advance  the  necessary  money.  Old  Gobseck 
had  no  mind  to  disburse  moneys  over  and  above  the  market 
value  of  the  debts,  into  which  a  shrewd  representative  must 
first  examine.  Money-lenders  trust  nobody ;  they  must  always 
have  a  guarantee;  the  occasion  is  omnipotent  with  them; 
they  are  ice  when  they  have  no  need  of  a  man,  affable  and 
obliging  when  he  is  likely  to  be  useful.  Du  Tillet  knew  the 
immense  part  played,  below  the  surface,  in  the  Paris  money 
market  by  Werbrust  and  Gigonnet,  discount  brokers  of  the 
Rue  Saint-Denis  and  Rue  Saint-Martin,  and  by  Palma,  a 
banker  in  the  Faubourg  Poissonniere,  who  was  almost  always 
associated  with  Gobseck.  He  therefore  offered  to  pay  down 
caution  money,  requiring  on  his  own  side  a  share  in  the 
profits  of  the  transaction,  and  asking  that  these  gentlemen 
should  employ  in  the  money-lending  business  the  capital 
which  he  should  deposit  with  them.  In  this  way  he  secured 
supporters.  Then  he  accompanied  M.  Clement  Chardin  des 
Lupeaulx  on  a  trip  to  Germany  during  the  Hundred  Days, 
and  came  back  with  the  Second  Restoration,  with  some  added 
knowledge  that  should  lead  to  success  rather  than  with  actual 
wealth.  He  had  had  an  initiation  into  the  secrets  of  one  of 
the  cleverest  schemers  in  Paris;  he  had  won  the  goodwill  of 
the  man  whom  he  had  been  set  to  watch;  a  dexterous  juggler 
had  laid  bare  for  him  the  springs  of  political  intrigue  and  the 
rules  of  the  game. 

Du  Tillet's  intelligence  was  of  the  order  which  understands 
at  half  a  word;  this  journey  formed  him.  On  his  return  he 
found  Mme.  Roguin  still  faithful;  but  the  poor  notary  was 
expecting  Ferdinand  with  quite  as  much  impatience  as  his 
wife.  La  belle  Hollandaise  had  ruined  him  again! 

Du  Tillet,  questioning  La  belle  Hollandaise,  could  not 
elicit  from  her  an  account  that  represented  all  the  money 
which  she  had  squandered.  And  then  it  was  that  he  discov- 
ered the  secret  so  carefully  kept  from  him — Sarah  Gobseck's 
infatuation  for  Maxime  de  Trailles,  known  at  the  very  outset 


RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAH  BIROTTEAU  63 

of  his  career  of  vice  and  debauchery  for  a  political  hanger-on 
of  a  kind  indispensable  to  all  good  government,  and  for  an 
insatiable  gambler.  After  this  discovery  du  Tillet  understood 
old  Gobseck's  indifference  to  his  grand-niece. 

At  this  critical  juncture,  du  Tillet  the  banker  (for  by  this 
time  he  was  a  banker)  strongly  recommended  Eoguin  to  put 
by  something  for  a  rainy  day;  to  engage  some  of  his  richest 
clients  in  a  business  speculation,  and  then  to  keep  back  con- 
siderable sums  out  of  the  money  paid  over  to  him,  in  case  he 
should  be  compelled  to  become  a  bankrupt  in  the  course  of  a 
second  career  of  speculation.  After  various  rises  and  falls 
in  the  price  of  stocks,  which  brought  luck  only  to  du  Tillet 
and  Mme.  Eoguin,  the  notary's  hour  struck.  He  was  in- 
solvent, and  thereupon,  in  his  extremity,  his  closest  friend 
exploited  him,  and  du  Tillet  discovered  that  speculation 
in  building  land  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Madeleine. 
Naturally,  one  hundred  thousand  francs  which  Birotteau 
had  deposited  with  Eoguin  until  an  investment  should 
be  found  for  them,  were  paid  over  to  du  Tillet,  who, 
bent  upon  compassing  the  perfumer's  ruin,  made  Eoguin  un- 
derstand that  he  ran  less  risk  by  ensnaring  his  own  intimate 
friends  in  his  toils. 

"A  friend,"  said  du  Tillet,  "will  not  go  all  lengths  even  in 
anger." 

There  are  not  many  people  at  this  present  day  who  know 
how  little  land  was  worth  per  foot  in  the  district  of  the  Ma- 
deleine at  this  time;  but  the  building  lots  must  necessarily 
shortly  be  sold  for  more  than  their  momentary  depreciation, 
caused  by  the  necessity  of  finding  purchasers  who  would 
profit  by  the  opportunity.  Now  it  was  du  Tillet's  idea  to 
reap  the  benefit  without  keeping  his  money  locked  up  in  a 
lengthy  speculation.  In  other  words,  he  meant  to  kill  the 
affair,  so  that  a  corpse  which  he  knew  how  to  resuscitate 
might  be  knocked  down  to  him. 

In  such  emergencies  as  this,  the  Gobsecks,  Palmas, 
Werbrusts,  and  Gigonnets  all  lent  each  other  a  hand,  but  du 
Tillet  did  not  know  them  well  enough  to  ask  them  to  help 


64  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

him;  and,  besides,  he  meant  to  hide  his  action  in  the  matter 
go  thoroughly  that,  while  he  steered  the  whole  business,  he 
might  receive  all  the  profits  and  none  of  the  disgrace  of  the 
robbery.  So  he  saw  the  necessity  of  one  of  those  animated 
lay  figures  termed  men  of  straw  in  commercial  phrase.  The 
man  who  had  once  before  acted  the  part  of  a  stock-jobber 
for  him  seemed  to  be  a  suitable  tool  to  his  hand,  and  he  in- 
fringed the  Divine  rights  by  creating  a  man.  Of  a  former 
commercial  traveler,  without  a  farthing  on  this  earth,  with 
no  ability,  no  capacity  save  for  empty  rambling  talk  on  all 
sorts  of  subjects,  and  but  just  sufficient  wit  to  suffer  himself 
to  be  drilled  in  a  part  and  to  play  it  without  compromising 
the  piece,  and  yet  endowed  with  the  rarest  sense  of  honor — 
that  is  to  say,  a  faculty  for  silently  accepting  the  dishonor 
of  his  principal — of  him,  du  Tillet  made  a  banker,  the  orig- 
inator and  promoter  of  commercial  enterprises  on  the  largest 
scale;  him  he  metamorphosed  into  the  head  of  the  firm  of 
Claparon. 

Should  the  exigencies  of  du  Tillet's  affairs  at  any  time 
demand  a  bankruptcy,  it  was  to  be  Charles  Claparon's  fate  to 
be  delivered  over  to  Jews  and  Pharisees,  and  Claparon  knew 
it.  Still,  for  the  present,  the  scraps  and  pickings  that  fell 
to  his  share  were  an  El  Dorado  for  a  poor  devil  who,  when 
his  chum  du  Tillet  came  across  him,  was  sauntering  along 
the  Boulevards  with  no  prospects  beyond  the  two-franc  piece 
in  his  pockets ;  so  his  friendship  for  and  devotion  to  du  Tillet, 
swelled  by  a  gratitude  that  did  not  look  to  the  future,  and 
stimulated  by  the  cravings  of  a  dissolute  and  disreputable 
life,  led  him  to  say  Amen  to  everything. 

When  he  had  once  sold  his  honor,  he  saw  that  it  was  risked 
with  so  much  prudence,  that  at  length  he  came  to  have  a 
sort  of  dog-like  attachment  for  his  old  comrade  du  Tillet. 
Claparon  was  a  very  ugly  performing  poodle,  but  he  was 
ready  at  any  moment  to  make  the  leap  of  Curtius  for  his 
master. 

In  the  present  scheme  Claparon  was  to  represent  one-half 
of  thp  purchasers  of  the  lots,  as  Birotteau  represented  the 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  65 

other  half.  Then  the  bills  which  Claparon  would  receive 
from  Birotteau  should  be  discounted  by  some  money-lender, 
whose  name  du  Tillet  would  borrow;  so  that  when  Roguin 
absconded  with  the  rest  of  the  purchase-money,  Birotteau 
would  be  left  on  the  brink  of  ruin.  Du  Tillet  meant  to  direct 
the  action  of  the  assignees;  there  should  be  a  forced  sale  of 
the  building  land,  and  du  Tillet  meant  to  be  the  purchaser ; 
he  would  buy  it  for  about  half  its  value,  and  pay  for  it  with 
Roguin's  money  and  the  dividend  of  the  bankruptcy;  so 
under  different  names  he  was  in  possession  of  the  money  paid 
down  by  the  perfumer  and  his  creditor  to  boot. 

It  was  a  prospect  of  a  goodly  share  of  the  spoils  that  led 
Roguin  to  meddle  in  this  scheme ;  but  he  had  practically  sur- 
rendered himself  at  discretion  to  a  man  who  could  and  did 
take  the  lion's  part.  It  was  impossible  to  bring  du  Tillet 
into  a  court  of  law,  and  the  notary  in  a  remote  part  of 
Switzerland,  where  he  found  beauties  of  a  less  expensive 
kind,  was  lucky  to  have  a  bone  flung  to  him  ouce  a  month 
or  so. 

The  ugly  scheme  was  no  deliberate  invention,  no  outcome 
of  the  broodings  of  a  tragedian  weaving  a  plot,  but  the  result 
of  circumstances.  Hatred,  unaccompanied  by  a  desire  for  re- 
venge, is  as  seed  sown  upon  the  granite  rock :  du  Tillet  swore 
to  be  revenged  upon  Cesar  Birotteau,  and  the  prompting  was 
one  of  the  most  natural  things  in  the 'world;  if  it  had  been 
otherwise,  there  had  been  no  quarrel  between  angds  of  dark- 
ness and  the  angels  of  light. 

Du  Tillet  could  not,  without  great  inconvenience,  murder 
the  one  man  in  Paris  who  knew  that  he  had  beeu  guilty  of 
petty  theft;  but  he  could  sully  his  old  master's  name  and 
crush  him  until  his  testimony  was  no  longer  admissible.  For 
a  long  time  past  the  thought  of  vengeance  had  been  germi- 
nating in  his  mind ;  but  it  had  come  to  nothing.  The  rush 
of  life  in  Paris  is  so  swift,  and  so  full  of  stir,  chance  counts 
for  so  much  in  it,  that  even  the  most  energetic  haters  do  not 
look  very  far  ahead;  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  constant 
ebb  and  flow  is  unfavorable  to  premeditated  action,  it  affords 


60  KISE  AND  FALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

excellent  opportunities  for  carrying  out  projects  that  lurk  in 
politic  brains,  clever  enough  to  lie  in  wait  for  the  chances 
that  come  with  the  tide.  Du  Tillet  had  had  a  dim  inkling 
of  the  possibility  of  ruining  Cesar  from  the  moment  when 
Roguin  first  opened  out  his  case  to  him ;  and  he  had  not  mis- 
calculated. 

Roguin,  meanwhile,  on.  the  point  of  leaving  his  idol, 
drained  the  rest  of  the  philtre  from  the  broken  cup,  going 
daily  to  the  Champs-filysees,  and  returning  home  in  the  small 
hours.  There  were  grounds,  therefore,  for  Mme.  Cesar's 
suspicious  theories.  When  a  man  has  made  up  his  mind  to 
play  such  a  part  as  du  Tillet  had  assigned  to  Roguin,  he 
perforce  acquires  the  talents  of  a  great  actor ;  he  has  the  eyes 
of  a  lynx  and  the  penetration  of  a  seer;  he  finds  ways  of 
magnetizing  his  dupe,  so  the  notary  had  seen  Birotteau  long 
before  Birotteau  set  eyes  on  him;  and  when  he  saw  that  he 
was  recognized,  he  held  out  a  hand  while  he  was  still  at  some 
distance. 

"I  have  just  been  making  the  will  of  a  great  person  who 
has  not  a  week  to  live,"  said  he,  with  the  most  natural  air 
in  the  world,  "but  they  have  treated  me  like  a  village  doctor 
— sent  a  carriage  to  fetch  me,  and  let  me  go  home  afoot." 

A  slight  cloud  of  suspicion  which  had  darkened  the  per- 
fumer's brows  cleared  away  at  these  words;  but  Roguin  had 
noticed  it,  and  took  good  care  not  to  be  the  first  to  speak 
about  the  building  land,  for  he  meant  to  give  his  victim  the 
finishing  stroke. 

"After  a  will  come  marriage-contracts,"  said  Birotteau; 
"such  is  life.  Ah !  by  the  by,  Roguin,  old  fellow,  when  do 
we  make  a  match  of  it  with  the  Madeleine,  eh  ?"  and  he  tapped 
the  other  on  the  chest.  Among  men,  the  best-conducted 
bourgeois  will  try  to  appear  a  bit  of  a  rogue  with  the  wo- 
men. 

"Well,  i*t  is  to-day  or  never,"  returned  the  notary  with  a 
diplomatic  look.  "We  are  afraid  that  the  affair  will  get 
noised  abroad;  already  two  of  my  richest  clients  want  to  go 
into  the  speculation,  and  are  very  keen  about  it.  So  you 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIKOTTEAU  67 

can  take  it  or  leave  it.  After  twelve  o'clock  this  morning 
1  shall  draw  up  the  deeds,  and  until  one  o'clock  it  is  open  to 
you  to  join  us  if  you  choose.  Good-bye.  Xandrot  made  a  rough 
draft  of  the  documents  for  me  last  night,  and  I  am  about 
to  read  them  through  this  very  minute." 

"All  right,  the  thing  is  settled,  you  have  my  word,"  cried 
Birotteau,  hurrying  after  the  notary,  and  striking  hands  upon 
it.  "Take  the  hundred  thousand  francs  that  were  to  have 
been  my  daughter's  portion." 

"Good,"  said  Eoguin,  as  he  walked  away. 

In  the  brief  interval  as  Birotteau  returned  to  young 
Popinot  he  felt  a  sensation  of  feverish  heat  run  through 
him,  his  diaphragm  contracted,  sounds  rang  in  his  ears. 

"What  is  the  matter,  sir?"  asked  the  assistant,  looking  at 
his  employer's  pale  face. 

"Ah,  my  boy,  I  have  just  concluded  a  big  piece  of  business 
with  a  single  word.  No  one  in  such  a  position  can  help  feel- 
ing some  emotion.  You  know  all  about  it,  however;  and  be- 
sides, I  brought  you  here  so  that  we  could  talk  comfortably 
where  no  one  will  listen  to  us.  Your  aunt  is  pinched;  what 
did  she  lose  her  money  in?  Tell  me  about  it." 

"My  uncle  and  aunt  put  their  capital  into  M.  Nucingen's 
bank,  and  were  obliged  to  take  over  shares  in  the  Worstchin 
mines  in  settlement  of  their  claims;  no  dividends  have  been 
paid  on  them  as  yet,  and  at  their  time  of  life  it  is  difficult 
to  live  on  hope." 

"Then  how  do  they  live  ?" 

"They  have  been  so  good  as  to  accept  my  salary." 

"Good,  Anselme,  good,"  said  the  perfumer,  looking  up 
with  a  tear  in  his  eyes;  "you  are  worthy  of  the  attachment  I 
feel  for  you.  And  you  shall  be  well  rewarded  for  your  ap- 
plication in  my  service." 

As  he  spoke,  the  merchant  grew  greater  in  his  own  es- 
timation as  well  as  in  Popinot's  eyes;  a  sense  of  his  ad- 
ventitious superiority  was  artlessly  revealed  in  his  homely 
and  paternal  way  of  speaking. 

"What !     Can  you  have  guessed  my  passion  for ?" 


68  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"For  whom  ?"  asked  the  perfumer. 

"For  Mademoiselle  Cesarine." 

"Boy  !"  cried  Birotteau,  "you  are  very  bold.  But  keep 
your  secret  carefully;  I  promise  to  forget  it,  and  you  shall 
go  out  of  the  house  to-morrow.  I  don't  blame  you;  the 
devil  no  !  In  your  place  I  should  have  done  just  the  same. 
She  is  so  pretty." 

"Ah,  sir  !"  cried  the  assistant,  in  such  a  perspiration  that 
his  shirt  felt  damp. 

"This  cannot  be  settled  in  a  day,  my  boy.  C6sarine  is 
her  own  mistress,  and  her  mother  has  her  ideas.  So  keep 
yourself  to  yourself,  wipe  your  eyes,  hold  your  heart  well  in 
hand,  and  we  will  say  no  more  about  it.  I  should  not  blush 
to  have  you  for  a  son-in-law.  As  the  nephew  of  M.  Popinot, 
judge  of  a  Tribunal  of  First  Instance,  and  as  the  Eagons' 
nephew,  you  have  as  good  a  right  to  make  your  way  as  an- 
other, but  there  are  ifs  and  huts  and  ands!  What  a  devil  of 
a  notion  you  have  sprung  upon  me  in  the  middle  of  a  talk 
about  business  !  There,  sit  you  down  on  that  bench,  and 
business  first  and  love  affairs  after.  —  Now,  Popinot,  is  there 
mettle  in  you  ?"  said  Birotteau,  looking  at  his  assistant.  "Do 
you  feel  that  you  have  courage  enough  to  wrestle  with  those 
that  are  stronger  than  you  ?  for  a  hand-to-hand  fight,  eh  ?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"To  keep  up  a  long  and  dangerous  combat  ?  -  " 

"What  is  it?" 


drive  Macassar  Oil  from  the  field!"  cried  Birotteau, 
drawing  himself  up  like  one  of  Plutarch's  heroes.  "We  must 
not  undervalue  the  enemy  ;  he  is  strong,  well  intrenched, 
and  formidable.  Macassar  Oil  has  been  well  pushed.  It  is 
a  clever  idea,  and  the  shape  of  the  bottles  is  out  of  the  com- 
mon. I  had  thoughts  of  a  triangular  bottle  for  this  plan  of 
mine,  but  after  mature  reflection,  I  am  inclined  for  little 
blown  glass  flasks  covered  with  wicker  work  ;  they  would  look 
mysterious,  and  the  public  like  anything  that  tickles  their 
curiosity." 

"It  would  cost  a  good  deal,"  said  Popinot.     "Everything 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  69 

light  to  be  on  the  cheapest  possible  footing,  so  as  to  allow 
a  heavy  discount  to  the  trade." 

"Eight,  my  boy;  those  are  sound  principles  of  business. 
Bear  in  mind  that  Macassar  Oil  will  show  fight!  'Tis  a 
specious  thing;  the  name  is  attractive.  It  is  put  before  the 
public  as  a  foreign  importation,  and  we,  unluckily,  are  in 
our  own  country.  Look .  here,  Popinot,  do  you  feel  strong 
enough  to  do  for  Macassar?  To  begin  with,  you  will  oust 
it  from  the  export  trade;  it  seems  that  Macassar  really  does 
come  from  the  Indies,  so  it  is  more  natural  to  send  French 
goods  to  the  Indians  than  to  ship  them  back  the  stuff  that 
they  are  supposed  to  send  to  us.  So  there's  the  export  trade 
for  you !  But  it  will  have  to  be  fought  out  abroad,  and  all 
over  the  country;  and  Macassar  Oil  has  been  so  well  ad- 
vertised, that  it  is  no  use  blinking  the  fact  that  it  has  a 
hold;  it  is  pushed  everywhere,  and  the  public  are  familiar 
with  it." 

"I  will  do  for  it !"  cried  Popinot,  with  eyes  on  fire. 

"And  how?"  returned  Birotteau.  "It  is  like  the  im- 
petuosity of  these  young  people !  Just  hear  me  out." 

Anselme  looked  like  a  soldier  presenting  arms  to  a  Marshal 
of  France. 

"I  have  invented  an  oil,  Popinot,  an  oil  which  invigorates 
the  scalp,  stimulates  the  growth  of  the  hair,  and  preserves 
its  color — an  oil  for  both  sexes.  The  essence  should  have  no 
less  success  than  the  Pate  and  the  Lotion,  but  I  do  not  want  to 
exploit  the  secret  by  myself;  I  am  thinking  of  retiring  from 
business.  I  want  you,  my  boy,  to  bring  out  the  Comagen 
— from  the  Latin  word  coma,  which  means  hair  (so  M. 
Alibert,  physician  to  the  King,  told  me).  In  Berenice, 
Eacine's  tragedy  too,  there  is  a  king  of  Comagenej  a  lover  of 
the  beautiful  queen  who  was  so  famous  for  her  hair ;  no  doubt 
it  was  out  of  compliment  to  her  that  he  called  his  kingdom 
Comagene.  How  clever  these  great  men  of  genius  are !  they 
descend  to  the  smallest  details." 

Little  Popinot  listened  to  these  incongruities,  evidently 
meant  for  his  benefit,  who  had  had  some  education,  and  yet 

kept  his  countenance. 
6 


70  RISE  ASTD  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Anselme,"  continued  Birotteau,  "I  have  cast  my  eyes  on 
you  as  the  founder  of  a  wholesale  druggist's  business  in  the 
Rue  des  Lombards.  I  will  be  a  sleeping-partner,  and  find 
you  the  capital  to  start  it  with.  When  we  have  begun  with 
the  Comagen,  we  will  try  essence  of  vanilla  and  essence  of 
peppermint.  In  short,  by  degrees  we  will  go  into  the  drug 
trade  and  revolutionize  it,  by  selling  articles  in  a  concentrated 
form  instead  of  the  raw  products.  Are  you  satisfied,  am- 
bitious young  man?" 

Anselme  was  so  overcome  that  he  could  not  reply,  but  his 
tear-filled  eyes  made  answer  for  him.  It  seemed  to  him  that 
this  offer  was  the  outcome  of  a  fatherly  indulgence  which 
said,  "Deserve  Cesarine  by  earning  wealth  and  respect." 

"I  too  will  succeed,  sir,"  he  said  at  last,  taking  Birotteau's 
emotion  for  astonishment. 

"Just  what  I  was  at  your  age,"  cried  the  perfumer ;  "those 
were  just  the  very  words  I  used !  Whether  you  have  my 
daughter  or  no,  at  any  rate  you  will  have  a  fortune.  Well, 
my  boy,  what  has  come  to  you?" 

"Let  me  hope  that  by  gaining  the  one  I  may  win  the 
other." 

"I  do  not  forbid  you  to  hope,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  Birot- 
teau, touched  by  Anselme's  tone. 

"Very  well,  sir;  may  I  begin  to  look  out  at  once  for  a 
shop,  so  as  to  begin  as  soon  as  possible?" 

"Yes,  my  boy.  To-morrow  we  will  shut  ourselves  up  in 
the  factory.  You  might  look  in  at  Livingston's  on  your  way 
to  the  Rue  des  Lombards,  and  see  if  my  hydraulic  press  will 
be  in  working  order  by  to-morrow.  To-night,  at  dinner-time, 
we  will  go  to  see  that  great  man,  kind  M.  Vauquelin,  and 
ask  him  about  this.  He  has  been  investigating  the  composi- 
tion of  hair  quite  lately,  trying  to  find  out  its  coloring  mat- 
ter, and  where  it  comes  from,  and  what  hair  is  made  of. — It 
all  lies  in  that,  Popinot.  You  shall  know  my  secret,  and  all 
that  remains  to  do  is  to  exploit  it  intelligently. — Look  in 
at  Fieri  Berard's  before  you  go  round  to  Livingston. — My 
boy,  M.  Vauquelin's  disinterestedness  is  one  of  the  great 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  71 

troubles  of  my  life.  You  cannot  get  him  to  accept  anything. 
Luckily,  I  found  out  from  Chiffreville  that  he  wanted  a  Ma- 
donna at  Dresden,  engraved  by  one  Miiller,  and  after  two 
years  of  inquiry  for  it  in  Germany,  Berard  has  found  a  copy 
at  last — a  proof  before  letters  on  India  paper;  it  cost  fifteen 
hundred  francs,  my  boy.  And  now  to-day  our  benefactor 
shall  see  it  in  the  ante-chamber  when  he  comes  to  the  door 
with  us;  framed,  of  course,  you  will  make  sure  of  that.  So 
in  that  way  we  shall  recall  ourselves  to  his  memory,  my  wife 
and  I ;  for  as  to  gratitude,  we  have  put  his  name  in  our  pray- 
ers every  day  these  sixteen  years.  For  my  part,  I  shall  never 
forget  him;  but,  you  know,  Popinot,  these  men  of  science  are 
so  deep  in  their  work,  that  they  forget  everything,  wife  and 
children,  and  those  they  have  done  a  good  turn  to.  As  for 
the  like  of  us,  our  little  intelligence  permits  us  to  have  warm 
hearts  at  any  rate.  That  is  some  comfort  for  not  being  a  great 
man.  These  gentlemen  at  the  Institute  are  all  brain,  as  you 
will  see ;  you  will  never  come  across  one  of  them  in  a  church. 
There  is  M.  Yauquelin,  always  in  his  study  when  he  isn't  in 
his  laboratory ;  I  like  to  believe  though  that  he  thinks  of  God 
while  he  analyzes  His  works. — This  is  the  understanding: 
I  am  to  find  the  capital,  I  will  put  you  in  possession  of  my 
secret,  and  we  will  divide  the  profits  equally,  so  there  will  be 
no  need  to  draw  up  a  deed.  Good  success  to  us  both !  We 
will  tune  our  pipes.  Off  with  you,  my  boy ;  I  have  affairs  of 
my  own  to  see  after.  One  moment,  Popinot ;  in  three  weeks' 
time  I  am  going  to  give  a  grand  ball,  have  a  suit  of  clothes 
made,  and  come  to  it  like  a  merchant  already  in  a  good  way 
of  business " 

This  last  piece  of  kindness  touched  Popinot  so  much  that 
he  grasped  Cesar's  large  hand  in  his  and  kissed  it.  The  good 
man's  confidence  had  nattered  the  lover,  and  a  man  in  love 
is  capable  of  anything. 

"Poor  fellow !"  said  Birotteau,  as  he  watched  his  assistant 
hurrying  across  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries,  "if  Cesarine 
only  cared  about  him !  But  he  limps,  his  hair  is  the  color  of 
a  basin,  and  girls  are  such  queer  things !  I  can  scarcely  be- 


72  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

lieve  that  Cesarine  .  .  .  And  then  her  mother  would  like 
to  see  her  a  notary's  wife.  Alexandre  Crottat  would  make  her 
a  rich  woman ;  money  makes  anything  endurable,  while  there 
is  no  happiness  that  will  stand  the  test  of  poverty.  After 
all,  I  have  made  up  my  mind  that  my  girl  shall  be  mistress 
of  herself,  so  that  she  stops  short  of  folly." 

Birotteau's  next-door  neighbor,  Cayron  by  name,  was  a 
dealer  in  umbrellas,  sunshades,  and  walking  sticks.  He  came 
from  Languedoc,  his-  business  was  not  doing  well,  and  Cesar 
had  helped  him  several  times.  Cayron  asked  nothing  .better 
than  to  contract  his  limits,  and  to  effect  a  proportionate  sav- 
ing in  house  rent  by  giving  up  two  first-floor  rooms  to  the 
wealthy  perfumer. 

"Well,  neighbor/'  said  Birotteau  familiarly  as  he  entered 
the  umbrella  shop,  "my  wife  consents  to  the  enlargement  of 
our  place.  If  you  like,  we  will  go  round  and  see  M.  Moli- 
neux  at  eleven  o'clock." 

"My  dear  M.  Birotteau,"  returned  he  of  the  umbrella  shop, 
UI  have  never  asked  anything  for  the  concession  on  my  part, 
but  you  know  that  a  good  man  of  business  ought  to  turn  every- 
thing to  money." 

"The  deuce !"  cried  the  perfumer ;  "I  have  no  money  to 
throw  away,  and  I  am  waiting  to  know  if  my  architect  thinks 
the  thing  feasible.  'Before  you  settle  anything,'  so  he  said, 
'we  nmst  know  whether  the  floors  are  on  a  level ;  and  then  we 
must  have  M.  Molineux's  leave  to  make  an  opening  in  the 
wall,  and  is  it  a  party  wall  ?'  And  after  that  I  shall  have  to 
turn  the  staircase  in  my  house,  so  as  to  alter  the  landing  and 
have  the  whole  place  level  from  end  to  end.  There  will  be  a 
lot  of  expense,  and  I  don't  want  to  ruin  myself." 

"Ah,  sir,"  cried  the  Languedocien,  "when  you  are  ruined, 
heaven  and  earth  will  come  together  and  have  a  family." 

Birotteau  stroked  his  chin,  raised  himself  on  tiptoe,  and 
came  down  again. 

"Besides,"  Cayron  went  on,  "I  only  ask  you  to  take  this 

paper  of  me "  and  he  held  out  a  little  statement  for  five 

thousand  francs  and  sixteen  bills. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  73 

"Ah !"  said  the  perfumer,  turning  them  over,  "all  for  small 
amounts,  at  two  months  and  three  months " 

"Take  them  of  me,  and  don't  charge  me  more  than  six  per 
cent,"  pleaded  the  umbrella  dealer  humbly. 

"Am  I  a  Jew?"  asked  the  perfumer  reproachfully. 

"Goodness,  sir,  I  took  them  to  du  Tillet  that  used  to  be 
your  assistant,  and  he  would  not  have  them  at  any  price; 
he  wanted  to  know  how  much  I  would  consent  to  lose,  no 
doubt." 

"I  know  none  of  these  signatures,"  said  the  perfumer. 

"Well,  we  have  funny  names  in  the  cane  and  umbrella 
trade ;  they  are  hawkers." 

"Well,  well;  I  do  not  say  that  I  will  take  the  lot,  but  I 
might  manage  to  take  all  at  the  shortest  dates." 

"Don't  leave  me  to  run  after  those  horse-leeches  that  drain 
us  of  the  best  part  of  the  profits,  for  a  thousand  francs  at 
four  months ;  take  the  lot,  sir !  I  do  so  little  discounting, 
that  no  one  gives  me  credit;  that  is  the  death  of  us  poor  re- 
tailers in  a  small  way." 

"Well,  well,  I  will  take  your  little  bills.  Celestin  shall 
settle  it  with  you.  Be  ready  at  eleven. — Here  comes  my  archi- 
tect, M.  Grindot,"  added  the  perfumer,  as  he  saw  the  young 
man  whom  he  had  met  by  appointment  at  M.  de  la  Billar- 
diere's  house  on  the  previous  evening. — "Unlike  most  men  of 
talent,  you  are  punctual,  sir,"  said  Cesar,  in  his  most  genteel 
manner. 

"If  punctuality — in  the  phrase  of  a  king  who  was  a  clever 
man  as  well  as  a  great  statesman — is  the  courtesy  of  kings, 
it  is  no  less  the  fortune  of  architects.  Time — time  is  money  ; 
most  of  all  for  you  artists.  Architecture  combines  all  the 
other  arts,  I  permit  myself  to  say.  We  will  not  go  through 
the  shop,"  he  added,  as  he  showed  the  way  to  the  sham  car- 
riage entrance. 

Four  years  ago  M.  Grindot  had  taken  the  Grand  Prix  d' 
Architecture;  and  now,  he  had  just  returned  from  a  three 
years'  sojourn  in  Eome  at  the  expense  of  the  State.  While 
he  was  in  Italy  the  young  artist  had  thought  of  his  art;  in 


74  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

Paris  he  turned  his  attention  to  money-making.  Govern- 
ments alone  can  give  the  necessary  millions  to  erect  public 
buildings  and  monuments  to  an  architect's  enduring  fame; 
and  it  is  so  natural,  when  fresh  from  Home,  to  take  one's  self 
for  a  Fontaine  or  a  Percier,  that  every  ambitious  young  archi- 
tect has  a  leaning  towards  Ministerialism ;  so  the  subsidized 
Liberal,  metamorphosed  into  a  Koyalist,  sought  to  find  pa- 
trons in  power ;  and  when  a  Grand  Prix  conducts  himself  after 
this  fashion,  his  comrades  call  him  a  sycophant. 

Two  courses  lay  open  to  the  youthful  architect — he  might 
serve  the  perfumer  or  make  as  much  as  he  could  out  of  him. 
But  Birotteau  the  deputy-mayor;  Birotteau,  the  future  pos- 
sessor of  half  that  building  estate  near  the  Madeleine,  where 
a  quarter  full  of  handsome  houses  was  sure  to  be  built  sooner 
or  later,  was  a  man  worth  humoring,  so  Grindot  sacrificed 
present  gain  to  future  opportunities.  Patiently  he  listened 
to  the  plans,  ideas,  and  vain  repetitions  of  this  shopkeeping 
Philistine,  the  artist's  butt  and  laughing-stock,  and  the  par- 
ticular object  of  his  scorn,  and  followed  the  perfumer  about 
his  house,  bowing  respectfully  to  his  ideas.  When  Birotteau 
had  said  all  that  he  had  to  say,  the  young  architect  tried  to 
give  a  summary  of  his  own  views. 

"You  have  three  windows  looking  out  upon  the  street  in 
your  own  house,"  he  said,  "as  well  as  the  window  that  is 
wasted  on  the  stairs  and  required  for  the  landing.  To  these 
four  windows  you  add  two^on  the  same  floor  in  the  next  house, 
by  turning  the  staircase  so  that  you  can  walk  on  level  from 
one  end  to  the  other  on  the  side  nearest  the  street." 

"You  have  understood  me  exactly,"  said  the  amazed  per- 
fumer. 

"To  carry  out  your  plan,  we  shall  have  to  light  the  new 
staircase  from  above,  and  contrive  a  porter's  lodge  in  the 
plinth." 

"Plinth?" 

"Yes ;  the  part  of  the  wall  under  the " 

"I  see,  sir." 

"As  to  your  rooms,  and  their  arrangement,  and  decoration, 


RISE  AND  PALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  75 

give  me  carte-blanche.  I  should  like  to  make  them 
worthy " 

"Worthy !    You  have  said  the  very  word,  sir." 

"How  long  can  you  give  me  to  carry  out  this  scheme  of 
decoration  ?" 

"Twenty  days." 

"What  are  you  prepared  to  put  down  for  the  workmen?" 

"Well,  what  are  the  repairs  likely  to  mount  up  to  ?" 

"An  architect  can  estimate  the  cost  of  a  new  building  al- 
most to  a  centime,"  said  the  other;  "but  as  I  have  not  under- 
taken a  bourgeois  job  as  yet  (pardon  me,  sir,  the  word  slipped 
out),  I  ought  to  tell  you  beforehand  that  it  is  impossible  for 
me  to  give  estimates  for  alterations  and  repairs.  In  a  week's 
time  I  might  be  able  to  make  a  rough  guess.  Put  your  confi- 
dence in  me;  you  shall  have  a  charming  staircase  lighted 
from  above,  and  a  pretty  vestibule,  and  in  the  plinth 

"The  plinth  again !" ' 

"Do  not  be  anxious.  I  will  find  room  for  a  little  porter's 
lodge.  The  alteration  and  decoration  of  your  rooms  will  be 
a  labor  of  love.  Yes,  sir,  I  am  thinking  of  art  and  not  of 
making  money.  Above  all  things,  if  I  am  to  succeed,  I  must 
be  talked  about,  must  I  not  ?  So,  in  my  opinion,  the  best  way 
is  not  to  haggle  with  tradesmen,  but  to  obtain  a  good  effect 
cheaply." 

"With  such  ideas,  young  man,"  Birotteau  said  patroniz- 
ingly, "you  will  succeed." 

"So  you  will  yourself  arrange  with  the  bricklayers,  painters, 
locksmiths,  carpenters,  and  cabinet-makers;  and  I,  for  my 
part,  undertake  to  check  their  accounts.  You  will  simply 
agree  to  pay  me  a  fee  of  two  thousand  francs ;  it  will  be  money 
well  laid  out.  Put  the  whole  place  into  my  hands  by  twelve 
o'clock  to-morrow,  and  tell  me  whom  you  mean  to  employ." 

"What  is  it  likely  to  cost  at  first  sight  ?"  asked  Birotteau. 

"Ten  to  twelve  thousand  francs,"  said  Grindot,  "without 
counting  the  furniture ;  for,  of  course,  you  will  refurnish  the 
rooms.  Will  you  give  me  the  address  of  your  carpet  manu- 
facturer? I  ought  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  him 
about  the  colors,  so  as  to  have  a  harmonious  unity." 


76  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"M.  Braschon  in  the  Rue  Saint-Antoine  has  my  order," 
said  the  perfumer,  assuming  a  ducal  air. 

The  architect  made  a  note  of  the  address  on  one  of  those 
little  tablets  which  are  unmistakably  a  pretty  woman's  gift. 

"Well,"  said  Birotteau,  "I  leave  it  all  to  you,  sir.  Still, 
wait  until  I  have  arranged  to  take  over  the  lease  of  the  two 
rooms  next  door,  and  obtained  permission  to  make  an  opening 
through  the  wall." 

"Send  me  a  note  this  evening,"  said  the  architect.  "I  must 
spend  the  night  in  drawing  plans.  We  architects  would  rather 
work  for  a  city  merchant  than  for  the  King  of  Prussia,  that 
is  to  say,  as  far  as  our  own  taste  is  concerned.  In  any  case, 
I  will  set  about  taking  measurements,  the  height  of  the  rooms, 
the  dimensions  of  the  door  and  window  embrasures,  and  the 
size  of  the  windows." 

"It  must  be  finished  by  the  date  I  have  given,  or  it  is  no 
good." 

"It  certainly  must,"  returned  the  architect.  "The  men 
shall  work  day  and  night,  and  we  will  employ  processes  for 
drying  the  paint;  but  do  not  let  the  builders  swindle  you, 
make  them  quote  beforehand,  and  have  the  agreement  in 
writing." 

"Paris  is  the  only  place  in  the  world  where  one  can  make 
such  strokes  of  the  wand,"  said  Birotteau,  indulging  in  a 
flourish  worthy  of  some  Asiatic  potentate  in  the  Arabian 
Nights. — "Do  me  the  honor  of  coming  to  my  ball,  sir.  All 
men  of  talent  do  not  feel  the  contempt  for  trade  which  some 
heap  upon  it;  and  I  expect  you  will  meet  one  scientific  man 
of  the  highest  rank — M.  Vauquelin  of  the  Institute ! — besides 
M.  de  la  Billardiere,  M.  le  Comte  de  Fontaine,  M.  Lebas  a 
judge,  and  President  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce;  and  sev- 
eral magistrates,  M.  le  Comte  de  Granville  of  the  Court 
Royal,  and  M.  Popinot  of  the  Court  of  First  Instance,  M. 
Camusot  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce,  and  his  father-in-law 
M.  Cardot.  .  .  .  Perhaps,  oven  M.  le  Due  de  Lenon- 
court,  first  Gentleman  of  the  Bedchamber.  It  is  a  gathering 
of  my  friends,  quite  as  much  in  honor  of — er — the  liberation 


EISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  77 

of  the  soil — as  to  celebrate  my — promotion  to  the  Order  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor." 

Grindot's  gesture  was  peculiar. 

"Possibly — I  have  deserved  this — signal  mark  of  royal — 
favor  by  the  discharge  of  my  functions  at  the  Consular 
Tribunal,  and  by  fighting  for  the  Bourbons  on  the  steps  of 
Saint-Koch's  Church  on  the  13th  Vendemiaire,  when  I  was 
wounded  by  Napoleon.  These  claims  to " 

Constance,  in  morning  dress,  came  out  of  Cesarine's  bed- 
room, where  she  had  been  dressing;  her  first  glance  stopped 
her  husband's  fervid  eloquence ;  he  cast  about  for  some  every- 
day phrase  which  should  modestly  convey  the  tidings  of  the 
glory  awaiting  him  on  the  morrow. 

"Here,  mimi,  this  is  M.  de  Grindot,  a  distinguished  young 
man  of  great  talent. — This  gentleman  is  the  architect  whom 
M.  de  la  Billardiere  recommended;  he  will  superintend  our 
little  alterations  here." 

The  perfumer  placed  himself  so -that  his  wife  could  not 
see  him,  and  put  his  finger  on  his  lips  as  he  uttered  the  word 
little.  The  architect  understood. 

"Constance,  this  gentleman  will  take  the  dimensions  of  the 
rooms. — Let  him  do  it,  dear,"  said  Birotteau,  and  he  whisked 
out  into  the  street. 

"Will  it  cost  a  great  deal?"  Constance  asked  the  architect. 

"No,  madame ;  six  thousand  francs,  roughly  speaking " 

"Koughly  speaking!"  cried  Mme.  Birotteau.  "Sir,  I  beg 
of  you  not  to  begin  without  an  estimate,  and  to  do  nothing 
until  a  contract  has  been  signed.  I  know  the  way  of  those 
gentlemen  the  builders — six  thousand  means  twenty  thou- 
sand. We  are  not  in  a  position  to  squander  money.  I  beg  of 
you,  sir,  although  my  husband  is  certainly  master  in  his  own 
house,  to  leave  him  time  to  think  this  over." 

"Monsieur  told  me,  madame,  that  he  must  have  the  rooms 
finished  in  twenty  days;  if  we  make  a  delay,  you  may  incur 
the  expense  without  obtaining  the  result." 

"There  is  expense  and  expense/'  said  the  fair  mistress  of 
the  Queen  of  Roses. 


78  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Eh !  madame ;  is  it  so  very  glorious,  do  you  think,  for  an 
architect  who  would  like  to  erect  public  monuments  to  super- 
intend alterations  in  a  private  house?  I  only  undertook  the 
little  commission  to  oblige  M.  de  la  Billardiere,  and  if  you  are 
alarmed ' 

He  made  as  if  he  would  withdraw. 

"Well,  well,  sir,"  said  Constance,  going  back  to  her  room. 
Once  there  she  hid  her  head  on  her  daughter's  shoulder. — 
"My  child,"  she  cried,  "your  father  is  ruining  himself !  He 
has  engaged  an  architect  who  wears  moustaches  and  a  royale 
on  his  chin,  and  talks  about  erecting  public  monuments !  He 
will  fling  the  house  out  of  the  windows  to  build  us  a  Louvre. 
Cesar  is  always  in  a  hurry  when  there  is  anything  crazy  to  be 
done;  he  only  told  me  about  the  plan  last  night,  and  he  is 
setting  about  it  this  morning." 

"Bah!  mamma,  never  mind  papa;  Providence  has  always 
taken  care  of  you,"  said  Cesarine,  putting  her  arms  about  her 
mother.  Then  she  went  to  the  piano,  to  show  the  architect 
that  a  perfumer's  daughter  was  no  stranger  to  the  fine  arts. 

When  the  architect  came  into  the  room,  he  was  surprised  by 
Cesarine's  beauty,  and  stood  almost  dumfounded.  For  the 
artist  saw  before  him  Cesarine  just  come  from  her  little  room, 
in  her  loose  morning-gown,  fresh  and  blooming  with  the  fresh- 
ness and  the  bloom  of  eighteen  years,  blue-eyed,  r.nd  slender, 
and  fair-haired.  Youth  gave  the  elasticity  (so  rare  in  Paris) 
which  lends  firmness  to  the  most  delicate  tissues ;  youth  tinted 
the  blue  network  of  veins  throbbing  beneath  the  transparent 
skin  with  the  color  adored  by  painters.  For  though  she  lived 
in  the  relaxing  atmosphere  of  a  Parisian  shop,  where  the  fresh 
air  can  scarcely  penetrate,  and  the  sunlight  seldom  comes, 
the  outdoor  life  of  Roman  Trasteverine  could  not  have  been 
a  more  successful  beautifier  than  Cesarine's  manner  of  living. 
Her  thick  hair  grew  erect  like  her  father's,  and  being  dressed 
high,  afforded  a  view  of  a  well-set  neck  among  a  shower  of 
curls — the  elaborate  coiffure  of  the  damsels  of  the  counter, 
in  whom  a  desire  to  shine  inspires  a  more  than  English  atten- 
tion to  trifling  details  in  matters  of  the  toilette. 


RISE  AND  FALL,  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  79 

Cesarine's  beauty  was  neither  that  of  an  English  court 
lady  nor  of  a  French  duchess,  but  the  plump  and  auburn- 
haired  comeliness  of  Rubens'  Flemish  women.  She  had  inher- 
ited her  father's  turned-up  nose,  but  its  delicacy  of  outline 
gave  a  sprightly  charm  to  a  face,  of  the  essentially  French  type 
so  well  rendered  by  Largilliere.  The  rich  silken  tissue  of  the 
skin  indicated  the  abundant  vitality  of  girlhood.  Her  moth- 
er's broad  brow  was  lighted  by  a  girlish  serenity,  untroubled 
by  care,  and  there  was  a  tender  grace  in  the  expression  of  the 
blue  liquid  eyes  of  the  happy-hearted,  fair-haired  maid.  If 
happiness  had  taken  from  her  face  the  romantic  interest 
which  painters  inevitably  give  to  their  compositions  by  an 
expression  somewhat  too  pensive,  the  vague,  wistful  instincts 
of  the  young  girl  who  has  never  left  her  mother's  wing  made 
an  approach  to  this  ideal.  With  all  her  apparent  slenderness, 
she  was  strongly  made.  Her  feet  indicated  her  father's  peas- 
ant origin,  a  racial  defect,  like  the  redness  of  her  hands — the 
sign-manual  of  a  purely  bourgeois  descent.  Sooner  or  later 
she  was  sure  to  grow  stout.  Occasionally  young  and  fashion- 
able women  had  come  within  her  ken ;  and  in  course  of  time 
she  had  acquired  from  them  the  instinct  of  dress,  certain  ways 
of  carrying  her  head,  and  manners  of  speaking  and  moving, 
thus  copied,  which  turned  the  heads  of  the  assistants  and 
other  young  men;  in  their  eyes  she  seemed  to  have  a  distin- 
guished air. 

Popinot  had  vowed  to  himself  that  no  woman  but  Cesarine 
should  be  his  wife.  This  mobile  blonde,  whom  a  glance 
seemed  to  read,  who  seemed  ready  to  melt  into  tears  at  a 
harsh  word,  was  the  one  woman  in  whose  presence  he  could 
feel  conscious  of  masculine  superiority.  The  charming  girl 
inspired  love,  without  leaving  time  to  consider  whether  or  no 
she  had  sufficient  esprit  to  ensure  that  the  love  should  be  last- 
ing ;  but  what  need  is  there  for  what  we  in  Paris  call  esprit,  in 
a  class  where  the  essential  elements  of  happiness  are  good 
sense  and  virtue? 

In  character,  Cesarine  was  a  second  edition  of  her  mother, 
slightly  improved  by  an  education  which  had  taught  her 


80  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

superfluous  accomplishments.  She  was  fond  of  music,  and 
had  made  a  crayon  drawing  of  the  Madonna  of  the  Chair; 
she  perused  the  works  of  Mesdames  Cottin  and  Riccoboni, 
and  the  writings  of  Fenelon,  Racine,  and  Bernardin  de  Saint- 
Pierre.  She  never  appeared  at  her  mother's  side  at  the  cash- 
desk  save  for  a  few  moments  before  dinner,  or  when,  on  rare 
occasions,  she  took  her  place.  Her  father  and  mother,  like 
all  self-made  people,  who  hasten  to  plant  the  seeds  of  ingrati- 
tude in  their  children  by  putting  the  younger  generation  on 
a  higher  level,  delighted  to  make  an  idol  of  Cesarine,  who, 
happily,  possessed  the  good  qualities  of  her  class,  and  did  not 
take  advantage  of  their  weakness. 

Mme.  Birotteau  followed  the  architect's  movements  with 
earnest,  anxious  eyes ;  looking  on  in  consternation,  calling  her 
daughter's  attention  to  the  strange  gyrations  of  the  footrule, 
as  Grindot  took  his  measurements  after  the  manner  of  archi- 
tects and  builders.  For  her,  each  one  of  those  strokes  of  the 
wand  seemed  to  lay  the  place  under  an  evil  enchantment,  and 
boded  ill  to  the  house;  she  would  fain  have  had  the  walls  less 
lofty  and  the  rooms  smaller,  and  dared  not  put  any  questions 
to  the  young  man  as  to  the  results  of  this  sorcery. 

"Be  easy,  madame,"  he  said,  with  a  smile;  "I  shall  not  carry 
anything  away." 

Cesarine  could  not  help  laughing. 

"Sir,"  pleaded  Constance,  who  did  not  so  much  as  notice 
the  architect's  quip,  "aim  at  economy;  some  day  we  may  be 
able  to  make  you  a  return " 

Before  Cesar  went  to  M.  Molineux,  the  landlord  of  the 
next  house,  he  asked  Roguin  for  the  transfer  of  the  lease 
which  Alexandra  Crottat  was  to  have  drawn  up.  As  he  came 
away  from  the  notary's  house,  he  saw  du  Tillet  at  Roguin's 
study  window.  Although  the  liaison  between  his  sometime 
assistant  and  Mme.  Roguin  was  a  sufficient  explanation  of  du 
Tillet's  presence  in  the  house  at  a  time  when  the  negotiations 
for  the  building  land  wore  impending,  Birotteau,  trustful 
though  he  was,  felt  uncomfortable.  Du  Tillet's  animated 
face  suggested  that  a  discussion  was  going  on. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  81 

"Suppose  that  he  should  be  in  the  business  ?"  he  asked  him- 
self, in  an  access  of  his  commercial  prudence. 

The  suspicion  flashed  like  lightning  across  his  mind.  He 
turned  again  and  saw  Mme.  Roguin  at  the  window;  and  then 
the  banker's  presence  no  longer  looked  so  suspicious. 

"Still,  how  if  Constance  was  right?"  he  asked  himself. 
"How  stupid  I  am  to  pay  any  attention  to  a  woman's  notions ! 
However,  I  will  talk  it  over  this  morning  with  our  uncle. 
It  is  only  a  step  from  the  Cour  Batave,  where  M.  Molineux 
lives,  to  the  Rue  des  Bourdonnais." 

A  suspicious  onlooker,  a  man  of  business  with  some  experi- 
ence of  rogues,  would  have  been  warned;  but  Birotteau's 
previous  career,  together  with  his  lack  of  mental  grasp  (for  he 
was  but  little  fitted  for  retracing  a  chain  of  inductions,  a 
process  by  which  an  able  man  arrives  at  a  cause),  all  led  to  his 
ruin.  He  found  the  umbrella  dealer  dressed  in  his  best,  and 
was  starting  away  with  him  to  the  landlord,  when  Virginie, 
the  servant,  caught  her  master  by  the  arm. 

"The  mistress  hopes  you  will  not  go  out  again,  sir — 

"Come  I"  cried  Birotteau ;  "some  more  women's  notions !" 

"Without  taking  your  cup  of  coffee.    It  is  ready  for  you." 

"Oh !  all  right.  I  have  so  many  things  in  my  head,  neigh- 
bor," said  Birotteau,  turning  to  Cayron,  "that  I  do  not  listen 
to  my  stomach.  Be  so  good  as  to  walk  on ;  we  shall  meet  each 
other  at  M.  Molineux's  door,  unless  you  go  up  and  explain  the 
matter  to  him  first.  We  should  save  time  that  way." 

M.  Molineux  was  an  eccentric  person  of  independent  means, 
a  specimen  of  a  kind  of  humanity  which  you  will  no  more  find 
out  of  Paris  than  you  will  find  Iceland  moss  growing  any- 
where out  of  Iceland.  The  comparison  is  but  so  much  the 
more  apt,  for  that  the  man  in  question  belonged  to  that  doubt- 
ful borderland  between  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms 
which  awaits  the  Mercier,  who  shall  classify  the  various 
cryptogamia  which  strike  root,  thrive,  or  die  among  the  plaster 
walls  of  the  strange  unwholesome  old  houses  affected  by  the 
species. 

This  particular  human  plant  was  an  umbellifer,  to  judge 


8?  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

by  the  blue  tubular  cap  which  crowned  a  stem  sheathed  in  a 
pair  of  greenish-colored  breeches,  and  terminated  by  bulbous 
roots  enveloped  in  list  slippers.  At  first  sight  the  plant 
seeins  harmless  and  colorless  enough;  there  is  certainly  noth- 
ing to  suggest  poison  in  its  appearance.  In  this  strange  frea"K 
of  nature  you  would  have  recognized  the  typical  shareholder, 
who  believes  in  all  the  news  which  the  daily  press  baptizes 
with  printer's  ink,  whose  "Look  at  the  paper"  is  a  final  ap- 
peal to  authority;  this  (you  would  have  thought)  was  the 
bourgeois,  essentially  a  lover  of  order,  always  (in  theory)  in 
rebellion  against  the  powers  that  be,  to  whom  in  practice 
he  punctually  yields  obedience;  a  ferocious  creature,  take 
him  singly,  who  grows  tame  in  a  crowd  of  his  like.  The 
man  who  is  obdurate  as  a  bailiff  where  his  dues  are  concerned, 
gives  fresh  groundsel  to  his  birds,  and  saves  the  fish-bones 
for  the  cat;  he  looks  up  in  the  middle  of  making  out  a  receipt 
to  whistle  to  the  canary ;  he  is  suspicious  as  a  turnkey,  but  will 
hurry  to  invest  his  money  in  some  doubtful  undertaking, 
and  then  try  to  recover  his  losses  by  the  most  sordid  mean- 
ness. The  noxious  qualities  of  this  hybrid  growth  are  only 
discovered  by  use;  its  nauseous  bitterness  requires  the  coction 
of  some  piece  of  business  wherein  its  interests  are  mingled 
with  those  of  men. 

Like  all  Parisians,  Molineux  felt  a  need  to  make  his  power 
felt.  He  craved  that  particular  privilege  of  a  sovereignty 
more  or  less  exercised  by  every  creature,  down  to  the  very 
porter,  over  a  larger  or  smaller  number  of  victims — a  woman, 
a  child,  a  clerk,  or  lodger,  a  horse,  a  dog,  or  monkey — that 
part  of  domination  which  consists  in  handing  on  to  another 
the  mortifications  received  by  an  aspirant  to  higher  spheres. 
The  tiresome  little  old  person  in  question,  having  neither 
wife,  nor  child,  nor  niece,  nor  nephew,  treated  his  charwoman 
so  harshly  that  she  gave  him  no  opportunity  of  venting  his 
spleen  upon  her,  and  avoided  all  collision  with  him  by  a 
rigorous  discharge  of  her  duties. 

So  his  appetite  for  domestic  tyranny  being  thus  balked, 
he  was  fain  to  find  other  ways  of  satisfying  it.  B-5  had  made 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  83 

a  patient  study  of  the  'law  of  landlord  and  tenant,  and  of 
the  legal  aspects  of  the  party-wall ;  he  had  fathomed  the  mys- 
teries of  jurisprudence  with  regard  to  house-property  in  Paris, 
and  was  learned  in  its  infinitely  minute  intricacies  with  re- 
gard to  boundaries  and  abutments,  easements,  rates,  charges, 
regulations  for  the  cleansing  of  the  street,  hangings  for  Fete- 
Dieu  processions,  waste-pipes,  lights,  projections  over  the 
public  way,  and  the  near  proximity  of  insanitary  dwellings. 
All  his  mental  and  physical  energies,  all  his  intelligence  was 
devoted  to  maintaining  his  authority  as  a  landlord  with  a 
high  hand;  he  had  made  a  hobby  of  his  occupation,  and  the 
hobby  was  becoming  a  mania. 

He  loved  to  protect  citizens  against  encroachments  on  their 
rights,  but  opportunities  occurred  so  seldom  that  his  thwarted 
passion  expended  itself  upon  his  tenants.  A  tenant  became 
his  enemy,  his  inferior,  his  subject,  his  vassal.  He  felt  that 
their  homage  was  a  due,  and  regarded  those  who  passed  him 
without  a  salutation  on  the  stairs  as  boors.  He  made  out 
his  receipts  himself,  and  sent  them  at  noon  on  the  quarter 
day;  and  those  who  were  behindhand  received  a  summons  by 
a  certain  hour.  Then  followed  a  distraint  and  costs,  and  all 
the  cavalry  of  the  law  came  into  the  field  with  the  celerity 
of  "the  machine,"  as  the  headsman  calls  his  instrument  of 
execution.  Molineux  gave  no  grace  and  no  delay;  his  heart 
was  indurated  on  the  side  of  rents. 

"I  will  lend  you  the  money  if  you  want  it,"  he  would  say 
to  a  solvent  tenant,  "but  pay  me  my  rent;  any  getting  be- 
hindhand with  the  rent  means  a  loss  of  interest  for  which  the 
law  provides  no  remedy." 

After  a  prolonged  study  of  the  skittish  humors  of  suc- 
cessive tenants  who  conformed  to  no  standard  and,  like  suc- 
cessive dynasties,  nor  more  nor  less,  invariably  overturned  the 
institutions  of  their  predecessors,  Molineux  had  promulgated 
a  charter,  which  he  observed  religiously.  By  virtue  of  it, 
the  good  man  never  did  any  repairs;  none  of  his  chimneys 
smoked,  his  staircases  were  always  in  order,  his  ceilings  white, 
his  cornices  above  reproach,  his  floors  held  securely  to  the 


84  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAtJ 

joists,  and  there  was  no  fault  to  find  with  the  paint.  All  the 
locks  had  been  put  in  within  the  last  three  years,  every  window 
pane  was  whole,  and  as  for  cracks  in  the  walls,  they  did  not 
exist;  he  could  see  no  broken  tiles  in  the  floors  till  the 
tenants  were  leaving  the  house.  He  usually  appeared  upon 
the  scene  to  receive  the  incoming  tenants  with  a  locksmith  and 
a  painter  and  glazier,  very  handy  fellows,  he  said.  The 
tenant  was  doubtless  at  liberty  to  make  improvements ;  but  if 
the  thriftless  creature  redecorated  his  rooms,  old  Molineux 
set  his  wits  to  work,  and  pondered  night  and  day  how  to  dis- 
lodge him  and  let  the  newly  papered  and  painted  abode  to 
another  comer.  He  set  his  snares,  bided  his  time,  and  began 
the  whole  series  of  his  unhallowed  devices.  There  was  no 
subtlety  in  the  regulations  of  Paris  with  regard  to  leases  that 
he  did  not  know.  He  indited  polite  and  amiable  communica- 
tions to  his  victims;  but  beneath  the  manner,  as  beneath  the 
harmless  and  obliging  expression  of  the  pettifogging  scribbler 
himself,  lurked  the  spirit  of  a  Shylock. 

He  must  always  be  paid  six  months  in  advance,  to  be  de- 
ducted from  the  last  half-year's  rent,  subject  to  a  host  of 
thorny  conditions  of  his  own  invention.  He  assured  him- 
self thai'  the  value  of  the  tenant's  furniture,  was  sufficient 
to  cover  \}ie  rent,  and  reconnoitered  every  new  tenant  like  a 
detective  when  he  came  in.  There  were  some  occupations 
which  he  olid  not  like,  and  the  least  sound  of  a  hammer 
frightened  him.  When  the  time  came  for  handing  over  a 
lease,  he  kept  it  back  for  a  week,  conning  it  over  for  fear  it 
should  contain  what  he  denominated  notary's  et  ceteras. 

Apart  from  his  character  of  landlord,  Jean-Baptiste 
Molineux  was  apparently  good-natured  and  obliging.  He 
could  play  a  game  of  boston  without  complaining  of  being 
badly  seconded  by  his  partner;  his  stock  subjects  for  conver- 
sation were  of  tho  ordinary  bourgeois  kind,  and  he  found 
the  same  things  laughable — the  arbitrary  acts  of  bakers 
(the  rascals),  who  give  short  weights,  which  are  winked  at 
by  the  police,  the  herok  seventeen  deputies  of  the  Left.  He 
read  the  Cure  Meslier'b  Bon  Sens,  yet  went  to  mass,  halting 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  85 

between  Deism  and  Christianity;  but  he  subscribed  nothing 
for  sacramental  bread,  under  the  plea  that  you  must  resist  the 
encroachments  of  the  priesthood.  The  indefatigable  redresser 
of  grievances  would  write  to  this  effect  to  the  newspapers, 
though  the  newspapers  neither  inserted  his  letters  nor  re- 
plied to  them.  Molineux  was,  in  short,  in  many  respects 
the  ordinary  estimable  citizen  who  burns  a  yule  log  at  Christ- 
mas, draws  for  king  on  Twelfth  Night,  plays  tricks  on  the 
1st  of  April,  makes  the  round  of  the  boulevards  when  the 
weather  is  fine,  goes  to  watch  the  skating;  and  on  days  when 
there  are  to  be  fireworks  in  the  Place  Louis  XV.,  will  take 
his  place  there  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  with  a  piece  ol 
bread  in  his  pocket,  so  as  to  be  "in  the  front  row." 

The  Cour  Batave,  where  the  little  old  man  lived,  is  a  re- 
sult of  one  of  those  freaks  of  the  speculative  builder  which 
cannot  be  explained  after  they  have  taken  substantial  form. 
It  is  a  cloister-like  building  with  its  freestone  arcading,  it* 
covered  galleries  surrounding  the  court  with  a  fountain 
in  the  middle — a  thirsty  fountain  with  its  lion  jaws  agape, 
not  to  supply,  but  to  ask  for  water  of  every  passer-by.  Pos- 
sibly it  was  intended  for  a  sort  of  Palais-Royal  to  adorn  the 
Faubourg  Saint-Denis.  There  is  a  little  light  and  stir  of 
life  during  the  day  in  the  unwholesome  pile  shut  in  on  all 
four  sides  by  tall  houses;  it  lies  in  the  centre  of  a  labyrinth 
of  dank  alleys,  where  the  rheumatism  lurks  for  the  hurry- 
ing foot-passenger,  a  maze  of  dark  narrow  passages  which 
converge  here  and  connect  the  Quartier  des  Halles  and  the 
Quartier  Saint-Martin  by  the  famous  Eue  Quincampoix; 
but  at  night  there  is  no  spot  in  Paris  more  deserted,  and 
these  little  slums  might  be  called  the  catacombs  of  commerce. 
It  is  the  sink  of  several  industries;  and  if  there  are  few 
natives  of  Batavia  proper,  there  are  plenty  of  small  trades- 
men. 

Naturally,  all  the  suites  of  rooms  in  this  merchant's  palace 
have  but  one  outlook — into  the  central  courtyard — and  for 
this  and  other  reasons  the  rents  asked  are  of  the  lowest.  M< 

Molineux  inhabited  one  of  the  angles  of  the  building.     Con- 
7 


86  RISE  AND  FALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

siderations  of  health  had  prompted  the  choice  of  a  sixth-floor 
lodging;  for  fresh  air  was  only  to  be  had  at  a  height  of  sev- 
enty feet  from  the  ground.  From  the  leads,  where  the  worthy 
owner  of  house-property  was  wont  to  take  exercise,  he  enjoyed 
a  charming  view  of  the  windmills  of  Montmartre.  He  grew 
flowers  up  there  too,  in  defiance  of  police  regulations  against 
these  hanging-gardens  of  the  modern  Babylon.  His  sixth 
floor  establishment  consisted  of  four  rooms,  without  counting 
the  water-closets  on  the  floor  above,  a  valuable  property  to 
which  his  claim  was  incontestable;  he  had  the  key,  he  had 
established  them.  On  a,  first  entrance,  an  indecent  bareness 
at  once  revealed  the  miserly  nature  of  the  man.  Half-a- 
dozen  straw-bottomed  chairs  stood  in  the  lobby;  there  was  a 
glazed  earthenware  stove;  and  on  the  walls,  covered  with  a 
bottle-green  paper,  hung  four  prints  bought  at  sales.  la 
the  dining-room  you  beheld  a  couple  of  sideboards,  two  cages 
full  of  birds,  a  table  covered  with  oilcloth,  a  weather-glass, 
mahogany  chairs  with  horsehair  cushions,  and  through  a 
French  window  a  view  of  the  aforesaid  hanging-gardens. 
Short,  antiquated  green  silk  curtains  adorned  the  sitting- 
room,  and  the  white  painted  wooden  furniture  was  uphol- 
stered in  green  Utrecht  velvet.  As  for  the  furniture  of  the 
old  bachelor's  room,  it  was  of  the  period  of  Louis  XV. ; 
disfigured  by  prolonged  wear,  and  so  dirty  that  a  woman  in 
a  white  gown  would  have  shrunk  from  contact  with  it.  The 
chimney-piece  boasted  a  clock ;  the  dial,  between  two  columns, 
served  as  a  pediment  beneath  a  statuette  of  Pallas  brandish- 
ing a  lance — a  fabulous  personage  of  antiquity.  The  tiled 
floor  was  so  littered  over  with  plates  full  of  scraps  for  the 
cats,  that  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  move  about  without 
setting  a  foot  in  one  of  them.  Above  the  rosewood  chest  of 
drawers  hung  a  pastel — Molineux  in  his  youth.  Add  a  few 
books,  tables  covered  with  shabby  green  card-board  boxes,  a 
case  full  of  the  stuffed  forms  of  some  departed  canaries  on 
a  console  table,  and,  to  complete  the  list,  a  bed  so  chilly-look- 
ing that  it  might  have  been  a  rebuke  to  a  Carmelite. 

Cesar  Birotteau  was  charmed  with  Molineux's  exquisite 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  87 

politeness.  He  found  the  latter  in  his  gray  flannel  dressing- 
gown,  keeping  an  eye  on  the  milk  set  on  a  little  cast-iron 
plate  warmer,  in  a  corner  of  the  hearth,  while  he  poured  the 
contents  of  a  brown  earthen  pipkin,  in  which  he  had  been 
boiling  coffee  grounds,  into  his  cafetiere  by  spoonfuls  at  a 
time.  The  umbrella  dealer  had  opened  the  door,  lest  his 
landlord  should  be  disturbed  in  this  occupation;  but  Moli- 
neux,  holding  mayors  and  deputy-mayors  ("our  municipal 
officers,"  as  he  called  them)  in  great  veneration,  rose  at  first 
sight  of  the  magistrate,  and  stood  cap  in  hand  until  the  great 
Birotteau  should  be  seated. 

"No,  sir  ...  Yes,  sir  ...  Ah,  sir,  if  I  had 
known  that  I  was  to  have  the  honor  of  housing  a  member  of 
the  municipal  government  of  Paris  amid  my  humble  Penates, 
pray  believe  that  I  should  have  made  it  my  business  to  repair 
to  your  house ;  although  I  am  your  landlord,  or — on  the  point 
— of — being " 

Here  Birotteau  by  a  gesture  entreated  him  to  put  on  his 
cap. 

"I  shall  do  nothing  of  the  kind ;  I  shall  remain  bareheaded 
until  you  are  seated,  and  have  put  on  your  hat  if  you  have 
a  cold.  My  room  is  rather  chilly;  my  narrow  means  do  not 
permit — God  bless  you,  Mr.  Deputy-mayor !" 

Birotteau  had  sneezed  while  fumbling  for  his 'papers.  He 
held  them  out,  not  without  remarking  that  to  save  any  delay 
he  had  had  them  made  out  at  his  own  expense  by  M.  Eoguin 
his  notary. 

"I  do  not  call  M.  Eoguin's  knowledge  in  question;  'tis  an 
old  name,  well  known  in  the  Parisian  notariat;  but  I  have 
my  little  ways  of  doing  things,  and  I  look  after  my  affairs 
myself,  a  hobby  excusable  enough;  and  my  notary  is — 

"But  this  is  such  a  simple  matter,"  said  the  perfumer, 
accustomed  to  prompt  decisions  on  the  part  of  buyers  and 
sellers. 

"Simple!"  echoed  Molineux  "Nothing  is  simple  where 
house  property  is  concerned.  Ah !  you  are  not  a  landlord, 
eir ;  so  much  the  happier  you !  If  you  but  knew  the  lengths 


88  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

to  which  a  tenant  will  push  ingratitude,  and  what  precautions 
we  have  to  take !  Now  just  listen  to  this,  sir :  I  have  a  ten- 
ant  "  and  for  fifteen  minutes  Molineux  held  forth,  rela- 
ting how  that  JVI.  Gendrin,  a  draughtsman,  had  eluded  the 
vigilance  of  the  caretaker  in  the  Rue  Saint-Honore.  M. 
Gendrin  had  perpetrated  scandals  worthy  of  a  Marat,  obscene 
drawings !  and  the  police  tolerated  it,  nay,  they  were  made 
with  the  connivance  of  the  police !  Then  this  Gendrin,  an 
artist  of  thoroughly  immoral  character,  had  gone  back  to  the 
house  with  loose  women,  and  made  it  impossible  to  go  up 
and  down  the  stairs,  a  prank  worthy  of  a  man  who  drew 
caricatures  to  ridicule  the  Government.  And  why  all  these 
misdeeds?  .  .  .  Because  he  was  asked  to  pay  his  rent 
on  the  15th!  Gendrin  and  Molineux  were  about  to  go  to 
lav;  about  it ;  for  while  the  artist  did  not  pay,  he  insisted  on 
occupying  the  empty  rooms.  Molineux  received  anony- 
mous letters — from  Gendrin  no  doubt — threatening  to  mur- 
der him  some  night  in  the  alleys  about  the  Cour  Batave. 

"Things  have  arrived  at  such  a  pitch,  sir,"  he  went  on, 
"that  the  Prefect  of  Police,  to  whom  in  confidence  I  related 
my  difficulty  (at  the  same  time,  I  took  the  opportunity  of 
saying  a  word  or  two  touching  the  alterations  that  ought  to 
be  made  in  the  provisions  of  the  law  for  such  cases),  gave  me 
an  authorization  to  carry  firearms  in  self-defence." 

The  little  old  man  got  up  to  look  for  his  pistols. 

"Here  they  are,  sir !"  cried  he. 

"But  you  have  nothing  of  that  kind  to  fear  from  me,  sir," 
said  Birotteau,  glancing  at  Cayron  with  a  smile  that  plainly 
expressed  his  pity  for  such  a  man. 

Molineux  caught  the  glance,  and  was  shocked  to  see  such 
a  look  on  the  countenance  of  a  "municipal  officer,"  whose 
duty  it  was  to  see  to  the  safety  of  those  in  his  district.  He 
could  have  forgiven  it  in  anybody  else,  but  in  Birotteau  it 
was  unpardonable. 

"Sir,"  Molineux  answered  dryly,  "one  of  the  most  highly 
respected  judges  in  the  Consular  Tribune,  a  deputy-mayor, 
and  an  honorable  merchant,  would  not  condescend  to  such 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  89 

baseness,  for  baseness  it  is !  But  in  this  particular  case  you 
want  the  consent  of  your  landlord,  M.  le  Comte  de  Granville, 
before  you  make  a  hole  in  the  wall,  and  stipulations  must  be 
made  in  the  agreement  touching  the  restoration  of  the  wall 
on  the  expiration  of  the  lease.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  too,  the 
rent  is  a  great  deal  lower  than  it  will  be;  rents  will  go  up  all 
about  the  Place  Vendome ;  they  are  going  up  already !  The 
Eue  Castiglione  is  about  to  be  built.  I  am  binding  myself 
down — I  am  binding — myself " 

"Let  us  have  done  with  it/'  said  Birotteau.  "What  do 
you  want?  I  have  had  enough  experience  of  business  to 
guess  that  your  reasonings  can  be  silenced  by  the  great  argu- 
ment— money  !  Well,  how  much  do  you  want  ?" 

"Nothing  but  what  is  fair,  sir.  How  long  has  your  lease 
to  run  ?" 

"Seven  years,"  answered  Birotteau. 

"What  may  not  my  first  floor  be  worth  in  seven  years' 
time?"  cried  Molineux.  "What  will  two  furnished  rooms 
let  for  over  in  your  quarter  ?  More  than  two  hundred  francs 
a  month  very  likely !  I  am  binding  myself ;  binding  myself 
down  by  a  lease.  So  we  will  set  down  the  rent  at  fifteen  hun- 
dred francs.  At  that  figure  I  will  consent  to  receive  you  as 
a  tenant  for  the  two  rooms  instead  of  M.  Cayron  here," 
giving  the  dealer  a  sly  wink,  "and  let  you  have  them  on  lease 
for  seven  consecutive  years.  The  opening  in  the  wall  you 
will  make  at  your  own  charges,  subject  to  your  bringing  to 
me  proof  that  M.  le  Comte  de  Granville  sanctions  it  and 
waives  all  his  rights  in  the  matter.  Whatever  happens  in 
consequence  of  the  small  opening,  the  responsibility  will  rest 
upon  you ;  but  you  shall  be  in  nowise  bound  to  reinstate  the 
wall  so  far  as  I  am  concerned;  you  shall  pay  me  down  five 
hundred  francs  now  instead;  we  never  can  tell  what  may 
happen ;  and  I  don't  want  to  run  about  after  anybody  to  put 
up  my  wall  again  for  me." 

"The  conditions  seem  to  me  scarcely  fair,"  put  in  Birot' 
teau. 

"Then  you  must  pay  me  down  seven  hundred  and  fifty 


9u  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

francs  hie  et  nunc,  to  be  carried  forward  till  the  last  six 
months  of  possession;  the  lease  will  be  a  sufficient  discharge. 
Oh !  I  will  take  bills  of  exchange  for  value  received  in  rent, 
at  any  date  you  please,  so  that  I  have  my  guarantee.  I  am 
a  plain-dealing  man,  and  go  straight  to  the  point  in  business. 
We  will  stipulate  that  you  shall  wall  up  the  door  on  my  stair- 
case, where  you  have  no  right  of  way  ...  at  your  own 
expense  ...  in  brick  and  mortar.  Eeassure  yourself, 
I  shall  not  call  upon  you  to  make  it  good  when  the  lease 
expires;  I  shall  regard  the  five  hundred  francs  as  an  indem- 
nity. You  will  always  find  me  reasonable,  sir." 

"We  in  business  are  not  so  particular,"  said  the  perfumer; 
"if  we  had  all  these  formalities,  we  should  do  no  business 
at  all." 

"Oh,  in  business,  that  is  quite  another  thing,  especially 
in  the  perfumery  line,  where  everything  slips  off  and  on  like 
a  glove,"  said  the  little  old  man,  with  a  sour  smile.  "But 
with  house  property  in  Paris,  sir,  you  cannot  be  too  particu- 
lar. Why,  I  had  a  tenant  in  the  Rue  Montorgueil — 

"I  should  be  very  sorry  to  delay  your  breakfast,  sir,"  said 
Birotteau;  "here  are  the  deeds,  set  them  right,  all  that  you 
ask  me  is  agreed  to;  let  us  sign  the  documents  to-morrow, 
and  give  our  promises  by  word  of  mouth  to-day,  for  to-mor- 
row my  architect  must  be  put  in  possession  of  the  place." 

Molineux  looked  again  at  the  umbrella-dealer.  "There  is 
part  of  the  term  expired,  sir ;  M.  Cayron  has  no  mind  to  pay 
for  it;  we  will  add  the  amount  to  the  little  bills,  so  that  the 
agreement  will  run  from  January  to  January.  That  will 
be  more  business-like." 

"So  be  it,"  said  Birotteau. 

"There  is  the  halfpenny  in  the  shilling  for  the  porter " 

"Why,  you  are  not  allowing  me  to  use  the  staircase  and 
the  doorway;  it  is  not  right  that " 

"Oh !  but  you  are  a  tenant !"  cried  little  Molineux  in 
peremptory  tones,  up  in  arms  for  the  principle  involved. 
"You  must  pay  door  and  window  taxes  and  your  share  of  the 
rates.  If  once  we  clearly  understand  each  other,  sir,  there 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  91 

will  be  no  difficulties  hereafter. — Is  your  business  rapidly 
increasing,  sir ;  are  you  doing  well  ?" 

"Yes/'  said  Birotteau,  "but  that  is  not  my  reason.  I  am 
inviting  a  few  of  my  friends,  partly  to  celebrate  the  evacua- 
tion of  the  foreign  troops,  partly  on  the  occasion  of  my  own 
promotion  to  the  Legion  of  Honor " 

"Aha!"  cried  Molineux,  "a  well-deserved  .honor/' 

"Yes,"  said  Birotteau.  "It  may  be  that  I  have  shown 
myself  not  unworthy  of  this  signal  mark  of  royal  favor  by 
acting  in  my  capacity  at  the  Consular  Trib.unal,  and  by 
fighting  for  the  Bourbons  on  the  steps  of  Saint-Roch,  on  the 
13th  of  Vendemiaire,  where  I  was  wounded  by  Napoleon; 
these  claims " 

"Equal  those  of  our  heroes  in  the  late  army.  The  ribbon  is 
red,  because  it  has  been  dyed  in  blood  shed  for  France/' 

At  these  words,  a  quotation  from  the  Const itutionnel, 
Birotteau  could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  invite  little  Moli- 
neux, who  grew  quite  incoherent  in  his  thanks,  and  was 
almost  ready  to  forgive  the  slight  which  had  been  put  upon 
him.  The  old  man  went  as  far  as  the  stairhead  with  his  new 
tenant,  overwhelming  him  with  civilities. 

As  soon  as  they  were  outside  in  the  Cour  Batave,  Birotteau 
looked  at  Cayron  with  an  amused  expression. 

"I  did  not  think  that  there  was  such  a  weak-minded  crea- 
ture in  existence,"  he  said ;  "idiot"  had  been  on  the  tip  of  his 
tongue,  but  he  suppressed  it  in  time. 

"Ah,  sir!"  said  Cayron,  "everybody  is  not  as  clever  as 
you  are." 

Birotteau  might  be  excused  for  thinking  himself  a  clever 
man  compared  with  Molineux;  the  umbrella-dealer's  reply 
drew  a  pleasant  smile  from  him ;  he  took  leave  of  his  compan- 
ion with  a  regal  air. 

"Here  am  I  at  the  Market,"  he  said  to  himself;  "let  us 
arrange  about  the  hazel-nuts." 

After  an  hour  spent  in  making  inquiries,  the  market- 
woman  referred  Birotteau  to  the  Rue  des  Lombards.,  the 
headquarters  of  the  trade  in  nuts  for  confectionery,  and 


92  KISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAK  BIROTTEAU 

there  his  friends  the  Matifats  informed  him  that  the  only 
wholesale  dealer  in  hazel-nuts  was  one  Mine.  Angelique 
Madou,  resident  in  the  Rue  Perrin-Gasselin ;  and  that  this 
was  the  one  house  in  the  trade  for  genuine  Provengal  filberts 
and  white  Alpine  hazel-nuts. 

The  Rue  Perrin-Gasselin  lies  in  a  quadrangle  bounded 
by  the  Quay,  the  Rue  Saint-Denis,  the  Rue  de  la  Ferronnerie, 
and  the  Rue  de  la  Monnaie,  a  labyrinth  of  slums  which  are, 
as  it  were,  the  entrails  of  Paris.  Here  countless  numbers 
of  heterogeneous  and  nondescript  industries  are  carried  on ; 
evil-smelling  trades,  and  the  manufacture  of  the  daintiest 
finery,  herrings  and  lawn,  silk  and  honey,  butter  and  tulle, 
jostle  each  other  in  its  squalid  precincts.  Here  are  the  head- 
quarters of  those  multitudinous  small  trades  which  Paris  no 
more  suspects  in  its  midst  than  a  man  surmises  the  functions 
performed  by  the  pancreas  in  the  human  economy.  In  this 
congested  district,  in  which  one  Bidault  of  the  Rue  Grenetat 
(otherwise  known  as  Gigonnet  the  pawnbroker)  played  the 
part  of  leech,  the  whole  stock  of  goods  sold  in  the  Great 
Market  is  kept.  The  ancient  mews  are  warehouses  where  tons 
of  oil  are  stored;  the  old  coach-houses  hold  thousands  of 
pairs  of  cotton  stockings. 

Mme.  Madou,  sometime  a  fish-wife,  had  gone  into  the 
"dry-fruit  line"  some  ten  years  before  this  present  year  of 
grace,  on  her  entrance  into  a  partnership  with  the  late  owner 
of  the  business,  who  had  an  old-established  connection  among 
the  ladies  of  the  Great  Market.  Her  beauty,  of  a  vigorous 
and  provocative  order,  had  disappeared  in  excessive  stout- 
ness. She  lived  on  the  ground  floor  of  a  yellow  dilapidated 
house,  held  together  by  iron  cramps  at  every  story.  The 
departed  dealer  in  dry  fruit  had  succeeded  in  ridding  him- 
self of  competitors,  and  had  secured  a  monopoly  of  the  trade ; 
so  that  in  spite  of  some  slight  defects  of  education,  his  suc- 
cessor could  continue  in  the  same  groove,  and  came  and  went 
in  her  warehouses,  old  out-buildings,  stahles,  and  workshops, 
where  she  waged  war  against  insect  life  with  some  success. 

Mme.   Angelique   Madou   dispensed   with  counting-house, 


RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  98 

safe,  and  book-keeping  (for  she  could  neither  read  nor  write), 
and  answered  a  letter  by  blows  of  the  fist,  for  she  looked  upon 
it  as  an  insult.  In  other  respects  she  was  a  good-natured 
soul,  with  a  high-colored  countenance,  and  a  bandana  hand- 
kerchief tied  about  her  head  beneath  her  cap,  and  a  trumpet 
voice  which  won  the  respect  of  the  carmen  who  brought  goods 
to  the  Eue  Perrin-Gasselin,and  whose  "rows"  with  her  usually 
ended  in  a  bottle  of  petit  blanc.  She  could  not  well  have 
any  trouble  with  the  growers  who  supplied  her,  for  she  always 
paid  cash  on  delivery,  the  only  way  of  carrying  on  such  a 
business  as  hers,  and  Mother  Madou  went  into  the  country 
to  see  them  in  the  summer-time. 

Birotteau  found  this  shrewish  saleswoman  among  her 
sacks  of  hazel-nuts,  chestnuts,  and  walnuts. 

"Good  day,  my  dear  lady/'  said  Birotteau  flippantly. 

"You  dear!"  returned  she.  "So  you  have  pleasant  recol- 
lections of  your  dealings  with  me,  have  you?  Have  we  met 
each  other  at  Court?" 

"I  am  a  perfumer,  and  what  is  more,  deputy-mayor  of  the 
Second  Arrondissement  of  Paris,  and  I  have  a  right  to  ex- 
pect a  different  tone  from  you." 

"I  marry  when  I  have  a  mind,"  said  the  virago ;  "I  am  no 
customer  at  the  mayor's  office,  and  don't  trouble  deputy- 
mayors  much.  And  as  for  my  customers,  they  adore  me,  and 
I  talk  to  'em  as  I  please.  If  they  don't  like  it,  they  may  take 
themselves  somewhere  else." 

"See  what  comes  of  a  monopoly,"  muttered  Birotteau. 

"Popole  ?  that's  my  godson ;  he  has  been  up  to  some  foolery 
perhaps;  have  you  come  for  him,  your  worship?"  she  asked, 
in  milder  tones. 

"No.  I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  I  come  to  you  as 
a  customer." 

"All  right.  "What  is  your  name,  my  lad?  I  haven't  seen 
you  here  before." 

"If  that  is  the  way  you  talk,  you  ought  to  sell  your  nuts 
cheap,"  said  Birotteau,  and  he  mentioned  his  name  and  des- 
ignation. 


94 

"Oh !  you  afe  the  famous  Birotteau  with  the  handsome  wife. 
Well,  and  what  weight  do  you  want  of  these  little  dears  of 
hazel-nuts,  honey?" 

"Six  thousand  pounds  weight." 

"It  is  as  much  as  I  have,"  said  the  saleswoman,  with  a 
voice  like  a  cracked  flute.  "You  are  not  in  the  do-nothing 
line,  marrying  the  girls,  and  making  scent  for  them.  Lord, 
bless  you !  you  do  a  trade,  you  do !  Sorry  I  have  so  little  for 
you !  You  will  be  a  fine  customer,  and  your  name  will  be 
written  on  the  heart  of  the  woman  that  I  love  best  in  the 
world " 

"Who  may  that  be  ?" 

"Who  but  dear  Madame  Madou." 

"What  do  you  want  for  the  nuts?" 

"Twenty-five  francs  the  hundred-weight  to  you,  mister, 
if  you  take  the  lot." 

"Twenty-five  francs,"  said  Birotteau.  "That  is  fifteen 
hundred  francs!  And  I  shall  very  likely  take  a  hundred 
thousand  pounds  weight  in  a  year!" 

"But  just  look  at  the  quality ;  no  husks !"  cried  she,  plung- 
ing a  red  arm  into  a  sack  of  filberts.  "Sound  kernels,  my 
dear  sir.  Just  think,  now,  the  grocers  sell  their  mixed  dessert 
fruits  at  twenty-four  sous  the  pound,  and  in  every  four  pounds 
they  put  more  than  a  pound  of  hazel-nuts.  Am  I  to  lose 
money  on  the  goods  to  please  you  ?  You  are  a  nice  man,  but 
I  don't  care  enough  about  you  yet  to  do  that.  As  you  are 
taking  such  a  quantity,  we  might  let  you  have  them  at  twenty 
francs,  for  it  won't  do  to  send  away  a  deputy-mayor ;  it  would 
bring  bad  luck  to  the  young  couples!  A  good  article;  just 
feel  the  weight  of  them !  They  wouldn't  go  fifty  to  the 
pound!  Sound  nuts  they  are,  not  a  maggot  among  them!'' 

"Well,  send  six  thousand  pounds  weight  early  to-morrow 
morning  to  my  factory  in  the  Rue  Faubourg-du-Temple,  for 
two  thousand  francs  at  ninety  days." 

"They  shall  be  punctual  as  a  bride  at  a  wedding.  Well, 
good-bye,  M.  le  Maire;  we  part  good  friends.  But  if  it  is 
all  the  same  to  you,"  she  added,  following  Birotteau  into  the 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  95 

court,  "I  would  rather  have  a  bill  at  forty  days,  for  I  have 
let  you  have  them  too  cheap,  arid  I  can't  afford  to  lose  the 
interest  on  the  money  too.  For  all  Ms  sentimental  ways,  old 
Gigonnet  sucks  the  life  out  of  us,  as  a  spider  sucks  a  fly." 

"Very  well,  yes,  fifty  days.  But  I'll  have  the  nuts  by 
weight,  so  as  not  to  lose  on  the  hollow  ones.  They  must  be 
weighed  or  I'll  have  nothing  to  do  with  them." 
I  "Oh,  the  fox;  he  knows  that  dodge,  does  he?"  said  Mme. 
Madou ;  "you  can't  catch  him  napping.  Those  beggars  in  the 
Hue  des  Lombards  put  him  up  to  that !  Those  great  wolves 
yonder  are  all  in  a  league  to  devour  us  poor  lambs." 

The  lamb  was  five  feet  high  and  three  feet  round;  she  had 
not  a  vestige  of  a  waist,  and  looked  like  a  post  in  a  striped 
cotton  gown. 

As  he  went  along  the  Eue  Saint-Honore,  the  perfumer, 
lost  in  his  schemes,  meditated  on  his  duel  with  Macassar  Oil. 
He  designed  the  labels,  decided  on  the  shape  of  the  bottles, 
the  quality  of  the  corks,  the  color  of  the  placards.  And  people 
say  that  there  is  no  poetry  in  business  !  Newton  did  not  make 
more  calculations  over  the  discovery  of  the  famous  binomial 
theorem  than  Birotteau  made  for  the  "Comagen  Essence" 
(for  it  was  an  essence  now;  the  words  oil  and  essence  pos- 
sessed no  definite  meaning  for  him,  and  he  went  from  the  one 
to  the  other).  All  these  combinations  were  seething  in  his 
head,  and  he  mistook  the  ferment  of  an  empty  brain  for  the 
germination  of  an  idea.  So  absorbed  was  he  in  his  medita- 
tions, that  he  went  past  the  Eue  des  Bourdonnais,  and  be- 
thinking himself  of  his  uncle,  was  obliged  to  retrace  his 
steps. 

Claude-Joseph  Pillerault,  formerly  a  retail  ironmonger  at 
the  sign  of  the  Golden  Bell,  was  one  of  those  human  beings 
whose  exterior  is  the  outward  and  visible  expression  of  a 
beautiful  nature ;  and  heart  and  brain,  language  and  thought, 
his  manner  and  the  clothes  that  he  wore,  were  all  in  harmony. 
He  was  the  only  relation  that  Mme.  Birotteau  had  in  the 
world,  and  upon  her  and  on  Cesarine  Pillerault  had  centered 
all  his  affections;  for  in  the  course  of  his  business  career 


96  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

he  had  lost  his  wife  and  his  son,  and  a  boy  whom  he  had 
adopted,  the  son  of  his  cook. 

These  cruel  bereavements  had  given  to  the  good  man's 
thoughts  a  cast  of  Christian  stoicism,  a  lofty  doctrine  which 
was  the  informing  spirit  of  his  life,  and  shed  the  radiance 
of  a  winter  sunset  over  his  last  years,  a  glow  that  brings  no 
warmth.  There  was  a  tinge  of  asceticism  about  the  thin, 
worn  face,  where  sallow  and  swarthy  tones  were  harmoni- 
ously blended;  you  saw  in  it  a  striking  resemblance  to  typi- 
cal presentments  of  Time ;  but  the  every-day  cares  of  a  retail 
business  had  touched  this  face,  there  was  less  of  the  monu- 
mental quality,  less  of  the  grimness  insisted  upon  by  painters, 
sculptors,  and  designers  of  bronze  figures  for  clocks. 

Pillerault  was  of  middle  height,  and  thick-set  rather  than 
stout.  Nature  had  fashioned  him  for  hard  work  and  a  long 
life ;  he  was  strongly  built,  as  his  square  shoulders  indicated ; 
a  man  of  phlegmatic  temper,  whose  feelings,  though  he  could 
feel,  did  not  lie  on  the  surface.  His  quiet  manner  and  reso- 
lute face  indicated  that  he  was  little  given  to  the  expression 
of  his  emotions;  but  reserved  and  undemonstrative  though 
he  was,  there  were  depths  of  tenderness  in  Pillerault's  nature. 
The  principal  characteristic  of  the  hazel  eyes,  with  dark 
specks  in  them,  was  their  unvarying  clearness.  There  were 
deep  furrows  in  a  forehead  sallowed  by  time,  narrow,  con- 
tracted, and  stern,  and  covered  with  gray  hair,  cut  so  short 
that  it  looked  like  felt.  Prudence,  not  avarice,  wac  expressed 
in  the  lines  of  the  thin  lips.  The  brightness  of  the  eyes  told 
of  a  temperate  life;  and,  indeed,  sincerity,  a  sense  of  duty, 
and  a  real  humility  glorified  his  features  and  set  off  his  face, 
as  health  does. 

For  sixty  years  he  had  led  a  hard  and  dreary  existence, 
a  constant  struggle  for  a  livelihood.  It  was  the  same  story 
as  Cesar's  own,  with  Cesar's  luck  omitted.  Pillerault  had 
remained  an  assistant  till  he  was  thirty  years  old;  he  had 
embarked  his  capital  in  business  at  an  age  when  Cesar  was 
investing  his  savings  in  rentes;  then  the  law  of  the  maximum 
had  hit  him  hard,  and  his  pickaxes  and  spades  had  been 


RISE  AND  PALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  91 

requisitioned.  His  taciturn  wisdom,  his  foresight,  and  logi- 
cal clear-headedness  had  had  their  effect  on  his  "ways  of 
doing  business."  His  bargains  were  concluded  as  a  rule  by 
word  of  mouth  and  difficulties  seldom  arose.  Like  most 
meditative  people,  he  was  an  observer;  he  said  little,  and 
studied  those  who  talked ;  often  he  had  declined  good  bargains 
of  which  his  neighbors  had  availed  themselves,  and  subse- 
quently repented,  and  vowed  that  Pillerault  could  smell  out 
a  rogue.  He  preferred  sure  gains,  if  of  the  smallest,  to  bold 
strokes  of  business  involving  heavy  sums. 

His  stock  of  hardware  consisted  of  grates,  gridirons,  cast- 
iron  fire-dogs,  boilers,  and  copper  caldrons,  hoes,  and  such 
agricultural  implements  as  laborers  use,  somewhat  unremu- 
nerative  branches  of  a  business  that  involves  continual  drudg- 
ery. Hardware  is  ponderous,  awkward  to  handle,  and  difficult 
to  store,  and  the  profits  are  not  heavy  in  proportion;  so 
Pillerault  had  nailed  up  many  a  case,  sent  off  many  packages, 
and  unloaded  many  vans.  Never  had  a  competence  been 
more  honorably  earned,  more  thoroughly  deserved,  more  to 
the  credit  of  the  man  who  had  made  it.  He  had  never  asked 
too  much,  had  never  run  after  business.  Towards  the  end 
of  the  time,  you  might  have  seen  him  smoking  his  pipe  in  the 
doorway  and  watching  his  assistants  at  work.  In  1814, 
when  he  retired,  his  actual  capital  at  first  consisted  of 
seventy  thousand  francs,  which  he  invested  in  Government 
stock,  that  brought  him  in  five  thousand  and  some  odd  hun- 
dred francs  a  year,  with  a  further  forty  thousand  francs 
due  in  five  years'  time,  when  the  assistant  to  whom  he  had 
sold  the  business  was  to  pay  for  it.  On  this  amount,  mean- 
while, no  interest  was  paid.  For  thirty  years  he  had  annually 
made  seven  per  cent  on  a  turn-over  of  a  hundred  thousand 
francs,  and  had  lived  on  half  his  income.  Such  was  his  bal- 
ance-sheet. 

His  neighbors,  but  little  jealous  of  this  by  no  means  brill- 
iant success,  extolled  his  wisdom  without  comprehending  it. 

At  the  corner  of  the  Rue  de  la  Monnaie  and  the  Rue  Saint- 
Honore  stands  the  Cafe  David,  where  a  few  retired  trades* 


96  RISE  AND  FALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

men  such  as  Pillerault,  congregate  of  an  evening  to  take 
their  coffee.  At  one  time,  Pillerault's  adoption  of  his 
cook's  son  had  occasioned  a  few  jokes  among  its  frequent- 
ers, such  jokes  as  are  addressed  to  a  man  looked 
up  to  among  his  fellows,  for  the  ironmonger  received  a  re- 
spect for  which  he  had  not  sought;  his  own  self-respect  suf- 
ficed him.  So  when  Pillerault  lost  the  poor  young  fellow, 
there  were  more  than  two  hundred  people  at  the  funeral  who 
followed  his  adopted  child  to  the  grave.  He  behaved  heroic- 
ally in  those  days,  making  no  parade  of  his  grief,  bearing  it 
as  a  brave  man  bears  sorrow.  This  increased  the  sympathy  felt 
in  the  quarter  for  the  "good  man,"  as  they  called  him,  and 
the  accent  in  which  the  words  were  spoken  gave  the  words  a 
wider  and  ennobled  meaning  when  they  were  applied  to 
Pillerault. 

Claude  Pillerault  had  become  so  accustomed  to  the  sober 
even  tenor  of  his  life,  that  when  he  retired  from  business 
and  entered  upon  the  time  of  leisure,  which  hangs  so  heavily 
on  many  a  Parisian  tradesman's  hands,  he  could  not  unbend 
and  divert  himself  with  the  amusements  of  an  idle  life;  he 
made  no  change  in  his  housekeeping;  and  his  old  age  was 
enlivened  by  his  political  opinions,  which,  let  us  admit  it 
at  once,  were  those  of  the  extreme  Left. 

Pillerault  belonged  to  the  artisan  class,  which  the  Revolu- 
tion had  brought  into  co-operation  with  the  small  shopkeep- 
ers. The  one  blot  on  his  character  was  the  importance  which 
he  attached  to  the  victory  of  his  principles;  he  dwelt  fondly 
on  his  rights,  on  liberty,  on  the  great  results  of  the  Revolu- 
tion; he  firmly  believed  that  his  political  freedom  and  exist- 
ence were  being  undermined  by  the  Jesuits,  whose  underhand 
power  the  Liberals  discovered,  and  threatened  by  the  ideas 
with  which  the  Constitutionnel  credited  Monsieur  the  King's 
brother.  He  was,  however,  consistent  in  his  life  and  in  his 
ideas;  there  was  nothing  narrow  in  his  political  views;  he 
never  abused  his  adversaries,  he  held  courtiers  in  suspicion, 
and  believed  in  Republican  virtues.  He  imagined  that  Man- 
uel was  guiltless  of  any  excesses,  that  General  Foy  was  a 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  99 

great  man,  and  Casimir  Perier  without  ambition;  to  his 
thinking,  Lafayette  was  a  political  prophet,  Courier  a  good 
man.  In  short,  he  beheld  noble  chimerical  visions. 

The  good  man  was  domestic  in  his  habits ;  he  made  part  of 
the  family  circle  in  which  his  niece  lived — the  Ragons,  Judge 
Popinot,  Joseph  Lebas,  and  the  Matifats.  Fifteen  hundred 
francs  a  year  supplied  his  needs;  the  rest  of  his  income  was 
spent  in  charitable  deeds  and  in  presents  to  his  grand-niece; 
four  times  a  year  he  gave  a  dinner  to  his  friends  at  Roland's 
in  the  Rue  du  Hasard,  and  took  them  afterwards  to  the  play. 
He  played  the  part  of  the  old  bachelor  friend  on  whom  mar- 
ried women  draw  bills  at  sight  for  their  fancies;  for  a 
country  excursion,  a  party  for  the  Opera  or  the  Montagnes- 
Beaujon;  and  Pillerault  would  be  very  happy  at  such  times 
in  the  pleasure  he  was  giving,  and  felt  the  gladness  in  other 
hearts. 

If  Molineux's  character  was  written  at  large  in  his  queer 
furniture,  Pillerault's  pure  heart  and  simple  life  were  no  less 
revealed  by  his  surroundings.  His  abode  consisted  of  a  lobby, 
a  sitting-room,  and  bedroom.  But  for  the  difference  in  size, 
it  might  have  been  a  Carthusian's  cell.  The  lobby,  floored 
with  red  tiles,  which  were  beeswaxed,  boasted  but  one  win- 
dow, hung  with  dimity  curtains  edged  with  scarlet;  mahog- 
any chairs  with  red  leather  cushions,  and  studded  with  brass 
nails,  stood  against  the  wall,  which  was  covered  with  an  olive- 
green  paper,  and  adorned  with  pictures — a  Declaration  of 
Independence,  a  portrait  of  Bonaparte  as  First  Consul,  and  a 
Battle  of  Austerlitz.  The  furniture  of  the  sitting-room, 
doubtless  left  to  the  upholsterer,  was  yellow,  and  covered  with 
a  flowered  pattern ;  there  was  a  carpet  on  the  floor ;  the  bronze 
ornaments  on  the  chimney-piece  were  not  gilded.  There  was 
a  painted  fire-screen  before  the  grate;  a  vase  of  artificial 
flowers  under  a  glass  shade  stood  on  a  console,  and  a  liqueur 
stand  on  a  round  table  covered  with  a  cloth.  It  was  evident 
from  the  unused  look  of  the  room  that  it  was  a  concession  to 
convention  on  the  part  of  the  retired  ironmonger,  who  rarely 
received  visitors. 


100  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

His  own  room  was  as  bare  as  that  of  a  monk  or  an  old 
soldier,  the  two  men  who  make  the  truest  estimate  of  life.  In 
the  alcove  a  holy-water  stoup  caught  the  eye,  a  profoundly 
touching  confession  of  faith  in  a  Republican  stoic. 

An  old  woman  came  in  to  do  the  work  of  the  establishment ; 
but  so  great  was  Pillerault's  reverence  for  womankind,  that 
he  would  not  allow  her  to  clean  his  shoes,  and  made  an  ar- 
rangement with  a  shoeblack. 

His  costume  was  plain,  and  never  varied.  He  always  wore 
a  coat  and  breeches  of  blue  cloth,  a  cotton  waistcoat,  a  white 
cravat,  and  very  low  walking-shoes;  and  on  high  days  and 
holidays  a  coat  with  metal  buttons.  He  rose,  breakfasted, 
went  out,  dined,  and  returned  home  when  the  evening  was 
over  with  the  strictest  regularity,  for  a  methodical  life  con- 
duces to  health  and  length  of  days.  Cesar,  the  Ragons,  and 
the  Abbe  Loraux  alwa}rs  avoided  the  subject  of  politics;  those 
of  his  own  circle  knew  better  than  to  court  attack  by  trying 
to  convert  him.  Like  his  nephew  and  the  Ragons,  he  put 
great  faith  in  Roguin ;  for  him  a  notary  of  Paris  was  always 
a  being  to  be  venerated,  and  probity  incarnate.  In  the  matter 
of  the  building  land,  Pillerault  had  examined  it  so  thor- 
oughly, that  the  remembrance  of  his  investigations  had  given 
Cesar  moral  support  in  the  combat  with  his  wife's  fore- 
bodings. 

As  Cesar  climbed  the  seventy-two  steps  of  the  stairs  which 
led  to  the  brown  doorway  of  his  uncle's  rooms,  he  thought 
within  himself  that  the  old  man  must  be  very  hale  to  go 
up  and  down  them  daily  without  a  murmur.  He  found 
the  coat  and  breeches  hanging  on  a  peg  outside,  and  Mme 
Vaillant  busy  rubbing  and  brushing  them;  while  the  phil- 
osopher himself,  in  his  gray  flannel  dressing-gown,  was 
breakfasting  by  the  fireside,  and  conning  the  reports  of  par- 
liamentary debates  in  the  Constitutionnel  or  the  Journal 
du  Commerce. 

"The  affair  is  settled,  uncle,"  said  Cesar;  "they  are  just 
about  to  draft-  the  documents ;  but  if  you  have  any  doubts 
or  regret  about  it,  tbore  i«  s*:!l  time  to  cry  off." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEATJ  101 

"Why  should  I  cry  off?  It  is  a  good  piece  of  business, 
but  it  takes  some  time  to  realize,  like  everything  that  is 
safe.  My  fifty  thousand  francs  are  lying  at  the  bank;  the 
last  instalment  of  five  thousand  francs  for  my  business  was 
paid  in  yesterday.  As  for  the  Ragons,  they  are  putting 
all  that  they  have  into  it." 

"Why,  how  do  they  live?" 

"Never  mind;  they  live,  at  all  events." 

"I  understand  you,  uncle,"  said  Birotteau,  deeply 
touched,  and  he  grasped  the  austere  old  man's  hands  tightly 
in  his. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  about  this  business?"  Pille- 
rault  asked  abruptly. 

"I  shall  take  three-eighths;  you  and  the  Eagons  will  take 
an  eighth  between  you;  I  shall  credit  you  with  the  amount 
in  my  books  until  they  decide  the  question  of  the  deeds." 

"Good !  Are  you  so  very  rich,  my  boy,  that  you  pay 
down  three  hundred  thousand  francs?  It  looks  to  me  as 
though  you  were  risking  a  good  deal  of  money  outside  your 
business;  won't  the  business  suffer?  After  all,  it  is  your 
own  affair.  If  you  are  pulled  up,  here  are  the  funds  at 
ninety;  I  could  sell  out  two  thousand  francs  in  consols. 
Take  care,  though,  my  boy;  if  you  come  to  me,  you  will  be 
laying  hands  on  your  girl's  fortune." 

"Uncle,  you  say  the  kindest  of  things  as  if  they  were  a 
matter  of  course;  it  goes  to  my  heart  to  hear  you." 

"General  Foy  touched  me  after  another  fashion  just  now ! 
There,  at  all  events,  it  is  settled.  The  building  lots  won't 
fly  away;  we  shall  have  them  for  half  their  value;  and  even 
if  we  should  have  to  wait  six  years,  there  will  still  be  some- 
thing in  the  way  of  interest;  timber-yards  would  pay  rent, 
so  we  cannot  lose.  There  is  only  one  thing,  and  that  is  im- 
possible— Roguin  will  not  run  away  with  our  capital " 

"But  that  is  what  my  wife  said  last  night;  she  is 
afraid— 

-"That  Roguin  will  run  off  with  our  money,"  said  Pille- 
rault,  laughing ;  "and  why  ?" 
8 


102  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Well,  she  says  she  doesn't  like  the  cut  of  his  features; 
and,  like  all  men  who  cannot  have  women,  he  is  frantic 
for " 

An  incredulous  smile  stole  over  Pillerault's  face;  he  tore 
a  leaf  out  of  a  little  book,  filled  in  the  amount,  and  signed 
his  name. 

"Here,  this  is  an  order  on  the  bank  for  a  hundred  thou- 
sand fra»*6,  for  Ragon's  sin  re  and  mine.  Those  poor 
people,  though,  to  make  up  the  money,  sold  out  their  fifteen 
shares  in  the  Wortschin  mines  to  your  worthless  rogue  of  a 
du  Tillet.  Good  people  in  sore  straits;  it  goes  to  one's  heart 
to  see  it.  And  such  good  people  they  are,  such  noble  people, 
the  flower  of  the  old-fashioned  bourgeoisie,  in  fact!  Their 
brother  Popinot,  the  judge,  knows  nothing  about  it;  they 
are  hiding  their  affairs  from  him,  lest  they  should  hinder 
him  from  giving  free  course  to  his  benevolence.  People 
who  have  worked  as  I  did  for  thirty  years " 

"God  grant  that  the  Comagen  Oil  succeeds!"  cried  Birot- 
teau,  "and  I  shall  be  doubly  pleased.  Good-day,  uncle; 
you  are  coming  to  dine  with  us  on  Sunday  with  the  Ragons 
and  Roguin,  and  M.  Claparon  is  coming,  for  we  are  all  going 
to  sign  the  papers  the  day  after  to-morrow ;  to-morrow  will  be 
Friday,  and  I  don't  want  to  do  bus — 

"Do  you  really  believe  in  those  superstitions?" 

"I  shall  never  believe  that  the  day  when  the  Son  of  God 
was  put  to  death  by  men  can  be  a  lucky  day,  uncle.  Why? 
— people  stop  all  business  even  on  the  21st  of  January." 

"Good-bye  till  Sunday,"  said  Pillerault  abruptly. 

"If  it  weren't  for  his  political  opinions/'  said  Birotteau 
to  himself,  as  he  went  downstairs  again,  "I  do  not  know 
where  they  would  find  his  equal  here  below.  What  are 
politics  to  him?  He  would  get  on  very  nicely  without 
thinking  of  them  at  all.  His  infatuation  shows  that  no 
one  is  perfect. — Three  o'clock  already!"  said  Cesar,  as  he 
entered  his  shop. 

"Are  you  going  to  take  these  bills,  sir?"  asked  Celestin, 
holding  out  the  umbrella-dealer's  collection  of  bills. 


RISE  AND  PALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  103 

"Yes,  at  six  per  cent,  no  commission. — Wife,  put  out  all 
my  things  ready  for  me ;  I  am  going  to  call  on  M.  Vauquelin^ 
you  know  why.  Above  i.,11  things,  a  white  cravat." 

Birotteau  gave  some  orders  to  his  assistants;  he  did  not 
see  Popinot,  guessed  that  his  future  partner  had  gone  to 
dress  for  the  visit,  and  went  up  at  once  to  his  own  room, 
where  the  Dresden  Madonna  met  his  eyes  in  a  magnificent 
frame,  according  to  his  orders. 

"Well,  it  looks  fine,  doesn't  it?" 

"Why,  papa,  say  it  is  beautiful,  or  people  will  laugh  at 
you." 

"Here  is  a  girl  for  you  that  scolds  her  father!  .  .  . 
Well,  for  my  own  part,  I  like  Hero  and  Leander  quite  as 
much.  The  Madonna  is  a  religious  subject,  which  could 
be  hung  up  in  an  oratory;  but  Hero  and  Leander!  Ah!  I 
will  buy  it,  for  the  flask  of  oil  suggested  some  ideas  to  me." 

"But  I  don't  understand,  papa." 

"Virginie,  call  a  cab !"  shouted  Cesar,  in  a  voice  that 
rang  through  the  house.  He  had  finished  shaving,  and  the 
shy  Anselme  Popinot  appeared,  dragging  his  feet,  for  he 
thought  of  Cesarine.  He  had  not  discovered  as  yet  that 
he  was  not  lame  in  the  eyes  of  his  lady-love,  a  sweet  proof 
of  love,  which  only  those  to  whom  fate  has  given  some 
bodily  deformity  can  receive. 

"The  press  will  be  in  working  order  to-morrow,  sir,"  he 
said. 

"Very  well.  What  is  the  matter,  Popinot?"  asked  Cesar, 
seeing  Anselme's  flushed  face. 

"I  am  so  glad,  sir;  I  have  found  a  place,  a  front  and 
back  shop,  and  a  kitchen,  and  the  rooms  above,  and  a  store- 
room, all  for  twelve  hundred  francs  a  year,  in  the  Rue  des 
Cinq-Diamants." 

"We  must -have  an  eighteen  years'  lease  of  it,"  said  Birot- 
teau. "But  let  us  go  to  M.  Vauquelin,  and  we  can  talk  on 
the  way,"  and  Cesar  and  Popinot  drove  away  under  the  eyes 
of  the  assistants,  who  were  at  a  loss  what  to  think  of  such 
magnificent  attire,  and  so  unusual  a  portent  as  a  cab,  igno- 


104  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

rant  as  they  were  of  the  mighty  matters  that  occupied  the 
owner  of  the  Queen  of  Roses. 

"So  we  shall  soon  know  the  truth  about  the  hazel-nuts !" 
said  the  perfumer. 

"Hazel-nuts?"  queried  Popinot. 

"You  have  my  secret,  Popinot,"  said  the  perfumer;  "I 
let  slip  the  word  Tiazel-nuts/  and  that  tells  everything. 
Hazel-nut  oil  is  the  only  oil  which  produces  any  effect  on 
the  hair ;  no  other  house  has  thought  of  it.  When  I  saw  the 
print  of  Hero  and  Leander,  I  said  to  myself,  'If  the 
ancients  put  so  much  oil  on  their  heads,  there  must  have 
been  some  reason  for  it/  for  the  ancients  ^are  the  ancients ! 
In  spite  of  modern  pretensions,  I  am  of  Boileau's  opinion 
about  the  ancients.  From  that  I  came  to  the  idea  of  hazel- 
nuts,  thanks  to  young  Bianchon,  the  medical  student,  your 
relative ;  he  told  me  that  the  students  at  the  ficole  put  hazel- 
nut  oil  on  their  moustaches  and  whiskers  to  make  them 
grow.  All  we  want  now  is  the  illustrious  M.  Yauquelin's 
approval.  Enlightened  by  him,  we  shall  not  deceive  the 
public.  Only  just  now  I  was  over  in  the  Market  buying  the 
raw  material  of  a  saleswoman  there;  and  in  another  mo- 
ment I  shall  be  in  the  presence  of  one  of  the  greatest  scien- 
tific men  in  France  for  the  quintessence  of  the  matter. 
There's  sense  in  proverbs — extremes  meet.  Trade  is  the 
intermediary  between  vegetable  products  and  science,  you 
see,  my  boy !  Angelique  Madou  collects  the  material,  M. 
Vauquelin  digtils  it,  and  we  sell  an  essence.  Hazel-nuts 
are  worth  five  sous  the  pound,  M.  Vauquelin  will  increase 
their  value  a  hundred-fold,  and  we  shall  perhaps  do  a  ser- 
vice to  humanity;  for  if  vanity  is  a  plague  of  man,  a  good 
cosmetic  is  a  benefit." 

The  devout  admiration  with  which  Popinot  listened  to 
the  father  of  his  Cesarine  stimulated  Birotteau's  eloquence; 
he  indulged  in  the  crudest  rhetorical  display  that  a  phil- 
istine's  brain  can  devi?e. 

"Be  reverent,  Anselme,"  he  said,  as  they  reached  the 
street  in  which  Vauquelin  lived;  "we  are  about  to  enter 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  105 

the  sanctuary  of  science.  Put  the  Madonna  in  evidence, 
but  without  making  a  parade  of  it,  on  a  chair  in  the  din- 
ing-room. If  only  I  can  manage  to  say  what  I  want  to  say 
without  making  a  muddle  of  it!"  cried  Birotteau  artlessly. 
"Popinot,  that  man  produces  a  chemical  effect  on  me,  the 
sound  of  his  voice  makes  me  quite  hot  inside,  and  even  gives 
me  a  slight  colic.  He  is  my  benefactor,  Anselme,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  he  will  be  your  benefactor  too." 

Popinot  turned  cold  at  the  words,  set  down  his  feet  as 
if  he  were  treading  on  eggs,  and  looked  uneasily  round  the 
room. 

M.  Vauquelin  was  in  his  study  when  Birotteau  was  an- 
nounced. The  man  of  science  knew  that  the  perfumer  was 
a  deputy-mayor  and  in  high  favor;  he  received  his  visitor. 

"So  you  do  not  forget  me  now  that  you  are  so  high  up 
in  the  world,"  he  said;  "well,  between  a  chemist  and  a  per- 
fumer there  is  but  a  hand's-treadth." 

"Alas !  there  is  a  great  distance  between  your  genius  and 
a  plain  man  like  me,  sir;  and  as  for  what  you  call  'being 
high  up  in  the  world/  it  is  all  owing  to  you,  and  I  shall 
never  forget  it  in  this  world  or  the  next." 

"Oh !  in  the  next  we  shall  all  be  equal  they  say,  cobblers 
and  kings." 

"That  is  to  say,  those  kings  and  cobblers  who  have  lived 
piously,"  remarked  Birotteau. 

"Is  this  your  son?"  asked  Vauquelin,  looking  at  little 
Popinot,  who  was  beyond  expression  amazed  to  find  nothing 
extraordinary  in  the  study.  He  had  expected  to  see  pro- 
digious marvels,  giant  engines,  vivified  substances,  and 
metals  flying  about. 

"No,  sir ;  but  he  is  a  young  man  in  whom  I  am  very  much 
interested,  and  he  has  come  to  entreat  your  goodness,  which 
is  equal  to  your  talent,  and  is  it  not  infinite?"  remarked 
Birotteau  diplomatically.  "We  have  come,  after  an  interval 
of  sixteen  years,  to  consult  you  a  second  time  on  a  matter 
of  importance,  concerning  which  I  am  as  ignorant  ae  a 
perfumer." 


106  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  B1ROTTEAU 

"Let  us  hear  about  it.     What  is  it?" 

"I  know  that  the  subject  of  hair  occupies  your  nights, 
and  that  you  are  devoting  yourself  to  the  analysis  of  the 
substance !  While  you  have  been  thinking  for  glory,  I  have 
been  thinking  too  for  trade." 

"Dear  M.  Birotteau,  what  do  you  want  of  me — an  analysis 
of  hair?" 

He  took  up  a  loose  sheet. 

"I  am  about  to  read  a  paper  before  the  Academic  des 
Sciences/'  he  went  on.  "Hair  is  composed  of  a  somewhat 
large  proportion  of  mucus,  a  little  colorless  oil,  a  larger 
proportion  of  dark-greenish  oil,  and  iron;  I  find  a  certain 
amount  of  oxide  of  manganese,  and  of  phosphate  of  lime, 
and  traces  of  carbonate  of  lime,  and  silica;  sulphur  enters 
largely  into  its  composition.  The  proportions  in  which  these 
different  substances  are  present  vary,  and  so  cause  the  dif- 
ferent colorings  of  hair.  Red  hair,  for  example,  on  analysis 
yields  much  more  of  the  dark  green  oil  than  the  other  kinds 
give." 

Cesar  and  Popinot  opened  their  eyes  ludicrously  wide. 

"Nine  things,"  cried  Birotteau.  "What,  are  there  metals 
and  oils  in  hair  ?  It  takes  the  word  of  a  man  like  you,  whom 
I  venerate,  to  make  me  believe  it.  How  extraordinary! 
.  .  .  God  is  great,  M.  Vauquelin." 

"Hair  is  produced  by  a  follicular  organ,"  the  great  chem- 
ist continued;  "a  follicle  is  a  sort  of  bag  open  at  both  ends; 
at  the  one  end  it  is  connected  with  nerves  and  blood-vessels, 
and  the  hair  issues  from  the  other.  According  to  some  of 
our.  learned  associates,  one  of  whom  is  M.  de  Blainville,  the 
hair  is  dead  matter  expelled  from  the  sac  or  secreting  gland, 
which  is  full  of  a  pulpy  tissue." 

"It  is  like  perspiration  in  sticks,  as  you  might  say," 
cried  Popinot,  for  which  the  perfumer  promptly  kicked  his 
shins. 

Vauquelin  smiled  at  Popinot's  notion.  On  this,  "He  has 
capacity,  hasn't  he?"  said  Cesar,  looking  at  Popinot.  "But 
if  hair  is  dead,  to  begin  with,  sir,  you  can't  possibly  restore  it, 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  107 

and  it  is  all  over  with  us !  the  prospectus  is  nonsense !  You 
don't  know  how  funny  the  public  is;  you  can't  go  and  tell 
people " 

"That  there  is  a  rubbish  heap  on  their  heads,"  said  Popi- 
not, trying  to  make  Vauquelin  laugh  again. 

"An  aerial  catacomb/'  returned  the  chemist,  keeping  up 
the  joke. 

"And  the  nuts  that  are  bought !"  cried  Birotteau,  with  a 
lively  sense  of  the  pecuniary  loss.  "But  why  do  they 
sell ?» 

"Eeassure  yourself,"  said  Vauquelin,  smiling.  "I  see; 
some  secret  for  preventing  the  hair  from  falling  out  or 
turning  gray  is  the  matter  in  question.  Listen;  here  are 
my  conclusions  after  all  my  researches." 

Popinot  .pricked  up  his  ears  at  this  like  a  startled  leveret 

"The  blanching  of  the  fibres,  dead  or  alive,  is,  in  my 
opinion,  produced  by  an  interruption  of  the  secretion  of  the 
coloring  matter ;  this  theory  would  explain  the  fact  that  some 
fur-bearing  animals  in  cold  climates  turn  white  or  some 
lighter  color  at  the  beginning  of  winter." 

"Hm!  Popinot." 

"It  is  evident,"  Vauquelin  continued,  "that  the  change  of 
color  is  due  to  sudden  change  in  the  temperature  of  the 
circumambient  air " 

"Circumambient,  Popinot — mind  that !  mind  that  \"  cried 
Cesar. 

"Yes,"  said  Vauquelin,  "to  alternations  of  cold  and  heat, 
or  to  interior  phenomena,  which  produce  the  same  effect. 
So,  in  all  probability,  headaches  and  other  local  affections 
dissipate  the  fluid  or  derange  the  secretions.  The  inside  of 
the  head  is  the  doctor's  province.  As  for  the  outside,  put  on 
your  cosmetics  by  all  means." 

"Well,  sir,"  said  Birotteau,  "now  I  can  breathe  again  after 
what  you  say.  I  thought  of  selling  the  oil  of  hazel-nuts, 
remembering  the  use  the  ancients  made  of  oil  for  their  hair; 
and  the  ancients  are  the  ancients,  I  am  of  Boileau's  opinion, 
Why  did  wrestlers  oil  themselves ?" 


108  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAK  BIROTTEAU 

"Olive-oil  would  do  quite  as  well  as  oil  of  hazel-nut»i>* 
said  Vauquelin,  who  had  paid  110  attention  to  Birotteau'? 
remarks.  "Any  oil  will  do  to  protect  the  hair  bulos  from 
outside  influences  injurious  to  the  substances  which  it  con- 
tains in  process  of  formation ;  in  course  of  deposit,  we  chem- 
ists would  say.  Perhaps  you  are  right;  the  essential  oil  of 
hazel-nuts  is  an  irritant,  so  Dupuytren  once  told  me.  I  will 
try  to  find  out  the  difference  between  walnut  and  beech-nut 
oils,  colza,  olive,  and  so  forth." 

"Then  I  am  not  mistaken,"  Birotteaa  exclaimed  triumph- 
antly, "and  a  great  man  bears  me  out  in  my  opinion.  Macas- 
sar is  done  for!  Macassar,  sir,  is  a  cosmetic  they  give  you, 
that  is,  sell  you,  and  sell  very  dear,  to  make  your  hair  grow." 

"My  dear  M.  Birotteau,"  said  Vauquelin,  "there  are  not 
two  ounces  of  oil  of  Macassar  in  Europe.  Oil  of  Macassar 
produces  not  the  slightest  effect  on  hair.  The  Malays  will 
pay  its  weight  in  gold  for  it,  because  of  its  supposed  pre- 
servative action  on  the  hair,  not  knowing  that  whale  oil  is 
quite  as  good.  No  power  chemical  or  divine " 

"Oh !  divine — do  not  say  that,  M.  Vauquelin." 

"Why,  my  dear  sir,  God's  first  law  is  conformity  with 
Himself;  without  unity  there  is  no  power " 

"On,  looked  at  in  that  way " 

"No  power  whatever  can  make  the  hair  grow  on  a  bald 
head,  and  you  cannot  dye  white  or  red  hair  without  danger; 
but  you  will  do  no  harm,  and  there  will  be  no  fraud  in  extol- 
ling your  oil,  and  I  think  that  those  who  use  it  might  pre- 
serve their  hair." 

"Do  you  think  that  the  Royal  Academy  of  Science  would 
approve  it?'' 

"Oh !  it  is  no  discovery,"  said  M.  Vauquelin.  "And  be- 
sides, quacks  have  taken  the  name  of  the  Academy  in  vain 
so  often,  that  it  would  not  help  you  at  all.  My  conscience 
will  not  allow  me  to  look  on  oil  of  hazel-nuts  as  a  prodigy." 

"What  would  be  the  best  way  of  extracting  it,  by  pressure 
or  by  decoction?"  asked  Birotteau. 

"You  will  obtain  the  most  oil  by  pressure  between  two  hot 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  109 

plates;  but  if  the  plates  are  cold,  it  will  be  of  better  quality. 
It  ought  to  be  applied  to  the  skin  itself,  and  not  rubbed  into 
the  hair,"  continued  Vauquelin  good-naturedly,  "or  the  effect 
will  be  lost." 

"Mind  you  remember  this,  Popinot,"  said  Birotteau,  as 
his  face  flushed  up  with  enthusiasm. — "You  see  in  him,  sir, 
a  young  man  who  will  reckon  this  day  among  the  great  days 
of  his  life.  He  knew  and  revered  you  before  he  had  seen 
you.  Ah !  we  often  talk  of  you  at  home ;  a  name  that  is 
always  in  the  heart  comes  often  to  the  lips.  We  pray  every 
day  for  you,  my  wife  and  daughter  and  I,  as  we  ought  to  do 
for  our  benefactor." 

"It  is  too  much  for  so  little,"  said  Vauquelin,  embarrassed 
by  the  perfumer's  voluble  gratitude. 

"Tut,  tut,  tut !"  said  Birotteau.  "You  cannot  hinder  us 
from  loving  you,  you  who  will  accept  nothing  from  me.  You 
are  like  the  sun;  you  shed  light  around  you,  and  those  on 
whom  it  shines  can  do  nothing  for  you  in  return." 

The  man  of  science  rose,  smiling,  to  his  feet;  Birotteau 
and  Anselme  Popinot  rose  also. 

"Look  round,  Anselme;  take  a  good  look  at  this  study.  If 
you  will  allow  him,  sir?  Your  time  is  so  valuable,  perhaps 
he  will  never  come  here  again." 

"Well,  are  you  satisfied  with  your  business?"  asked 
Vauquelin,  turning  to  Birotteau;  "for,  after  all,  we  are  both 
of  us  men  of  business " 

"Pretty  well,  sir,"  said  Birotteau,  going  towards  the  din- 
ing-room, whither  Vauquelin  followed  him;  "but  it  will  take 
a  great  deal  of  capital  to  start  this  oil  under  the  name  of 
Comagen  Essence " 

"  'Essence'  and  'Comagen'  are  two  words  that  clash.  Call 
your  cosmetic  Birotteau's  Oil ;  or  if  you  have  no  mind  to  blaze 
your  name  abroad,  take  another Why,  there  is  the  Dres- 
den Madonna.  .  .  .  Ah !  M.  Birotteau,  you  mean  us  to 
fall  out  at  parting." 

"M.  Vauquelin,"  said  the  perfumer,  taking  both  the  chem- 
ist's hands  in  his,  "the  scarce  print  has  no  value  save  for  the 


110  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

persistent  efforts  which  I  have  made  to  find  it;  all  Germany 
has  been  ransacked  for  a  proof  before  letters  on  India  paper ; 
1  knew  you  wished  to  have  it,  you  were  too  busy  to  procure 
it  yourself,  so  I  have  taken  it  upon  myself  to  be  your  agent. 
Please  accept,  not  a  paltry  print,  but  the  earnest  efforts, 
the  care,  and  pains  which  prove  a  boundless  devotion.  I 
should  have  been  glad  if  you  had  wanted  some  substances 
that  could  only  be  found  in  the  depths  of  an  abyss,  that  I 
might  come  to  tell  you,  'Here  they  are !'  We  have  so  many 
chances  to  be  forgotten,  let  me  put  myself,  my  wife,  and 
daughter,  and  the  son-in-law  whom  I  shall  have  one  day,  all 
before  your  eyes;  and  say  to  yourself  when  you  see  the  Ma- 
donna, 'There  are  honest  folk  who  think  of  me.' " 

"I  accept  it,"  said  Vauquelin. 

Popinot  and  Birotteau  wiped  their  eyes,  so  much  moved 
were  they  by  the  kind  tone  in  which  the  chemist  spoke. 

"Will  you  carry  your  kindness  yet  further?"  asked  the 
perfumer. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Vauquelin. 

"I  am  inviting  a  few  of  my  friends — (here  he  raised  him- 
self on  tiptoe,  but  his  face  assumed  a  humble  expression)  — 
partly  to  celebrate  the  liberation  of  the  soil,  and  partly  on 
the  occasion  of  my  own  promotion  to  the  Legion  of  Honor." 

"Aha !"  said  Vauquelin  in  astonishment. 

"It  may  be  that  I  have  shown  myself  worthy  of  this  sig- 
nal mark  of  royal  favor,  by  discharging  my  functions  at  the 
Consular  Tribunal,  and  by  fighting  for  the  Bourbons  on  the 
steps  of  Saint-Roch's  Church  on  the  13th  of  Vendemiaire, 
when  I  was  wounded  by  Napoleon.  .  .  .  My  wife  is 
giving  a  ball  on  Sunday  in  twenty  days'  time;  will  you  come 
to  it,  sir?  Do  us  the  honor  of  dining  with  us  on  that  day; 
and  for  my  own  part,  it  will  be  as  if  they  had  given  me  the 
Cross  twice.  I  will  write  to  you  in  good  time." 

"Very  well,  yes,"  said  Vauquelin. 

"My  heart  is  swelling  with  pleasure,"  cried  the  perfumer 
when  they  were  in  the  street.  "He  will  come  to  my  house ! 
I  am  afraid  that  I  have  forgotten  what  he  said  about  hair; 
do  you  remember  it,  Popinot  7" 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  111 

"Yes,  sir,  and  in  twenty  years'  time  I  shall  still  remember 
it/' 

"A  great  man,  that  he  is !  What  insight  and  what  pene- 
tration !"  exclaimed  Birotteau.  "He  went  straight  to  the 
point,  he  read  our  thoughts  at  once,  and  showed  us  how  to 
make  a  clean  sweep  of  Macassar  Oil.  Ah !  nothing  can  make 
hair  grow,  Macassar,  so  that  is  a  lie!  Popinot,  there  is  a 
fortune  within  our  grasp.  So  let  us  be  at  the  factory  by 
seven  o'clock  to-morrow  morning,  the  nuts  will  come  in,  and' 
we  will  make  the  oil.  There  is  no  use  in  his  saying  that  any 
oil  will  do;  it  would  be  all  over  with  us  if  the  public  knew 
that.  If  there  were  not  a  little  hazel-nut  oil  and  scent  in 
this  composition  of  ours,  what  excuse  should  we  have  for 
selling  it  at  three  or  four  francs  for  as  many  ounces  ?" 

"And  you  are  to  be  decorated,  sir !"  said  Popinot.  "What 
glory  for " 

"For  commerce,  isn't  it,  my  boy  ?" 

Cesar  Birotteau,  sure  of  a  fortune,  looked  so  triumphant, 
that  the  assistants  noticed  his  expression,  and  made  signs  to 
each  other;  for  the  appearance  of  a  cab,  and  the  fact  that 
their  employer  and  his  cashier  had  changed  their  clothes, 
had  given  rise  to  the  wildest  imaginings.  The  very  evident 
satisfaction  of  the  pair,  revealed  by  the  diplomatic  glances 
exchanged  between  them,  and  the  hopeful  eyes  that  Popinot 
turned  once  or  twice  on  Cesarine,  announced  that  some  im- 
portant event  was  imminent,  and  confirmed  the  assistants' 
suspicions.  The  smallest  chance  events  in  their  busy  and 
almost  monastic  lives  were  as  interesting  to  them  as  to  any 
prisoner  in  solitary  confinement.  Mme.  Cesar's  face  (for 
she  responded  doubtfully  to  the  Olympian  looks  her  husband 
turned  on  her)  portended  some  new  development  in  the  busi- 
ness, for  at  any  other  time  Mme.  Cesar  would  have  been 
serenely  content, — Mme.  Cesar,  who  was  so  blithe  over  a 
good  day,  and  to-day  the  takings  had  amounted  to  the  extra- 
ordinary sum  of  six  thousand  francs;  some  old  outstanding 
accounts  had  been  paid. 

The  dining-room  and  the  kitchen  were  both  on  the  mezzu- 


112  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

nine  floor,  where  Cesar  and  Constance  had  lived  during  the 
first  years  of  their  married  life.  This  dining-room,  wherr 
their  honeymoon  had  been  spent,  looked  like  a  little  drawing- 
room.  The  kitchen  windows  looked  out  into  a  little  yard; 
a  passage  separated  the  two  rooms,  and  gave  access  to  the 
staircase,  contrived  in  a  corner  of  the  back-shop. 

Eaguet  the  errand  boy  looked  after  the  shop  while  they  sat 
at  dinner;  but  when  dessert  appeared,  the  assistants  went 
downstairs  again,  and  left  Cesar  and  his  wife  and  daughter 
to  finish  their  meal  by  the  fireside.  This  tradition  had  been 
handed  down  from  the  days  of  the  Ragons,  who  had  kept  up 
all  the  old-fashioned  customs  and  usages  in  full  vigor,  and 
set  the  same  enormous  distance  between  themselves  and  the 
assistants  that  formerly  existed  between  masters  and  appren- 
tices. Cesarine  or  Constance  would  then  prepare  the  cup  of 
coffee,  which  the  perfumer  took  in  a  low  chair  by  the  fire. 
It  was  the  hour  when  Cesar  told  his  wife  all  the  small  news  of 
the  day ;  he  would  tell  her  anything  that  he  had  seen  in  Paris, 
or  what  they  were  doing  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple,  and 
about  the  difficulties  that  arose  there. 

"This  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  memorable  days  in  our 
lives,  wife !"  he  began,  when  the  assistants  had  gone  down- 
stairs. "The  hazel-nuts  have  been  bought,  the  hydraulic  press 
will  be  ready  for  work  to-morrow,  the  matter  of  the  building 
lands  has  been  concluded.  And,  while  I  think  of  it,  just  put 
away  this  order  on  the  bank,"  he  went  on,  handing  over  to 
her  Pillerault's  draft.  "The  redecoration  of  the  rooms,  our 
new  rooms,  has  been  settled. — Dear  me !  I  saw  a  very  queer 
man  to-day  in  the  Cour  Batave !" 

And  he  told  the  women  about  M.  Molineux. 

"I  see,"  his  wife  broke  in,  in  the  middle  of  a  tirade,  "that 
you  will  have  to  pay  two  hundred  thousand  francs !" 

"True,  my  wife,"  said  the  perfumer,  with  mock  humility. 
"Good  Lord!  and  how  are  we  to  pay  it?  for  the  building 
lands  near  the  Madeleine,  that  will  be  the  finest  quarter  in 
Paris  some  clay,  must  be  taken  as  worth  nothing." 

"Some  day,"  Cesar." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  113 

"Dear,  dear!" — lie  continued  his  joke — "my  three-eighths 
will  only  be  worth  a  million  in  six  years'  time.  And  how 
shall  we  pay  two  hundred  thousand  francs?"  asked  Cesar, 
making  as  though  he  were  aghast.  "Well,  we  will  pay  it  with 
this,"  and  he  drew  from  his  pocket  one  of  Mme.  Madou's 
hazel-nuts,  which  he  had  carefully  kept. 

He  held  it  up  between  his  thumb  and  finger.  Constance 
said  nothing;  but  Cesarine,  whose  curiosity  was  tickled, 
brought  her  father  his  cup  of  coffee  with  a  "Come,  now,  papa, 
are  you  joking?" 

The  perfumer,  like  his  assistants,  had  noticed  the  glances 
Popinot  had  given  Cesarine  during  dinner ;  he  meant  to  clear 
up  his  suspicions. 

"Well,  little  girl,  this  hazel-nut  is  to  work  a  revolution 
in  the  house.  There  will  be  one  less  under  our  roof  after  to- 
night/' 

Cesarine  looked  straight  at  her  father,  as  who  should  say, 
"What  is  that  tome?" 

"Popinot  is  going  away." 

Although  Cesar  was  a  poor  observer,  although  his  remark 
had  been  meant  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  announcement  of 
the  new  firm  of  A.  Popinot  and  Company,  as  well  as  for  a 
trap  for  his  daughter,  his  father's  tenderness  told  him  the 
secret  of  the  vague  emotions  which  sprang  up  in  the  girl's 
heart,  and  blossomed  in  fed  upon  her  cheek  and  brow,  bright- 
ening her  eyes  before  they  fell.  Cesar  thought  at  once  that 
Borne  word  had  been  exchanged  between  Cesarine  and  Popinot. 
Nothing  of  the  kind  had  happened ;  the  boy  and  girl  under- 
stood each  other,  after  the  fashion  of  shy  young  lovers,  with- 
out a  word. 

There  are  moralists  who  hold  that  love  is  the  most  involun- 
tary, the  most  disinterested  and  least  calculating  of  all  pas- 
sions, a  mother's  love  always  excepted,  a  doctrine  which  con- 
tains a  gross  error.  The  larger  part  of  mankind  may  be 
ignorant  of  their  motives;  but  any  sympathy,  physical  or 
mental,  is  nor>^  the  less  based  upon  calculations  made  by 
brain  or  heart  or  animal  instincts.  Love  is  essentially  an 


114  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CTESAR  BIROTTEAU 

egoistical  affection,  and  egoism  implies  profound  calculation. 
For  the  order  of  mind  which  is  only  impressed  by  outward 
and  visible  results,  it  may  seem  an  improbable  or  unusual 
thing  that  a  poor,  lame,  red-haired  lad  should  find  favor  in 
the  eyes  of  a  beautiful  girl  like  Cesarine ;  and  yet  it  was  only 
what  might  be  expected  from  the  workings  of  the  bourgeois 
mind  in  matters  of  sentiment.  The  explanation  would  ac- 
count for  other  marriages  that  are  a  constant  source  of 
amazement  to  onlookers,  between  tall  or  beautiful  women 
and  insignificant  men,  or  when  some  well-grown  stripling 
marries  some  ugly  little  creature. 

For  a  man  affected  with  any  physical  deformity,  be  it  a  club 
foot,  lameness,  a  hunch-back,  excessive  ugliness,  spot,  blemish, 
or  disfigurement,  Roguin's  infirmity,  or  other  anomalous 
affection  for  which  his  progenitors  are  not  responsible,  there 
are  but  two  courses  open;  he  must  either  make  himself  feared, 
or  cultivate  an  exquisite  goodness — he  cannot  afford  to  steer 
an  undecided  middle  course  between  the  two  extremes  like  the 
rest  of  humanity.  The  first  alternative  requires  talent,  genius, 
or  force  of  character ;  for  a  man  can  only  inspire  terror  by  his 
power  to  do  harm,  impose  respect  by  his  genius,  or  compel 
fear  by  his  prodigious  wit.  In  the  second  he  studies  to  be 
adored;  he  lends  himself  admirably  to  feminine  tyranny, 
and  is  wiser  in  love  than  others  of  irreproachable  physical 
proportions. 

Anselme  Popinot  had  been  brought  up  by  the  good  Ragons, 
upright  citizens  of  the  best  type,  and  by  his  uncle  the  judge 
— a  course  of  training  which,  with  his  ingenuous  and  religious 
nature,  had  led  him  to  redeem  his  slight  deformity  by  the 
perfection  of  his  character.  Constance  and  Cesar,  struck  by 
a  disposition  which  makes  youth  so  attractive,  had  often 
praised  Anselme  in  Cesarine's  hearing.  With  all  their  narrow- 
ness in  other  respects,  this  shopkeeper  and  his  wife  possessed 
nobility  of  soul  and  hearts  that  were  quick  to  comprehend. 
Their  praises  found  an  echo  in  the  girl's  own  heart ;  in  spite 
of  her  inexperience,  she  read  in  Anselme's  frank  eyes  a  pas- 
sion that  is  always  flattering,  no  matter  what  the  age,  rank, 
or  figure  of  the  lover  may  be. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  115 

Little  Popinot,  not  being  a  well-shaped  man,  had  all  the 
more  reasons  for  loving  a  woman.  Should  she  be  fair,  he 
would  be  her  lover  till  his  dying  day;  love  would  give  him 
ambition;  he  would  work  himself  to  death  to  make  his  wife 
happy;  he  would  suffer  her  to  be  the  sovereign  mistress  of 
his  home ;  and  her  empire  over  him  would  be  boundless. 

This,  crudely  stated,  is  perhaps  what  Cesarine  thought, 
unconsciously  within  herself ;  she  had  had  a  bird's-eye  glimpse 
of  the  harvests  of  love,  and  she  had  drawn  her  own  infer- 
ences ;  her  mother's  happiness  was  under  her  eyes,  she  wished 
no  other  life  for  herself;  instinctively  she  discerned  in 
Anselme  another  Cesar,  polished  by  education,  as  she  herself 
had  been.  In  her  dreams,  Popinot  was  the  mayor  of  an 
arrondissement,  and  she  liked  to  imagine  herself  asking  for 
subscriptions  to  charities  in  her  district,  as  her  own  mother 
did  in  the  parish  of  Saint-Eoch.  And  so  at  length  she  forgot 
that  one  of  Popinot's  legs  was  shorter  than  the  other,  and 
would  have  been  quite  capable  of  asking,  "Does  he  really 
limp  ?"  She  liked  the  clear  eyes ;  she  liked  to  see  the  change 
that  came  over  them  when,  at  a  glance  from  her,  they  lighted 
up  at  once  with  a  flash  of  timid  love,  and  then  fell  despond- 
ently again. 

Eoguin's  head  clerk,  Alexandre  Crottat,  gifted  with  a  pre- 
cocious knowledge  of  the  world,  acquired  by  professional  ex- 
perience, disgusted  Cesarine  with  his  half-cynical,  half-good- 
natured  air,  after  putting  her  out  of  patience  with  his 
commonplace  talk.  Popinot's  silence  revealed  a  gentle 
nature;  she  liked  to  watch  the  half-sad  smile  with  which  he 
endured  meaningless  trivialities;  the  babble  which  made  him 
smile  always  roused  a  feeling  of  annoyance  in  her ;  they  smiled 
or  looked  condolence  at  each  other. 

Anselme's  mental  superiority  did  not  prevent  him  from 
working  hard  with  his  hands;  the  way  in  which  he  threw 
himself  into  everything  that  he  did  also  pleased  Cesarine; 
she  guessed  that  while  all  the  other  assistants  said,  "Cesarine 
is  going  to  be  married  to  M.  Eoguin's  head  clerk,"  Anselme, 


116  RISE  AND  FALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

lame  and  poor  and  red-haired,  did  not  despair  of  winning  her. 
The  strength  of  a  hope  proves  the  strength  of  a  love. 

"Where  ir,  he  going?"  Cesarine  asked,  trying  to  look  indif- 
ferent. 

"He  is  going  to  set  up  for  himself  in  the  Rue  des  Cinq- 

Diamants !  And,  upon  my  word,  by  the  grace  of  God ! " 

But  neither  his  wife  nor  daughter  understood  the  ejaculation. 
When  Birotteau's  mind  encountered  any  difficulty,  he  behaved 
like  an  insect  that  encounters  an  obstacle,  he  swerved  to  left 
or  right;  so  now  he  changed  the  subject,  promising  himself 
to  speak  of  Cesarine  to  his  wife. 

"I  told  uncle  your  notions  about  Roguin  and  your  fears; 
he  began  to  laugh,"  he  went  on,  addressing  Constance. 

"You  ought  never  to  repeat  things  that  we  say  between 
ourselves,"  she  cried.  "Poor  Roguin !  he  may  be  the  most 
honest  man  in  the  world;  he  is  fifty-eight  years  old,  and  I 
expect  he  no  more  thinks " 

She  too  broke  off;  she  saw  that  Cesarine  was  listening, 
and  warned  Cesar  of  that  fact  by  a  glance. 

"So  I  did  well  to  strike  the  bargain." 

"Why,  you  are  the  master,"  returned  she. 

Cesar  took  both  his  wife's  hands  in  his,  and  kissed  her  on 
the  forehead.  That  answer  had  always  been  her  passive  form 
of  assent  to  her  husband's  projects.  And  with  that,  Birot- 
teau  went  downstairs  into  the  shop. 

"Come !"  he  cried,  speaking  to  the  assistants,  "we  will  put 
up  the  shutters  at  ten  o'clock.  We  must  do  a  stroke  of  work, 
gentlemen !  We  must  set  about  moving  all  the  furniture 
from  the  first  floor  to  the  second  to-night !  We  shall  have 
to  put  the  little  pots  into  the  big  ones,  as  the  saying  is,  so 
as  to  give  my  architect  elbow-room  to-morrow. — Popinot 
has  gone  out  without  leave,"  said  Cesar,  looking  round.  "Oh  ! 
I  forgot,  he  does  not  sleep  here. — He  is  gone  to  see  about  the 
shop,  or  else  he  is  putting  down  M.  Vauquelin's  ideas,"  he 
thought. 

"Wo  kno\v  why  the  furniture  is  being  moved,  sir,"  said 
Celestin,  spokesman  for  the  two  assistants  and  Raguet,  who 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  117 

stood  by  him.  "May  we  be  allowed  to  congratulate  you  on 
an  honor  which  reflects  glory  on  the  whole  establishment? 
.  .  .  Popinot  told  us " 

"Well,  boys,  it  can't  be  helped ;  I  have  been  decorated.  So 
we  are  inviting  a  few  friends,  partly  to  celebrate  the  libera- 
tion of  the  soil,  and  partly  on  the  occasion  of  my  own  promo- 
tion to  the  Legion  of  Honor.  It  may  be  that  I  have  shown 
myself  worthy  of  this  signal  mark  of  royal  favor  by  the  dis- 
charge of  my  functions  at  the  Consular  Tribunal,  and  by 
fighting  for  the  Royalist  cause — when  I  was  your  age,  on  the 
steps  of  Saint-Roch,  on  the  13th  of  Vendemiaire;  and,  on 
my  word,  Napoleon  the  Emperor,  as  they  called  him,  gave  me 
my  wound.  For  I  was  wounded,  and  on  the  thigh,  what  is 
more,  and  Mme.  Ragon  nursed  me.  Be  brave,  and  you  will 
be  rewarded !  So  there,  you  see,  my  children,  that  a  mishap 
is  never  all  loss." 

"People  don't  fight  in  the  streets  nowadays,"  said  Celestin. 

"Well,  we  must  hope,"  said  Cesar,  and  thereupon  he  took 
occasion  to  read  his  assistants  a  little  homily,  which  he 
rounded  off  with  an  invitation. 

The  prospect  of  a  dance  put  new  life  into  the  three  assist- 
ants; under  the  stimulus  of  the  excitement,  the  three,  with 
Virginie  and  Raguet,  performed  acrobatic  feats.  They  came 
and  went  up  and  down  the  stairs  with  their  loads,  and  noth- 
ing was  broken,  nothing  was  upset.  By  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning  the  removal  was  accomplished;  Cesar  and  his  wife 
slept  on  the  second  floor,  Celestin  and  the  second  assistant 
occupied  Popinot's  room.  The  third  floor  was  converted,  for 
the  time  being,  into  a  furniture  warehouse. 

When  the  assistants  had  gone  down  into  the  shop  after 
dinner,  Popinot,  usually  so  quiet  and  equable,  had  been  as 
fidgety  as  a  racehorse  just  arrived  upon  the  course.  A  burn- 
ing desire  to  do  something  great  was  upon  him,  induced  by 
a  superabundance  of  nervous  fluid,  which  turns  the  diaphragm 
of  the  lover  or  the  man  of  restless  ambition  into  a  furnace. 

"What  can  be  the  matter  with  you  ?"  Celestin  had  asked. 

"What  a  day !  I  am  setting  up  for  myself,  my  dear  fellow," 
9 


118  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

he  whispered  in  Celestin's  ear,  "and  M.  Cesar  is  to  be  deco- 
rated." 

"You  are  very  lucky;  the  governor  is  helping  you/'  ex- 
claimed the  assistant. 

Popinot  gave  him  no  answer;  he  vanished,  whirled  away 
by  the  wind — the  wind  of  success. 

"Oh,  as  to  lucky !"  said  an  assistant,  as  he  sorted  gloves 
in  dozens,  to  his  neighbor,  who  was  busy  checking  the  prices 
on  the  tickets.  "The  governor  has  seen  the  eyes  that  Popinot 
has  been  making  at  Mile.  Cesarine;  he  is  a  shrewd  one,  the 
governor,  so  he  is  getting  rid  of  Anselme ;  it  would  be  difficult 
to  refuse  outright,  because  of  the  relatives.  Celestin  takes 
the  trick  for  generosity/' 

Anselme  Popinot  meanwhile  had  turned  down  the  Rue 
Saint-Honore  and  hurried  along  the  Rue  des  Deux-ficus  to 
secure  some  one  in  whom  his  commercial  second-sight  beheld 
the  principal  instrument  of  success.  Judge  Popinot  had 
once  done  a  service  to  this  young  man,  the  cleverest  commer- 
cial traveler  in  Paris,  whose  activity  and  triumphant  gift  of 
the  gab  was  to  earn  for  him  at  a  later  day  the  title  of  "The 
Illustrious/'  At  this  time  the  great  commercial  traveler  was 
devoting  his  energies  to  the  hat  trade  and  the  "fancy-goods 
line";  he  was  simply  Gaudissart  as  yet,  without  the  prefix, 
but  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  had  already  distinguished 
himself;  his  magnetic  influence  upon  customers  was  begin- 
ning to  be  recognized.  He  was  thin  and  bright-eyed  at  that 
time;  he  had  an  eloquent  face,  an  indefatigable  memory,  a 
quick  perception  of  the  taste  of  those  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact;  he  deserved  to  be,  what  he  afterwards  became — 
the  king  of  commercial  travelers,  the  Frenchman  par  excel- 
lence. 

Popinot  had  come  across  Gaudissart  some  days  previously, 
and  the  latter  had  announced  that  he  was  about  to  go  on  a 
journey ;  the  hope  of  finding  him  still  in  Paris  had  sent  Po- 
pinot flying  down  the  Rue  des  Deux-ficus.  At  the  coach-office 
he  learned  that  the  commercial  traveler  had  taken  his  place. 
Gaudissart's  leave-taking  of  his  beloved  city  had  taken  the 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  119 

shape  of  an  evening  at  the  Vaudeville,  where  there  was  a  new 
play.  Popinot  resolved  to  wait  for  him.  To  confide  the 
agency  of  the  hazel-nut  oil  to  this  invaluable  launcher  of  com- 
mercial enterprises,  already  courted  and  cherished  by  the  best 
houses,  was  like  drawing  a  bill  of  exchange  on  fortune  ! 

Popinot  had  claims  on  Gaudissart.  The  commercial  trav- 
eler, so  skilled  in  the  art  of  entangling  that  froward  race,  the 
petty  country  shopkeepers,  in  his  toils,  had  once  allowed  him- 
self to  become  entangled  in  a  political  web,  in  the  first  con- 
spiracy against  the  Bourbons  after  the  Hundred  Days;  and 
Gaudissart,  to  whom  open  air  was  a  vital  necessity,  found 
himself  in  prison  with  a  capital  charge  hanging  over  him. 
Judge  Popinot,  the  examining  magistrate,  saw  that  it  was  a 
piece  of  youthful  folly  that  implicated  Gaudissart  in  the 
affair,  and  set  him  at  liberty;  but  if  the  young  man  had 
chanced  upon  a  magistrate  eager  to  commend  himself  to  the 
authorities,  or  upon  a  rabid  Eoyalist,  the  luckless  pioneer 
of  commerce  might  have  mounted  the  scaffold.  Gaudissart, 
who  knew  that  he  owed  his  life  to  the  judge,  was  in  despair, 
because  a  barren  gratitude  was  all  the  return  he  could  make ; 
and  as  it  was  impossible  to  thank  a  judge  for  doing  justice, 
he  had  betaken  himself  to  the  Eagons,  and  there  sworn  fealty 
to  the  family  of  Popinot. 

While  Popinot  waited,  he  naturally  spent  the  time  in  going 
to  see  his  shop  in  the  Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants  once  more.  He 
asked  for  the  landlord's  address,  so  as  to  come  to  terms  with 
him  about  the  lease.  Then,  wandering  through  the  murky 
labyrinth  about  the  Great  Market,  with  his  thoughts  full  of 
ways  and  means  of  making  a  rapid  fortune,  Popinot  came 
into  the  Eue  Aubry-le-Boucher,  and  there  met  with  a  wonder- 
ful and  auspicious  opportunity,  with  which  Cesar's  heart 
should  be  gladdened  on  the  morrow.  Then  he  took  up  his 
post  at  the  door  of  the  Hotel  du  Commerce  at  the  end  of  the 
Eue  des  Deux-ficus;  and  towards  midnight  heard,  afar  off, 
a  voice  uplifted  in  the  Eue  de  Grenelle;  it  was  Gaudissart 
singing  a  bit  of  the  last  song  in  the  piece,  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  the  sound  of  a  walking-stick,  trailed  with  expression 
upon  the  pavement. 


120  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Sir/'  cried  Anselme,  suddenly  emerging  from  the  door- 
way, "can  I  have  a  couple  of  words  with  you  ?" 

"Eleven,  if  you  like,"  said  the  other,  raising  a  loaded  cane. 

"I  am  Popinot,"  said  poor  Anselme. 

"Right,"  said  Gaudissart,  recognizing  his  friend.  "What 
do  you  want?  Money?  Absent  on  leave,  but  there  is  some 
somewhere.  An  arm  for  a  duel  ?  I  am  at  your  service  from 
heel  to  head.  • 

"You  see  him  where  he  stands — 
Every  inch  a  Frenchman  and  a  soldier!" 

"Come  and  have  ten  minutes'  talk  with  me,  not  in  your 
room,  we  might  be  overheard,  but  on  the  Quai  de  1'Horloge; 
there  is  nobody  there  at  this  time  of  night,"  said  Popinot, 
"it  is  a  question  of  the  greatest  importance." 

"You  are  in  a  hurry,  are  you  ?    Come  along !" 

Ten  minutes  later,  Gaudissart,  now  put  in  possession  of 
Popinot's  secrets,  recognized  the  importance  of  the  matter. 

"Approach,  ye  hairdressers  and  retail  perfumers,"  cried 
Gaudissart,  mimicking  Lafon  in  the  Cid.  "I  will  get  hold  of 
all  the  perfumers  of  France  and  Navarre.  Oh!  I  have  it! 
I  was  going  away,  but  I  shall  stop  here  now  and  take  agencies 
from  the  Parisian  perfumery  trade." 

"Why?" 

"To  choke  off  your  competitors,  innocent!  By  taking  on 
their  agencies,  I  can  make  their  perfidious  cosmetics  drink 
to  their  own  confusion  in  your  oil,  for  I  shall  talk  of  nothing 
else  and  push  no  other  kind.  A  fine  commercial  traveler's 
dodge !  Aha  !  we  are  the  diplomatists  of  commerce.  Famous ! 
As  for  your  prospectus  I  will  see  to  it.  I  have  known  Andoche 
Finot  since  we  were  boys;  his  father  is  a  hatter  in  the  Rue 
du  Coq,  the  old  fellow  started  me;  it  was  through  him  that 
I  began  to  travel  in  the  hat  line.  Andoche  is  a  very  clever 
fellow ;  he  has  the  cleverness  of  all  the  heads  that  his  father 
ever  fitted  with  hats.  He  is  in  the  literary  line;  he  does  the 
minor  theatres  for  the  Conrrier  tlrs  Spectacles.  His  father, 
an  old  fox,  has  abundant  reason  for  not  liking  cleverness ;  he 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  121 

doesn't  believe  in  cleverness;  it  is  impossible  to  make  him 
see  that  cleverness  will  sell,,  and  that  a  young  man  of  spirit 
can  make  a  fortune  by  his  wits ;  indeed,  as  to  spirit,  the  only 
spirit  he  approves  of  is  proof-spirit.  Old  Finot  is  reducing 
young  Finot  by  famine.  Andoche  can  do  anything,  and  he 
is  my  friend,  moreover,  and  I  don't  rub  against  fools  (except 
in  the  way  of  business).  Finot  does  mottoes  for  the  Fidele 
Berger,  which  pays  him,  while  the  newspapers,  for  which  he 
works  like  a  galley  slave,  snub  him  right  and  left.  How 
jealous  they  are  in  that  line !  It  is  just  like  it  is  in  the  fancy 
article  trade. 

"Finot  wrote  a  splendid  one-act  comedy  for  Mile.  Mars, 
'the  greatest  of  the  great.  (Ah!  there's  a  woman  that  I  ad- 
mire!) Well,  and  to  see  it  put  on  the  stage  at  all,  he  had 
to  take  it  to  the  Gaite.  Andoche  understands  prospectuses; 
he  enters  into  a  man's  ideas  about  business,  he  is  not  proud, 
he  will  block  out  our  prospectus  gratis.  Goodness !  we  will 
treat  him  to  a  bowl  of  punch  and  little  cakes ;  for,  no  nonsense, 
Popinot;  I  will  travel  for  you  without  commission  or  ex- 
penses ;  your  competitors  shall  pay  me,  I  will  bamboozle  them. 
Let  us  understand  each  other  clearly.  The  success  of  this 
thing  is  a  point  of  honor  with  me;  my  reward  shall  be  to 
be  best-man  at  your  wedding !  I  will  go  to  Italy,  Germany, 
and  England !  I  will  take  placards  in  every  language  with 
me,  and  have  them  posted  up  everywhere,  in  the  villages,  at 
church  doors,  and  in  all  the  good  situations  that  I  know  in 
country  towns !  The  oil  shall  make  a  blaze ;  it  shall  be  on 
every  head !  Ah !  your  marriage  will  not  be  a  marriage  in 
water-colors ;  it  shall  be  done  in  oils !  You  shall  have  your 
Cesarine,  or  I  am  not  'The  Illustrious,'  a  nickname  old 
Finot  gave  me  because  I  made  a  success  of  his  gray  hats.  I 
shall  be  sticking  to  my  own  line,  too,  the  human  head;  oil 
and  hats,  as  is  well  known,  are  meant  .to  preserve  the  hair  of 
the  public." 

Popinot  went  to  his  aunt's  house,  where  he  was  to  spend  the 
night,  in  such  a  fever,  brought  on  by  visions  of  success,  that 
the  streets  seemed  to  him  to  be  rivers  of  oil.  He  scarcely 


122  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

slept  at  all,  dreamed  that  his  hair  was  growing  at  a  furious 
rate,  and  beheld  two  angels,  who  unrolled  above  his  head  a 
scroll  (as  in  a  pantomime),  whereon  the  words  Ccsarian 
Oil  were  written;  and  he  awoke,  but  remembered  his  dream, 
and  determined  to  give  the  name  to  the  oil  of  hazel-nuts.  He 
saw  the  will  of  heaven  revealed  in  this  fancy. 

Cesar  and  Popinot  were  both  at  the  factory  in  the  Fau- 
bourg du  Temple  long  before  the  hazel-nuts  arrived.  While 
they  waited  for  Mme.  Madou's  porters,  Popinot  in  high  glee 
told  the  history  of  his  treaty  of  alliance  with  Gaudissart. 

"We  have  the  illustrious  Gaudissart  for  us;  we  shall  be 
millionaires!"  cried  the  perfumer,  holding  out  a  hand  to- 
his  cashier,  with  the  air  of  a  Louis  XIV.  receiving  a  Mare- 
chal  de  Villars  after  Denain. 

"And  yet  another  thing,"  said  the  happy  assistant,  drawing 
a  bottle  from  his  pocket,  a  gourd-shaped  flask,  flattened  so  as 
to  present  several  sides.  "I  have  found  ten  thousand  bottles 
like  this  one,  ready  made  and  washed,  at  four  sous  and  six 
months'  credit." 

"Anselme,"  said  Birotteau,  beholding  this  marvel,  "yester- 
day (here  his  voice  grew  solemn),  yesterday,  in  the  garden 
of  the  Tuileries — yes,  no  longer  ago  than  yesterday,  your 
words  to  me  were,  'I  shall  succeed?  To-day,  I  myself  say  to 
you,  'You  will  succeed !'  Four  sous !  Six  months !  An 
entirely  new  shape !  Macassar  is  shaking  in  his  shoes ;  what 
a  deathblow  for  Macassar!  What  a  good  thing  that  I  have 
bought  up  all  the  nuts  I  could  lay  my  hands  on  in  Paris !  But 
where  did  you  find  these  bottles  ?" 

"I  was  waiting  to  speak  to  Gaudissart,  and  sauntering 
about " 

"Just  as  I  once  did,"  exclaimed  Birotteau. 

"And  as  I  went  down  the  Rue  Aubry-le-Boucher,  I  saw  a 
wholesale  glass  merchant's  place,  a  dealer  in  bell-glasses  and 
glass  shades,  who  has  a  very  large  stock ;  I  saw  this  bottle — 
Oh !  it  stared  me  in  the  face  like  a  flash  of  light ;  something 
said,  'Here  is  the  thing  for  you  !'  " 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  123 

"A  born  merchant !  He  shall  have  my  daughter/'  mut- 
tered Cesar. 

"In  I  went,  and  saw  thousands  of  the  bottles  standing  there 
in  boxes." 

"Did  you  ask  him  about  them  ?" 

"You  do  not  think  me  such  a  ninny !"  cried  Anselme, 
grieved  at  the  thought. 

"Born  merchant !"  repeated  Birotteau. 

"I  went  in  to  ask  for  glass  shades  for  little  wax  statuettes. 
While  I  was  bargaining  for  the  glass  shades,  I  found  fault 
with  the  shape  of  these  bottles.  That  led  to  a  general  con- 
fession; my  bottle  merchant  went  from  one  thing  to  another, 
and  told  me  that  Faille  and  Bouchot,  who  failed  lately,  were 
about  to  bring  out  a  cosmetic,  and  wanted  an  out-of-the-way 
shape.  He  distrusted  them;  he  wanted  half  the  money  down; 
Faille  and  Bouchot,  hoping  for  a  success,  parted  with  the 
money,  and  the  failure  came  out  while  the  bottles  were  being 
made.  When  they  put  in  a  claim  to  the  trustees  for  the  rest, 
the  trustees  compromised  the  matter  by  leaving  them  with 
all  the  bottles  and  half  the  money  that  had  been  paid,  as  an 
indemnity  for  goods  which  they  said  were  absurdly  shaped, 
and  impossible  to  dispose  of.  The  bottles  cost  him  eight  sous, 
and  he  would  be  glad  to  let  any  one  have  them  for  four.  He 
might  have  them  on  his  hands  for  Heaven  knew  how  long; 
there  was  no  sale  for  such  a  shape.  'Will  you  engage  to 
supply  ten  thousand  at  four  sous  ?  I  can  take  the  bottles  off 
your  hands ;  I  am  M.  Birotteau's  assistant.'  And  so  I  opened 
up  the  subject,  and  drew  him  out,  led  him  on,  and  put  pressure 
on  my  man,  and  he  is  ours." 

"Four  sous !"  said  Birotteau.  "Do  you  know  that  we  can 
bring  out  the  oil  at  three  francs,  and  make  thirty  sous,  leaving 
twenty  to  the  retailers  ?" 

"The  Cesarian  Oil !"  cried  Popinot. 

"Cesarian  Oil  ?  .  .  .  Ah,  master  lover,  you  have  a 
mind  to  flatter  father  and  daughter.  Very  well;  let  it  be 
Cesarian  Oil  if  you  like.  The  Caesars  conquered  the  world; 
they  must  have  had  famous  heads  of  hair." 


124  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Caisar  was  bald,"  said  Popinot. 

"Because  he  did  not  use  our  oil,  people  will  say.  The  Ce- 
sarian  Oil  at  three  francs;  Macassar  Oil  costs  twice  as  much. 
Gaudissart  is  in  it ;  we  shall  make  a  hundred  thousand  francs 
a  year,  for  we  will  set  down  all  heads  that  respect  themselves 
for  a  dozen  bottles  every  twelve-month;  eighteen  francs  of 
profit !  Say  there  are  eighteen  thousand  heads — a  hundred 
and  forty-four  thousand  francs.  We  shall  be  millionaires." 

When  the  hazel-nuts  arrived,  Raguet  and  the  work-people, 
with  Popinot  and  Cesar,  cracked  the  shells,  and  a  sufficient 
quantity  was  pressed.  In  four  hours'  time  they  had  several 
pounds'  weight  of  oil.  Popinot  took  some  of  it  to  Vauquelin, 
who  presented  him  with  a  formula  for  diluting  the  essential 
oil  with  a  less  expensive  medium  and  for  perfuming  it.  Po- 
pinot straightway  took  steps  for  taking  out  a  patent  for  the 
invention  and  the  improvement.  It  was  Popinot's  ambition 
to  pay  his  share  of  the  expense  of  starting  the  enterprise,  and 
the  devoted  Gaudissart  lent  the  money  for  the  deposit. 

Prosperity  has  an  intoxicating  effect,  which  always  turns 
weak  heads.  One  result  of  this  uplifted  state  of  mind  is  read- 
ily foreseen.  Grindot  came.  He  brought  with  him  a  sketch 
in  water-colors  of  a  charming  interior,  the  design  for  the 
future  rooms  when  furnished.  Birotteau  was  carried  away 
with  it.  He  agreed  to  everything,  and  the  workmen  began 
at  once;  every  stroke  of  the  pickaxe  drew  groans  from  the 
house,  and  from  Constance.  The  painter,  M.  Lourdois,  a  very 
wealthy  contractor,  who  engaged  to  leave  nothing  undone, 
talked  of  gilding  the  drawing-room.  Constance  interposed 
at  this. 

"M.  Lourdois,"  said  she,  "you  have  thirty  thousand  francs 
a  year  of  your  own ;  you  live  in  your  own  house,  and  you  can 
do  what  you  like  in  it ;  but  for  people  like  us " 

"Madame,  commerce  ought  to  shine;  it  should  not  suffer 
itself  to  be  eclipsed  by  the  aristocracy.  Besides,  here  is  M. 
Birotteau  in  the  Government ;  he  is  a  public  man " 

"Yes,  but  he  is  still  in  the  shop,"  said  Constance  aloud, 
before  the  assistants  and  her  five  auditors;  "neither  he,  nor 
I,  nor  his  friends,  nor  his  enemies  will  forget  that." 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  125 

Birotteau  raised  himself  on  tiptoe  several  times,  with 
his  hands  clasped  behind  his  back. 

"My  wife  is  right,"  said  he.  "We  will  be  modest  in  pros- 
perity. Besides,  so  long  as  a  man  is  in  business,  he  ought  to 
be  careful  of  his  expenses,  and  to  keep  them  within  bounds; 
indeed,  he  is  bound  by  law  not  to  indulge  in  'excessive  expendi- 
ture.' If  the  enlargement  of  my  premises,  and  the  amount 
spent  on  the  alterations,  exceeds  a  certain  limit,  it  would  be 
imprudent  in  me  to  go  beyond  it;  you  yourself  would  blame 
me,  Lourdois.  The  quarter  has  its  eyes  upon  me;  successful 
people  are  looked  upon  jealously  and  envied. — Ah!  you  will 
soon  know  that,  young  man,"  he  said,  addressing  Grindot; 
"if  they  slander  us,  at  any  rate  let  us  give  them  no  cause  to 
say  evil  of  us." 

"Neither  slander  nor  spite  can  touch  you/'  said  Lourdois; 
"your  position  makes  an  exception  of  you ;  and  you  have  had 
such  a  great  experience  of  business,  that  you  know  how  to 
keep  your  affairs  within  due  limits.  You  are  shrewd." 

"I  have  had  some  experience  of  business,  it  is  true ;  do  you 
know  the  reason  why  we  are  enlarging  our  house?  If  I  ex- 
act a  heavy  penalty  to  secure  punctuality  'it  is " 

"No." 

"Well, .  then,  my  wife  and  I  are  inviting  a  few  friends, 
partly  to  celebrate  the  liberation  of  the  soil,  partly  on  the  oc- 
casion of  my  promotion  to  the  Order  of  the  Legion  of  Honor." 

"What,  what  ?"  cried  Lourdois.  "Have  they  given  you  the 
Cross?" 

"Yes.  It  may  be  that  I  have  shown  myself  worthy  of  this 
signal  mark  of  Koyal  favor  by  discharging  my  functions  at 
the  Consular  Tribunal,  and  by  fighting  for  the  Royalist  cause 
on  the  13th  of  Vendemiaire  at  Saint-Roch,  when  I  was 
wounded  by  Napoleon.  Will  you  come  and  bring  your  wife 
and  your  young  lady ?" 

"Enchanted  by  the  honor  you  condescend  to  bestow  upon 
me,"  said  Lourdois,  a  Liberal.  "But  you  are  a  droll  fellow, 
Birotteau;  yon  TVIPRTI  to  -nnkc  pure  that  I  shall  keep  my  word, 
and  that  is  why  you  ask  me  to  come.  Well,  well;  I  will  set 


126  RISE  AND  FAT.L  t)F  CESAR  ^IROTTEAU 

my  best  workmen  on  to  it;  we  will  have  roaring  fires  to  dry 
the  paint  and  use  drying  processes,  for  it  will  not  do  to  dance 
in  a  room  full  of  steam  from  the  damp  plaster.  The  surface 
shall  be  varnished,  so  that  there  shall  be  no  smell." 

Three  days  later,  the  announcement  of  Birotteau's  forth- 
coming ball  created  a  flutter  in  the  commercial  world  of  that 
quarter.  And  not  only  so,  every  one  could  see  for  himself 
the  timber  props,  necessitated  by  the  hurried  alteration  of  the 
staircase,  and  the  square  wooden  shaft  holes,  through  which 
the  rubbish  was  shot  into  the  carts  beneath.  The.  men  in  their 
haste  worked  by  torchlight,  for  they  had  a  night-and-day  shift, 
and  this  collected  idlers  and  inquisitive  gazers  in  the  street. 
On  such  preparations  as  these,  the  gossip  of  the  neighborhood 
reared  sumptuous  fabrics  of  conjecture. 

On  the  Sunday,  when  the  documents  relative  to  the  building 
land  were  to  be  signed,  M.  and  Mme.  Kagon,  and  uncle  Pille- 
rault,  came  at  four  o'clock,  after  vespers.  Cesar  said  that  as 
the  house  was  so  much  pulled  to  pieces,  he  could  only  ask 
Charles  Claparon,  Eoguin,  and  Crottat  for  that  day.  The 
notary  brought  a  co'py  of  the  Journal  des  Dcbats,  in  which  M. 
de  la  Billardiere  had  inserted  the  following  paragraph : — 

"We  hear  that  the  liberation  of  the  soil  will  be  celebrated 
with  enthusiasm  throughout  France;  but,  in  Paris,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  municipal  administration  have  felt  that  the  time 
had  come  for  reviving  the  splendor  of  the  capital,  which  has 
been  eclipsed  during  the  foreign  occupation,  from  a  feeling 
of  patriotism.  Each  of  the  mayors  and  deputy-mayors  pro- 
poses to  give  a  ball,  so  that  the  winter  season  promises  to  be  a 
very  brilliant  one,  and  the  National  movement  will  be  fol- 
lowed up.  Among  the  many  fetes  about  to  take  place  is  the 
much-talked-of  ball  to  be  given  by  M.  Birotteau,  recently 
nominated  for  the  Legion  of  Honor,  and  so  widely  known  for 
his  devotion  to  the  Eoyalist  cause.  M.  Birotteau,  wounded  in 
the  affair  of  Saint-Roch  on  the  13th  of  Vendemiaire,  and  one 
of  the  most  highly  respected  judges  of  the  Consular  Tribunal, 
has  doubly  deserved  this  distinction." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  12? 

"How  well  they  write  nowadays !"  exclaimed  Cesar. — "They 
are  talking  about  us  in  the  paper,"  he  added,  turning,  to 
Pillerault. 

"Well,  and  what  of  that  ?"  returned  the  uncle,  who  particu- 
larly detested  the  Journal  des  Debats. 

"Perhaps  the  paragraph  may  sell  some  of  the  Pate  des  Sul- 
tanes  and  the  Toilet  Lotion/'  said  Mme.  Cesar  in  a  low  voice 
to  Mme.  Eagon.  Mme.  Birotteau  did  not  share  her  husband's 
exhilaration. 

Mme.  Ragon,  a  tall,  thin  woman,  with  a  sharp  nose  and  thin 
lips,  looked  a  very  fair  imitation  of  a  marquise  of  the  ancien 
regime.  A  somewhat  wide  margin  of  red  encircled  her  eyes, 
as  sometimes  happens  with  aged  women  who  have  known 
many  troubles.  Her  fine  austere  face,  in  spite  of  its  kindli- 
ness, was  dignified,  and  there  was  moreover  a  quaint  something 
about  her  which  struck  beholders,  yet  did  not  excite  a  smile, 
a  something  interpreted  by  her  manner  and  her  dress.  She 
wore  mittens;  she  carried  in  all  weathers  a  cane  umbrella, 
such  as  Marie  Antoinette  used  at  the  Trianon;  her  favorite 
color  was  that  particular  pale  shade  of  brown  known  as  feuille- 
morte;  her  skirts  hung  from  her  waist  in  folds,  which  will 
never  be  seen  again,  for  the  dowager  ladies  of  a  bygone  day 
have  taken  their  secret  with  them.  Mme.  Ragon  had  not 
given  up  the  black  mantilla  bordered  with  square-meshed 
black  lace ;  the  ornaments  in  her  old-fashioned  caps  reminded 
you  of  the  filagree  work  on  old  picture-frames.  She  took 
snuff  with  the  dainty  neatness  and  the  little  gestures  which 
a  younger  generation  may  recall,  if  they  have  been  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  see  their  great-aunt  or  grandmother  solemnly  set 
her  gold  snuff-box  on  the  table  beside  her,  and  shake  the  stray 
grains  from  her  fichu. 

The  Sieur  Ragon  was  a  little  man,  five  feet  high  at  the 
most,  with  a  countenance  of  the  nutcracker  type.  Two  eyes 
were  visible,  two  prominent  cheek-bones,  a  nose,  and  a  chin. 
As  he  had  lost  his  teeth,  he  mumbled  half  his  words,  but  he 
talked  like  a  brook,  politely,  somewhat  pompously,  and  always 
with  a  smile — the  same  smile  with  which  he  had  greeted  the 


128  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  -CESAR  B1ROTTEAU 

fair  ladies  of  quality  whom  one  chance  or  another  brought  to 
his.  shop.  His  hair,  tightly  scraped  back  from  his  forehead 
and  powdered,  described  a  snowy  half-moon  on  his  head,  with 
u  pair  of  "pigeon's  wings"  on  either  side  of  a  neat  queue  tied 
with  ribbon.  He  wore  a  cornflower-blue  coat,  a  white  waist- 
coat, silk  breeches  and  stockings,  black  silk  gloves,  and  shoes 
with  gold  buckles  to  them.  The  most  peculiar  thing  about 
him  was  his  habit  of  walking  out  in  the  street  hat  in  hand.  He 
looked  rather  like  a  messenger  of  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  or 
some  usher-in-waiting  at  the  palace — one  of  those  attendant 
satellites  of  some  great  power,  which  shine  with  a  reflected 
glory,  and  remain  intrinsically  insignificant. 

"Well,  Birotteau,"  he  remarked,  and  from  his  tone  he  might 
have  been  addressing  an  assistant,  "are  you  sorry  now,  my 
boy,  that  you  took  our  advice  in  those  days?  Did  we  ever 
doubt  the  gratitude  of  our  beloved  royal  family  ?" 

"You  must  be  very  happy,  my  dear,"  said  Mme.  Eagon, 
addressing  Mme.  Birotteau. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  returned  the  fair  Constance,  who  always 
fell  under  the  charm  of  that  cane  umbrella,  those  butterfly 
caps,  those  tight-fitting  sleeves,  and  the  ample  fichu  a  la  Julie 
that  Mme.  Kagon  wore. 

"Cesarine  looks  charming. — Come  here,  pretty  child,"  said 
Mme.  Eagon.  She  spoke  in  a  patronizing  manner,  and  with 
*  high  head-voice. 

"Shall  we  settle  the  business  before  dinner?"  asked  uncle 
Pillerault. 

"We  are  waiting  for  M.  Claparon,"  said  Eoguin;  "he  was 
dressing  when  I  left  him." 

"M.  Eoguin,"  Cesar  began,  "does  he  quite  understand  that 
we  are  to  dine  in  a  wretched  little  entresol " 

("Sixteen  years  ago  he  thought  it  magnificent,"  murmured 
Constance.) 

"Among  the  rubbish,  and  with  all  the  workmen  about?" 

"Pooh !  you  will  find  him  a  good  fellow,  and  not  hard  to 
please,"  said  Eoguin. 

"I  have  left  Eaguet  to  look  after  the  shop ;  we  cannot  come 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  129 

in  and  out  of  our  own  door  now ;  as  you  have  seen,  it  has  ail 
been  pulled  down/'  Cesar  returned. 

"Why  did  you  not  bring  your  nephew?"  asked  Pillerault 
of  Mme.  Eagon. 

"Shall  we  see  him  later  ?"  suggested  Cesarine. 

"No,  darling,"  said  Mme.  Ragon.  "Anselme,  dear  boy,  is 
working  himself  to  death.  I  am  afraid  of  that  close  street 
where  the  sun  never  shines,  that  vile-smelling  Rue  des  Cinq- 
Diamants;  the  gutter  is  always  black  or  blue  or  green.  I 
am  afraid  he  may  die  there.  But  when  young  people  set 
their  minds  upon  anything !"  she  said,  turning  to  Cesa- 
rine with  a  gesture  that  interpreted  "mind"  as  "heart." 

"Then,  has  the  lease  been  signed  ?"  asked  Cesar.  • 

"Yesterday,  before  a  notary,"  Ragon  replied.  "He  has 
taken  the  place  for  eighteen  years,  but  he  pays  the  rent  six 
months  in  advance." 

"Well,  M.  Ragon,  are  you  satisfied  with  me?"  Birotteau 
asked.  "I  have  given  him  the  secret  of  a  new  discovery — 
in  fact !" 

"We  know  you  by  heart,  Cesar,"  said  little  Ragon,  taking 
Cesar's  hands,  and  pressing  them  with  devout  friendliness. 

Roguin  meanwhile  was  not  without  inward  qualms.  Cla- 
paron  was  about  to  appear  on  the  scene,  and  his  habits  and 
manner  of  talking  might  be  something  of  a  shock  to  these 
respectable  citizens.  He  thought  it  necessary  to  prepare  their 
minds,  and  spoke,  addressing  Ragon,  Pillerault,  and  the 
women. 

"You  will  see  an  eccentric  character,"  he  said ;  "he  hides 
his  talents  beneath  shocking  bad  manners;  his  ideas  have 
raised  him  from  a  very  low  position.  No  doubt  he  will 
acquire  better  tastes  in  the  society  of  bankers.  You  might 
come  across  him  slouching  half-fuddled  along  the  boulevard, 
or  in  a  cafe  playing  at  billiards ;  he  looks  like  a  great  hulking 
idiot. — But  nothing  of  the  kind ;  he  is  thinking  all  the  time, 
pondering  how  to  put  life  into  trade  by  new  ideas." 

"I  can  understand  that,"  said  Birotteau;  "my  best  ideas 
came  to  me  while  I  was  sauntering  about,  didn't  they,  dear  ?" 


130  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Claparon  makes  up  for  lost  time  at  night,  after  spending 
the  daytime  in  meditating  over  business  combinations.  All 
these  very  clever  people  lead  queer  inexplicable  lives,"  Koguin 
continued.  "Well,  with  all  his  desultory  ways,  he  gains  his 
end,  as  I  can  testify.  He  made  all  the  owners  of  our  building 
land  give  way  at  last;  they  were  not  willing,  they  demurred 
at  this  and  that;  he  mystified  them — tired  them  out;  day 
after  day  he  went  to  see  them,  and  this  time  the  lots. are 
ours." 

A  peculiar  sounding  broum!  brown!  characteristic  of 
drinkers  of  strong  waters  and  spirits,  announced  the  arrival 
of  the  most  grotesque  personage  in  this  story — who  was  in 
the  future  to  enact  the  part  of  the  arbiter  of  Cesar's  des- 
tinies. The  perfumer  hurried  down  the  narrow,  dark  stair- 
case, partly  to  tell  Eaguet  to  close  the  shop,  partly  to  make 
his  excuses  for  receiving  Claparon  in  the  dining-room. 

"Eh,  what?  Oh,  it  will  do  very  well  for  stowing  the 
vict ,  I  mean  for  doing  business  in." 

In  spite  of  Eoguin's  skilful  opening,  the  entrance  of  the 
sham  great  banker  at  once  produced  an  unpleasant  impres- 
sion upon  those  well-bred  citizens,  M.  and  Mme.  Eagon, 
upon  the  observant  Pillerault,  and  upon  Cesarine  and  her 
mother. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  or  thereabouts,  the  former  com- 
mercial traveler  had  not  a  hair  on  his  head,  and  wore  a  wig 
of  corkscrew  curls.  Such  a  manner  of  dressing  the  hair 
demands  a  girlish  freshness,  a  milk-white  skin,  and  the 
daintiest  feminine  charm;  so  it  brought  out  all  the  vulgarity 
of  a  pimpled  countenance,  a  dark-red  complexion,  flushed  like 
that  of  a  stage  coachman,  and  covered  with  premature 
wrinkles  and  deeply  cut  grotesque  lines  which  told  of  a  dis- 
solute life ;  its  ill  effects  could  be  read  only  too  plainly  in  the 
bad  state  of  his  teeth  and  the  black  specks  dotted  over  the1 
shriveled  skin. 

There  was  something  about  Claparon  that  suggested  the 
provincial  actor  who  frequents  fairs,  and  is  prepared  to  play 
any  and  every  part,  to  whose  worn,  shrunken  cheeks  and 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  131 

flabby  lips  the  paint  refuses  to  adhere;  the  tongue  always 
wagging  even  when  the  man  is  drunk;  the  shameless  eyes, 
the  compromising  gestures.  Such  a  face  as  this,  lighted 
up  by  the  hilarious  flames  of  punch,  little  befitted  a  man  ac- 
customed to  important  business.  Indeed,  only  after  pro- 
longed and  necessary  studies  in  mimicry  had  Claparon  suc- 
ceeded in  adopting  a  manner  not  wholly  out  of  keeping  with 
his  supposed  importance.  Du  Tillet  had  assisted  personally 
at  Claparon's  toilette,  anxious  as  a  nervous  manager  over 
the  first  appearance  of  his  principal  actor,  for  he  trembled 
lest  the  vicious  habits  of  a  reckless  life  should  appear 
through  the  veneer  of  the  banker. 

"Say  as  little  as  you  can,"  said  his  mentor;  "a  banker 
never  babbles;  he  acts,  thinks,  meditates,  listens,  and  pon- 
ders. So,  to  look  like  a  real  banker,  you  must  .either  not 
speak  at  all,  or  say  insignificant  things.  Keep  those  ribald 
eyes  of  yours  quiet ;  look  solemn  at  the  risk  of  looking  stupid. 
In  politics,  be  for  the  Government,  but  keep  to  generalities, 
such  as — 'There  is  a  heavy  budget;  compromise  as  parties 
stand  is  out  of  the  question;  Liberalism  is  dangerous;  the 
Bourbons  ought  to  avoid  all  collisions;  Liberalism  is  a  cloak 
to  hide  the  schemes  of  the  Coalition;  the  Bourbons  are  in- 
augurating an  epoch  of  prosperity,  so  let  us  give  them  our 
support,  whether  we  are  well  affected  to  them  or  not ;  France 
has  had  enough  of  political  experiments/  and  the  like.  And 
don't  sprawl  over  all  the  tables;  remember  that  you  have  to 
sustain  the  dignity  of  a  millionaire.  Don't  snort  like  a  pen- 
sioner when  you  take  snuff;  play  with  your  snuff-box,  and 
look  at  your  boots  or  at  the  ceiling  before  you  give  an  answer ; 
look  as  wise  as  you  can,  in  fact.  Above  all  things,  rid  your- 
self of  your  unlucky  habit  of  fingering  everything.  In  so- 
ciety a  banker  ought  to  look  as  if  he  were  glad_  to  let  his 
fingers  rest.  And  look  here!  you  work  at  night,  you  are 
stupid  with  making  calculations,  there  are  so  many  things 
to  consider  in  the  starting  of  an  enterprise !  so  much  think- 
ing is  involved !  Grumble,  above  all  things,  and  say  that 
trade  is  very  bad.  Trade  is  dull,  slow,  hard  to  move",  per- 


132  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

plcxing.  Keep  to  that,  and  let  particulars  alone.  Don't 
begin  to  sing  drolleries  of  Beranger's  at  table,  and  don't 
drink  too  much;  you  will  ruin  your  prospects  if  you  get 
tipsy.  Eoguin  will  keep  an  eye  on  you ;  you  are  going  among 
moral  people,  respectable,  steady-going  folk,  don't  frighten 
them  by  letting  out  some  of  your  pot-house  principles." 

This  homily  produced  on  Charles  Claparon's  mind  an  effect 
very  similar  to  the  strange  sensation  of  his  new  suit  of 
clothes.  The  rollicking  prodigal,  hail-fellow-well-met  with 
everybody,  accustomed  to  the  comfortable,  disreputable  gar- 
ments in  which  his  outer  man  was  as  much  at  home  as  his 
thoughts  in  the  language  that  clothed  them,  held  himself 
upright,  stiff  as  a  poker  in  the  new  clothes  for  which  the 
tailor  had  kept  him  waiting  to  the  last  minute,  and  was  as 
ill  at  ease  in  his  movements  as  in  this  new  phraseology.  He 
put  out  a  hand  unthinkingly  towards  a  flask  or  a  box,  then, 
hurriedly  recollecting  himself,  drew  it  in  again,  and  in  the 
same  way  he  began  a  sentence  and  stopped  short  in  the  mid- 
dle, distinguishing  himself  by  a  ludicrous  incoherence,  which 
did  not  escape  the  observant  Pillerault.  His  round  face, 
like  the  rakish-looking  corkscrew  ringlets  of  his  wig,  were 
totally  out  of  keeping  with  his  manner,  and  he  seemed  to 
think  one  thing  and  say  another.  But  the  good  folk  con- 
cluded that  his  inconsequence  was  the  result  of  preoccupa- 
tion. 

"He  does  so  much  business,"  said  Eoguin. 

"Business  has  given  him  very  little  breeding,"  Mme.  Ragon 
said  to  Cesarine. 

M.  Roguin  overheard  her,  and  laid  a  finger  on  his  lips. 
"He  is  rich,  clever,  and  honorable  to  a  fault,"  he  said,  bend- 
ing to  Mme.  Ragon. 

"He  may  be  excused  something  for  such  qualities  as  those," 
said  Pillerault  to  Ragon. 

"Let  us  read  over  the  papers  before  dinner,"  said  Roguin. 
"We  are  alone." 

Mme.  Ragon,  Cesarine,  and  Constance  left  the  contract- 
ing parties,  Pillerault,  Ragon,  Cesar,  Roguin,  and  Claparon, 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  133 

to  listen  to  the  reading  of  the  documents  by  Alexandre  Crot- 
tat.  Cesar  signed  a  mortgage  bond  for  forty  thousand  francs 
secured  on  the  land  and  the  factory  in  the  Faubourg  du  Tem- 
ple (the  money  had  been  lent  by  one  of  Eoguin's  clients)  ; 
he  paid  over  to  Roguin  Pillerault's  order  on  the  bank,  gave 
(without  taking  a  receipt)  twenty  thousand  francs  worth  of 
bills  from  his  portfolio,  and  drew  another  bill  for  the  re- 
maining hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs  on  Charles 
Claparon. 

"I  have  no  receipt  to  give  you,"  said  that  gentleman. 
"You  are  acting  for  your  own  side  with  M.  Roguin,  as  we 
are  doing  for  our  share.  Our  vendors  will  receive  their 
money  from  him  in  coin;  I  only  undertake  to  complete  your 
payment  by  paying  a  hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs  for 
your  bills  -  " 

"That  is  right,"  said  Pillerault. 

"Well,  then,  gentlemen,  let  us  call  in  the  ladies  again, 
for  it  is  cold  without  them,"  said  Claparon,  with  a  look  at 
Roguin  to  see  whether  he  had  gone  too  far. 

"Ladies  !  .  .  .  Ah  !  mademoiselle  is  your  young  lady, 
of  course,"  said  Claparon,  looking  at  Birotteau,  and  straight- 
ening himself  up.  "Well,  well,  you  are  not  a  bungler.  Not 
one  of  the  roses  that  you  have  distilled  can  be  compared  with 
her,  and  perhaps  it  is  because  you  have  distilled  roses 


"Faith  !"  said  Roguin,  interrupting  him,  "I  own  that  I  am 
hungry." 

"Very  well,  let  us  have  dinner,"  said  Birotteau. 

"We.  are  to  have  dinner  in  the  presence  of  a  notary,"  said 
Claparon,  with  an  important  air. 

"You  do  a  great  deal  of  business,  do  you  not  ?"  said  Pille- 
rault, purposely  seating  himself  next  to  the  banker. 

"A  tremendous  amount,  wholesale,"  replied  Claparon; 
"but  trade  is  dull,  hard  to  move  —  there  are  canals  now.  Oh, 
canals  !  You  have  no  idea  how  busy  we  are  with  canals. 
That  is  comprehensible.  The  Government  wants  canals.  A 
canal  is  a  want  generally  felt.  All  the  trade  of  a  depart- 
10 


134  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

merit  is  interested  in  a  canal,  you  know!  A  stream,  said 
Pascal,  is  a  moving  highway.  The  next  thing  is  a  market, 
and  markets  depend  on  embankments,  for  there  are  a  fright- 
ful lot  of  embankments,  and  the  embankments  interest  the 
poorer  classes,  and  that  means  a  loan,  which  finally  benefits 
the  poor !  Voltaire  said,  'Canal,  canard,  canaille !'  But 
Government  depends  for  information  on  its  own  engineers; 
it  is  difficult  to  meddle  in  the  matter,  at  least,  it  is  difficult 
to  come  to  an  understanding  with  them;  for  the  Chamber 

Oh !  sir,  the  Chamber  gives  us  trouble !  The  Chamber 

does  not  want  to  grapple  with  the  political  question  hidden 
beneath  the  financial  question.  There  is  bad  faith  on  all 
sides.  Would  you  believe  this?  There  are  the  Kellers — 
well,  then,  Frangois  Keller  is  a  public  speaker,  he  attacks 
the  measures  of  the  Government  as  to  the  funds  and  canals. 
He  comes  home,  and  then  my  fine  gentleman  finds  us  with 
our  propositions;  they  are  favorable,  and  he  has  to  make  it 
up  with  the  aforesaid  Government,  which  he  attacked  so 
insolently  an  hour  ago.  The  interests  of  the  public  speaker 
clash  with  the  interests  of  the  banker;  we  are  between  two 
fires.  Now  you  understand  how  thorny  affairs  become;  you 
have  to  satisfy  everybody — the  clerks,  the  people  in  the 
chambers,  and  the  people  in  the  ante-chambers,  and  the 
Ministers " 

"The  Ministers?"  asked  Pillerault,  who  wished  to  probe 
this  partner's  mind  thoroughly. 

"Yes,  sir,  the  Ministers." 

"Well,  then,  the  newspapers  are  right,"  said  Pillerault. 

"Here  is  uncle  on  politics,"  said  Birotteau;  '»M.  Claparon 
has  set  him  off." 

"Newspapers !"  said  Claparon,  "there  are  some  more  con- 
founded humbugs !  Newspapers  throw  us  all  into  confusion ; 
they  do  us  a  good  turn  now  and  then,  but  the  cruel  nights 
they  make  me  spend!  I  would  as  lief  be  without  them; 
they  are  the  ruin  of  my  eyes  in  fact,  poring  over  them  and 
working  oiit  calculations." 

"But  to  return  to  the  Ministers,"  said  Pillerault,  hoping  for 
revelations. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAE  BIROTTEAU  135 

"Ministers  have  exigencies  which  are  purely  governmental. 
• — But  what  am  I  eating;  is  it  ambrosia?"  asked  Claparon, 
interrupting  himself.  "Here  is  a  sort  of  sauce  that  you  only 
have  in  citizens'  houses;  you  never  get  it  at  grub-shops " 

At  that  word,  the  ornaments  on  Mme.  Ragon's  cap  skipped 
like  rams.  Claparon  gathered  that  the  expression  was  low, 
and  tried  to  retrieve  his  error. 

"That  is  what  the  heads  of  large  banking  firms  call  the 
high-class  taverns — Very,  and  the  Freres  Provengaux.  Well, 
neither  those  vile  grub-shops,  nor  our  most  accomplished 
cooks,  make  you  a  soft,  mellow  sauce;  some  give  you  water 
with  lemon-juice  in  it,  and  others  give  you  chemical  concoc- 
tions/' 

The  conversation  at  dinner  chiefly  consisted  in  attacks 
from  Pillerault,  who  tried  to  plumb  his  man,  and  only  found 
emptiness;  he  looked  upon  him  as  a  dangerous  person. 

"It  is  going  on  all  right/'  said  Roguin  in  Charles  Claparon's 
ear. 

"Oh  I  I  shall  get  out  of  my  clothes  to-night,  I  suppose/' 
answered  Claparon,  who  was  gasping  for  breath. 

"We  are  obliged  to  use  our  dining-room  as  a  sitting-room, 
sir,"  said  Birotteau,  "because  we  are  looking  forward  to  a 
little  gathering  of  our  friends  in  eighteen  days'  time,  partly 
to  celebrate  the  liberation  of  the  soil " 

"Right,  sir;  I  myself  am  also  for  the  Government.  My 
political  convictions  incline  me  to  the  statu  quo  of  the  great 
man  who  guides  the  destinies  of  the  house  of  Austria,  a  fine 
fellow !  Keep  what  you  have,  to  get  more ;  and,  in  the  first 
place,  get  more,  to  keep  what  you  have. — So  now  you  know 
the  bottom  of  my  opinions,  which  have  the  honor  to  be  those 
of  Prince  Metternich!" 

"Partly  on  the  occasion  of  my  promotion  to  the  Order 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor/'  Cesar  went  on. 

"Why,  yes,  1  know.  Now  who  was  telling  me  about  that  ? 
Was  it  the  Kellers,  or  Nucingen?" 

Roguin,  amazed  at  so  much  presence  of  inind,  signified 
his  admiration. 


136  RISE  AND  FALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Oh,  no;  it  was  at  the  Chamber." 

"At  the  Chamber.  Was  it  M.  de  la  Billardiere  ?"  asked 
Cesar. 

"The  very  man." 

"He  is  charming,"  said  Cesar,  addressing  his  uncle. 

"He  pours  out  talk,  talk,  talk,  till  you  are  drowned  in 
talk,"  said  Pillerault. 

"It  may  be,"  resumed  Birotteau,  "that  I  have  shown  my- 
self worthy  of  this  favor " 

"By  your  achievements  in  perfumery;  the  Bourbons  know 
how  to  reward  merit  of  every  kind.  Ah!  let  us  stand  by 
our  generous  legitimate  Princes,  to  whom  we  shall  owe  un- 
heard-of prosperity  about  to  be. — For,  you  may  be  sure  of 
it,  the  Kestoration  feels  that  she  must  enter  the  lists  with 
the  Empire,  and  the  Bestoration  will  make  peaceful  con- 
quests ;  you  will  see  conquests !  .  .  ." 

"You  will  no  doubt  honor  us  by  coming  to  our  ball,  sir," 
said  Mme.  Cesar. 

"To  spend  an  evening  with  you,  madame,  I  would  miss 
a  chance  of  making  millions." 

"He  certainly  is  a  babbler,"  said  Cesar  in  his  uncle's 
ear. 

While  the  waning  glory  of  the  Queen  of  Roses  was  about 
to  shed  abroad  its  parting  rays,  a  faint  star  was  rising  above 
the  commercial  horizon;  at  that  very  hour,  little  Popinot 
was  laying  the  foundations  of  his  fortune  in  the  Eue  des 
Cinq-Diamants.  The  Eue  des  Cinq-Diamants,  a  short,  nar- 
row thoroughfare,  where  loaded  wagons  can  scarcely  pass 
each  other,  runs  between  the  Eue  des  Lombards  and  the 
Eue  Aubry-le-Boucher,  into  which  it  opens  just  opposite  the 
end  of  the  Eue  Quincampoix,  that  street  so  famous  in  the 
history  of  France  and  of  old  Paris. 

In  spite  of  this  narrowness,  the  near  neighborhood  of  the 
druggists'  quarter  made  the  place  convenient;  and  from  that 
point  of  view,  Popinot  had  not  made  a  bad  choice.  The 
(the  second  from  the  end  nearest  the  Eue  des  Lorn- 


137 

bards)  was  so  dark,  that  at  times  it  was  necessary  to  work 
by  artificial  light  in  the  daytime.  Popinot  had  taken  pos- 
session the  evening  before  of  all  its  darkest  and  most  un- 
savory recesses.  His  predecessor,  a  dealer  in  treacle  and 
raw  sugars,  had  left  his  mark  on  the  place;  the  walls,  the 
yard,  and  the  storehouse  bore  unmistakable  traces  of  his 
occupation. 

Imagine  a  large  and  roomy  shop,  and  huge  doors  barred 
with  iron  and  painted  dragon-green,  the  solid  iron  scroll- 
work, with  bolt  heads  as  large  as  mushrooms  by  way  of 
ornament.  The  shop  was  adorned  and  protected,  as  bakers' 
shops  used  to  be,  by  wire-work  lattices,  which  bulged  at  the 
bottom,  and  was  paved  with  great  slabs  of  white  stone, 
cracked  for  the  most  part.  The  walls  of  a  guard-house  are 
not  yellower  nor  barer.  Further  on  came  the  back-shop  and 
kitchen,  which  looked  out  into  the  yard;  and  behind  these 
again  a  second  storeroom,  which  must  at  one  time  have  been 
a  stable.  An  inside  staircase  had  been  contrived  in  the  back- 
shop,  by  which  you  gained  two  rooms  that  looked  out  upon  the 
street;  here  Popinot  meant  to  have  his  counting-house  and 
his  ledgers.  Above  the  warehouse  there  were  three  small 
rooms,  all  backed  against  the  party-wall,  and  lighted  by  win- 
dows on  the  side  of  the  yard.  It  was  in  these  dilapidated 
rooms  that  Popinot  proposed  to  live. 

The  view  from  the  windows  was  shut  in  by  the  high  walls 
that  rose  about  the  dingy,  crooked  yard,  walls  so  damp  that 
even  in  the  driest  weather  they  looked  as  if  they  had  been 
newly  distempered.  The  cracks  in  the  paving-stones  were 
choked  with  black,  malodorous  filth,  deposited  there  during 
the  tenancy  of  the  dealer  in  treacle  and  raw  sugars.  So 
much  for  the  outlook.  As  to  the  rooms  themselves,  only 
one  of  them  boasted  a  fireplace ;  the  floors  were  of  brick,  the 
walls  were  unpapered. 

Gaudissart  and  Popinot  had  been  busy  there  ever  since 
the  morning,  putting  up  a  cheap  wall-paper  with  their  own 
hands  in  the  ugly  room;  a  journeyman  paperhanger  whom 
Gaudiesart  ferreted  out  had  varnished  it  for  them.  The 


138  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

furniture  consisted  of  a  student's  mattress,  a  wooden  bed- 
stead painted  red,  a  rickety  nightstand,  a  venerable  chest  of 
drawers,  a  table,  a  couple  of  armchairs,  and  half-a-dozen  ordi- 
nary chairs,  a  present  from  Popinot  the  judge  to  his  nephew. 
Gaudissart  had  put  a  cheap  pier-glass  over  the  chimney- 
piece.  It  was  almost  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  the 
two  friends,  sitting  before  a  blazing  fire,  were  about  to  dis- 
cuss the  remains  of  their  breakfast. 

"Away  with  the  cold  mutton !  It  is  out  of  character  in 
a  house-warming/'  cried  Gaudissart. 

Popinot  held  up  his  last  twenty-franc  piece,  which  was 
to  pay  for  the  pfospectus.  "But  I "  he  began. 

"I?  .  .  ."  retorted  Gaudissart,  sticking  a  forty-franc 
piece  into  his  eye. 

A  knock  at  the  street  door  reverberated  through  the  yard. 
It  was  Sunday,  the  workpeople  were  taking  their  holiday 
away  from  their  workshops,  and  the  idle  echoes  greeted  every 
sound. 

"There  is  my  trusty  man  from  the  Kue  de  la  Poterie," 
Gaudissart  went  on.  "For  my  own  part,  it  is  not  simply 
%'  but  <I  have/  " 

And,  in  fact,  a  waiter  appeared,  followed  by  two  kitchen 
boys,  carrying  between  them  three  wicker  baskets,  containing 
a  dinner,  and  crowned  by  six  bottles  of  wine  selected  with 
discrimination. 

"But  how  are  we  to  eat  such  a  lot  of  things?"  asked 
Popinot. 

"There  is  the  man  of  letters,"  cried  Gaudissart.  "Finot 
understands  the  pomps  and  vanities.  The  artless  youth 
will  be  here  directly  with  a  prospectus  fit  to  make  your 
hair  stand  on  end  (neat  that,  eh?),  and  prospectuses  are 
always  dry  work.  You  must  water  the  seeds  if  you  mean  to 
have  flowers. — Here,  minions,"  he  added,  striking  an  at- 
titude for  the  benefit  of  the  kitchen-boys,  "here's  gold  for 
you." 

He  held  out  six  sous  with  a  gesture  worthy  of  his  idol, 
Napoleon. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  139 

"Thank  you,  M.  Gaudissart,"  said  the  scullions,  more 
pleased  with  the  joke  than  with  the  money. 

"As  for  thee,  my  son,"  he  continued,  turning  to  the 
waiter  who  remained,  "there  is  a  portress  here.  She 
crouches  in  the  depths  of  a  cave,  where  at  times  she  does 
some  cooking,  as  erewhile  Nausicaa  did  the  washing,  simply 
by  way  of  relaxation.  Hie  thee  to  her,  work  on  her  trustful 
nature;  interest  her,  young  man,  in  the  temperature  of  thy 
hot  dishes.  Say  to  her  that  she  shall  be  blessed,  and  above 
all  things  respected,  highly  respected,  by  Felix  Gaudissart, 
son  of  Jean-Frangois  Gaudissart,  and  grandson  of  Gaudis- 
sart, vile  proletaries  of  remote  lineage,  his  ancestors.  Off 
with  you,  and  act  in  such  a  sort  that  everything  shall  be 
good ;  for  if  it  isn't,  I  will  make  you  laugh  on  the  wrong  side 
of  your  face." 

There  was  another  knock  at  the  door. 

"That  is  the  ingenious  Andoche,"  said  Gaudissart. 

A  stout  young  fellow  suddenly  entered.  He  had  some- 
what chubby  cheeks,  was  of  middle  height,  and  from  head  to 
foot  looked  like  the  hatter's  son.  A  certain  shrewdness 
lurked  beneath  the  air  of  constraint  that  sat  on  his  rounded 
features.  The  habitual  dejection  of  a  man  who  is  tired  of 
poverty  left  him,  and  a  hilarious  expression  crossed  his  coun- 
tenance, at  the  sight  of  the  preparations  on  the  table  and  the 
significant  seals  on  the  bottle-corks.  At  Gaudissart's  shout, 
a  twinkle  came  into  the  pale-blue  eyes,  the  big  head,  on 
which  a  Kalmuck  physiognomy  had  been  carved,  rolled  from 
side  to  side,  and  he  gave  Popinot  a  distant  greeting,  in  which 
there  was  neither  servility  nor  respect,  like  a  man  who  feels 
out  of  his  element  and  stands  on  his  dignity. 

Finot  was  just  beginning  to  discover  that  he  had  no  sort 
of  talent  for  literature ;  he  did  not  think  of  quitting  his 
calling;  he  meant  to  exploit  literature  by  raising  himself 
on  the  shoulders  of  men  who  possessed  the  talent  which  he 
lacked.  Instead  of  doing  ill-paid  work  himself,  he  would 
turn  his  business  capacities  to  account.  He  was  just  at  the 
turning-point;  he  had  exhausted  the  expedients  of  humility; 


140  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

he  had  experienced  to  the  full  the  humiliation  of  failure; 
and,  like  those  who  take  a  wide  outlook  over  the  financial 
world,  he  resolved  to  change  his  tactics,  and  to  be  insolent 
in  future.  He  needed  capital  in  the  first  instance,  and 
Gaudissart  had  opened  out  a  prospect  of  making  the  money 
by  putting  Popinot's  oil  before  the  public. 

"You  will  make  his  arrangements  with  the  newspapers," 
Gaudissart  had  said,  "but  don't  swindle  him ;  if  you  do,  there 
will  be  a  duel  to  the  death  batween  us;  give  him  value  for 
his  money !" 

Popinot  looked  uneasily  at  the  "author."  Your  true  man 
of  business  regards  an  author  with  mixed  feelings,  in  which 
alarm  and  curiosity  are  blended  with  compassion;  and 
though  Popinot  had  been  well  educated,  his  relations'  atti- 
tude of  mind  and  ways  of  thinking,  together  with  a  course 
of  drudgery  in  a  shop,  had  produced  their  effect  on  his  in- 
telligence, and  he  bent  beneath  the  yoke  of  use  and  wont. 
You  can  see  this  by  noticing  the  metamorphoses  which  ten 
years  will  effect  among  a  hundred  boys,  who  when  they  left 
school  or  college  were  almost  exactly  alike. 

Andoche  mistook  the  impression  which  he  had  made  for 
admiration. 

"Very  well.  Let  us  run  through  the  prospectus  before 
dinner,  then  it  will  be  off  our  minds,  and  we  can  drink," 
said  Gaudissart.  "It  is  uncomfortable  to  read  after  dinner; 
the  tongue  is  digesting  too." 

"Sir,"  said  Popinot,  "a  prospectus  often  means  a  whole 
fortune." 

"And  for  nobodies  like  me,"  said  Andoche,  "fortune  is 
nothing  but  a  prospectus." 

"Ah!  vefy  good,"  said  Gaudissart.  "That  droll  fellow 
of  an  Andoche  has  wit  enough  for  the  Forty." 

"For  a  hundred,"  said  Popinot,  awestruck  with  the  idea. 

Gaudissart  snatched  up  the  manuscript,  and  read  aloud, 
and  with  emphasis,  the  first  two  words — "Cephalic  Oil!" 

"I  like  Cesarian  Oil  better,"  said  Popinot. 

"You  don't  know  thei"  in  the  provinces,  my  friend,"  said 


RISE  AM)  FALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  141 

Gaudissart.  "There  is  a  surgical  operation  known  by  that 
name,  and  they  are  so  stupid,  that  they  will  think  your  oil 
is  meant  to  facilitate  childbirth;  and  if  they  start  off  with 
the  notion,  it  would  be  too  hard  work  to  bring  them  all  the 
way  back  to  hair  again." 

"Without  defending  the  name,"  observed  the  author,  "I 
would  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  Cephalic  Oil 
means  oil  for  the  head,  and  resumes  your  ideas." 

"Go  on !"  said  Popinot  impatiently. 

And  here  follows  a  second  historical  document,  a  pros- 
pectus, which  even  at  this  day  is  circulating  by  thousands 
among  retail  perfumers. 

GOLD    MEDAL,,    PARIS    1824* 


CEPHALIC  OIL 

(Improved  Patent). 

No  cosmetic  can  make  the  hair  grow;  and  in  the  same  way,  it 
cannot  be  dyed  by  chemical  preparations  without  danger  to  the  seat 
of  the  intelligence.  Science  has  recently  proclaimed  that  the  hair  is 
not  a  living  substance,  and  that  there  is  no  means  of  preventing  it 
from  blanching  or  falling  out.  To  prevent  xerasia  and  baldness,  the 
bulb  at  the  roots  should  be  preserved  from  all  atmospheric  influences, 
and  the  natural  temperature  of  the  head  evenly  maintained.  The 
' '  Cephalic  Oil ,"  based  on  these  principles  established  by  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Sciences,  induces  the  important  result  so  highly  prized 
by  the  ancients,  the  Romans  and  Greeks,  and  the  nations  of  the 
North — a  fine  head  of  hair.  Learned  research  bas  brought  to  light 
the  fact  that  the  nobles  of  olden  times,  who  were  distinguished  by 
their  long,  flowing  locks,  used  no  other  means  than  these;  their 
recipe,  long  lost,  has  been  ingeniously  rediscovered  by  A.  POPINOT, 
inventor  of  "  Cephalic  Oil.  " 

To  preserve  the  glands,  and  not  to  provoke  an  impossible  or  hurt- 
ful stimulation  of  the  dermis  which  contains  them,  is,  therefore,  the 
*  The  next  "Quinquennial  Exhibition," 


142  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

function  of  "  Cephalic  Oil.  "  This  oil,  which  exhales  a  delicious 
fragrance,  prevents  the  exfoliation  of  the  pellicle;  while  the  sub- 
stances of  which  it  is  composed  (the  essential  oil  of  the  hazel-nnt 
being  the  principal  element)  counteract  the  effects  of  atmospheric 
air  upon  the  head,  thus  preventing  chills,  catarrh,  and  all  un- 
pleasant encephalic  affections  by  maintaining  the  natural  tempera- 
ture. In  this  manner  the  glands,  which  contain  the  hair- producing 
secretions,  are  never  attacked  by  heat  or  cold.  A  fine  head  of  hair 
— that  glorious  product  so  highly  valued  by  either  sex — -may  be  re- 
tained to  extreme  old  age  by  the  use  of  ''Cephalic  Oil,"  which 
imparts  to  the  hair  the  brilliancy,  silkiness,  and  gloss  which  consti- 
tutes the  charm  of  children's  heads. 
Directions  for  use  are  issued  on  the  wrapper  of  every  bottle. 

DIRECTIONS   FOR  USE 

It  is  perfectly  useless  to  apply  oil  to  the  hair  itself:  besides  being 
an  absurd  superstition,  it  is  an  obnoxious  practice,  for  the  cosmetic 
leaves  its  traces  everywhere. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  part  the  hair  with  a  comb,  and  to  apply  the 
oil  to  the  roots  every  morning  with  a  small  sponge,  proceeding  thus 
until  the  whole  surface  of  the  skin  has  received  a  slight  application, 
the  hair  having  been  previously  combed  and  brushed. 

To  prevent  spurious  imitations,  each  bottle  bears  the  signature  of 
the  inventor.  Sold  at  the  price  of  THREE  FRANCS  by  A.  POPINOT, 
Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants,  Quartier  des  Lombards,  Paris. 

It  is  particularly  requested  that  all  communications  bir  post  should 
be  prepaid. 

NOTE. — A.  POPINOT  also  supplies  essences  and  pharmaceutical  prep- 
arations, such  as  neroli,  oil  of  spike-lavender,  oil  of  sweet  almonds, 
cacao-butter,  cafeine,  castor  oil,  "et  csetera.  " 

"My  dear  fellow,"  said  the  Illustrious  Gaudissart,  address- 
ing Finot,  "it  is  perfectly  written !  Ye  gods,  how  we  plunge 
into  deep  science  !  No  shuffling ;  we  go  straight  to  the  point ! 
Ah!  I  congratulate  you  heartily;  there  is  literature  of  some 
practical  use !" 

"A  fine  prospectus!"  cried  Popinot  enthusiastically. 

"The  very  first  sentence  is  a  deathblow  to  Macassar,"  said 
Gaudissart,  rising  to  his  feet  with  a  magisterial  air,  to  pro- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  B1ROTTEAU  143 

clain;  with  an  oratorical  gesture  between  each  word,  "  'You — 
cannot — make — hair — grow.  It — cannot — be — dyed — with- 
out— danger !'  Aha !  success  lies  in  that.  Modern  science 
corroborates  the  custom  of  the  ancients.  You  can  suit  your- 
self to  old  and  young.  You  have  to  do  with  an  old  man. — 
Aha, , sir!  the  Greeks  and  Eomans,  the  ancients,  were  in  the 
right;  they  were  not  such  fools  as  some  would  make  them 
out  to  be !  Or  if  it  is  a  young  man. — My  dear  fellow,  an- 
other discovery  due  to  the  progress  of  enlightenment;  we  are 
progressing.  What  must  we  not  expect  from  steam,  and  the 
telegraph,  and  such  like  inventions?  This  oil  is  the  out- 
come of  M.  Vauquelin's  investigations ! — How  if  we  were  to 
print  an  extract  from  M.  Vauquelin's  paper,  eh?  Capital! 
Come,  Finot,  draw  up  your  chair !  Let  us  stow  the  victuals, 
and  tipple  down  the  champagne  to  our  young  friend's  suc- 
cess !" 

"It  seemed  to  me,"  said  the  author  modestly,  "that  the 
time  for  the  light  and  playful  prospectus  has  gone  by ;  we  are 
entering  on  an  epoch  of  science,  and  must  talk  learnedly 
and  authoritatively  to  make  an  impression  on  the  public." 

"We  will  push  the  oil.  My  feet,  and  my  tongue  too,  are 
hankering  to  go.  I  have  agencies  for  all  the  houses  that 
deal  in  hairdressers'  goods,  not  one  of  them  gives  more  than 
thirty  per  cent  of  discount ;  make  up  your  mind  to  give  forty, 
and  I  will  engage  to  sell  a  hundred  thousand  bottles  in  six 
months.  I  will  make  a  set  on  all  the  druggists,  grocers,  and 
hairdressers!  And  if  you  will  allow  them  forty  per  cent 
on  your  oil,  they  will  all  send  their  customers  wild  for  it." 

The  three  young  men  ate  like  lions,  drank  like  Swiss, 
and  waxed  merry  over  the  future  success  of  the  Cephalic 
Oil. 

"This  oil  goes  to  your  head,"  said  Finot,  smiling,  and 
Uaudissart  exhausted  whole  series  of  puns  on  the  words, 
oil,  head,  and  hair. 

In  the  midst  of  their  Homeric 'laughter  over  the  dessert, 
the  knocker  sounded,  and  in  spite  of  the  toasts  and  the  wishes 
for  luck  exchanged  among  the  three  friends,  they  heard  it. 


144  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"It  is  my  uncle!  He  is  capable  of  coming  to  see  me/' 
cried  Popinot. 

"An  uncle?"  asked  Finot,  "and  we  have  not  a  glass!" 

"My  friend  Popinot's  uncle  is  an  examining  magistrate," 
said  Gaudissart,  by  way  of  reply  to  Finot;  "there  is  no  oc- 
casion to  hoax  him,  he  saved  my  life.  Ah !  if  you  had  found 
yourself  in  the  fix  I  was  in,  with  the  scaffold  staring  you  in 
the  face,  where,  kouik,  off  goes  your  hair  for  good!"  (and 
he  imitated  the  fatal  knife  by  a  gesture),  "you  would  be 
apt  to  remember  the '  righteous  judge  to  whom  you  owe , the 
preservation  of  the  channel  that  the  champagne  goes  down ! 
You  would  remember  him  if  you  were  dead  drunk.  You 
don't  know,  Finot,  but  what  you  may  want  M.  Popinot  one 
day.  Saquerlotte!  You  must  make  your  bow  to  him,  and 
thirteen  to  the  dozen !" 

It  was,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  "righteous  judge,"  who 
was  asking  for  his  nephew  of  the  woman  who  opened  the 
door.  Anselme  recognized  the  voice,  and  .went  down,  candle 
in  hand,  to  light  his  way. 

"Good-evening,   gentlemen,"    said   the   magistrate. 

The  Illustrious  Gaudissart  made  a  profound  bow.  Finot 
looked  the  newcomer  over  with  drunken  eyes,  and  decided 
that  Popinot's  uncle  was  tolerably  woodenheaded. 

"There  is  no  luxury  here,"  said  the  judge,  .gravely  look- 
ing round  the  room;  "but,  m\  boy,  you  must  begin  by  being 
nothing  if  you  are  to  be  something  great." 

"How  profound  he  is !"  said  Gaudissart,  turning  to  Finot. 

"An  idea  for  an  article,"  said  the  journalist. 

"Oh !  is  that  you,  sir  ?"  said  the  judge,  recognizing  the 
commercial  traveler.  "Eh  !  what  are  you  doing  here  ?" 

l(i  want  to  do  all  my  little  part,  sir,  towards  making  your 
dear  nephew's  fortune.  We  have  just  been  pondering  over 
the  prospectus  for  this  oil  of  his,  and  this  gentleman  here 
is  the  author  of  the  prospectus,  which  seems  to  us  to  be  one 
of  the  finest  things  in  the  literature  of  periwigs." 

The  judge  looked  at  Finot. 

"This  gentleman  is  M.  Andoche  Finot,"  Gaudissart  said, 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  145 

"one  of  the  most  distinguished  young  men  in  literature;  he 
does  political  leaders  and  the  minor  theatres  for  the  Govern- 
ment newspapers;  he  is  a  Minister  who  is  by  way  of  being 
an  author." 

Here  Finot  tugged  at  Gaudissart's  coat-tails. 

"Very  well,  boys/'  said  the  judge,  to  whom  these  words 
explained  the  appearance  of  the  table  covered  with  the  rem- 
nants of  a  feast  very  excusable  under  the,  circumstances. 

"As  for  you,  Anselme,"  he  continued,  turning  to  Popinot, 
"get  ready  to  pay  a  visit  to  M.  Birotteau;  I  must  go  to  see 
him  this  evening.  You  will  sign  your  deed  of  partnership; 
I  have  gone  through  it  very  carefully.  As  you  are  going  to 
manufacture  your  oil  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple,  I  think 
that  he  ought  to  make  over  the  lease  of  the  workshop  to  you, 
and  that  he  has  power  to  sublet;  if  things  are  all  in  order, 
it  will  save  disputes  afterwards.  These  walls  look  to  me  to 
be  very  damp,  Ansel  me;  bring  up  trusses  of  straw,  and  put 
them  round  about  where  your  bed  stands." 

"Excuse  me,  sir,"  said  Gaudissart  with  a  courtier's 
suppleness,  "we  have  just  put  up  the  wall-paper  ourselves 
to-day,  and — it — is — not  quite  dry." 

"Economy!  good!"  said  the  judge. 

"Listen,"  said  Gaudissart  in  Finot's  ear;  "my  friend 
Popinot  is  a  good  young  man ;  he  is  going  off  with  his  uncle, 
so  come  along  and  let  us  finish  the  evening  with  our  fair 
cousins." 

The  journalist  turned  out  the  lining  of  his  waistcoat 
pocket.  Popinot  saw  the  manoeuvre,  and  slipped  a  twenty- 
franc  piece  into  the  hand  of  the  author  of  his  prospectus. 
The  judge  had  a  cab  waiting  at  the  corner  of  the  street,  and 
carried  off  his  nephew  to  call  on  Birotteau. 

Pillerault,  M.  and  Mme.  Eagon,  and  Roguin  were  play- 
ing at  boston,  and  Cesarine  was  embroidering  a  fichu,  when 
the  elder  Popinot  and  Anselme  appeared.  Eoguin,  sitting 
opposite  Mme.  Eagon,  could  watch  Cesarine,  who  sat  by  her 
side,  and  saw  -the  happy  look  on  the  girl's  face  when  An- 
selme came  in,  saw  her.  flush  up  red  as  a  pomegranate 


146  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

flower,  and  called  his  head-clerk's  attention  to  her  by  a  sig- 
nificant gesture. 

"So  this  is  to  be  a  day  of  deeds,  is  it  ?"  said  the  perfumer, 
when  greetings  had  been  exchanged,  and  the  judge  ex- 
plained the  reason  of  the  visit. 

Cesar,  Anselme,  and  the  judge  went  up  to  the  perfumer's 
temporary  quarters  on  the  second  floor  to  debate  the  mat- 
ter of  the  lease  and  the  deed  of  partnership  drawn  up  by 
the  elder  Popinot.  It  was  arranged  that  the  lease  should 
run  for  eighteen  years,  so  as  to  be  conterminous  with  the 
lease  of  the  house  in  the  Eue  des  Cinq-Diamants ;  trifling 
matter  as  it  appeared  at  the  time,  it  was  destined  later  to 
serve  Birotteau's  interests. 

When  they  returned  to  the  sitting-room,  the  elder  Popi- 
not, surprised  by  the  confusion  and  the  men  at  work  on  a 
Sunday  in  the  house  of  so  devout  a  man,  asked  the  reason 
of  it  all.  This  was  the  question  for  which  Cesar  was  wait- 
ing. 

"Although  you  are  not  worldly,  sir,  you  will  not  object 
to  our  celebrating  our  deliverance;  and  that  is  not  all — if 
we  are  arranging  for  a  little  gathering  of  our  friends,  it  is 
partly  also  to  celebrate  my  promotion  to  the  order  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor." 

"Ah!"  said  the  examining  magistrate  (who  had  not  been 
decorated). 

"It  may  be  that  I  have  shown  myself  not  unworthy  of 
this  signal  mark  of  Eoyal  favor  by  discharging  my  func- 
tions at  the  Tribunal  .  .  .  oh !  I  mean  to  say  Consular 
Tribunal,  and  by  fighting  for  the  Royalist  cause  on  the 
steps " 

"Yes,"  said  the  magistrate. 

"Steps  of  Saint-Roch,  on  the  13th  of  Vendemiaire,  where 
I  was  wounded  by  Napoleon." 

"I  shall  be  glad  to  come,"  said  M.  Popinot;  "and  if  my 
wife  is  well  enough,  I  will  bring  her." 

"Xandrot,"  said  Roguin,  on  the  doorstep,  "give   up  all 


RISE  AND  FALL  OP"  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  147 

thoughts  of  marrying  Cesarine;  in  six  weeks'  time  you  will 
see  that  I  have  given  you  sound  counsel." 

"Why?"  asked  Crottat. 

"My  dear  fellow,  Birotteau  is  about  to  spend  a  hundred 
thousand  francs  over  this  ball  of  his,  and  he  is  embarking  his 
whole  fortune,  against  my  advice,  in  this  building-land 
scheme.  In  six  weeks'  time  these  people  will  not  have  bread 
to  eat.  Marry  Mile.  Lourdois,  the  house-painter's  daugh- 
ter; she  has  three  hundred  thousand  francs  to  her  fortune. 
I  have  planned  this  shift  for  you.  If  you  will  pay  me  down 
the  money,  you  can  have  my  practice  to-morrow  for  a  hun- 
dred thousand  francs/' 

The  splendors  of  the  perfumer's  forthcoming  ball,  an- 
nounced to  Europe  by  the  newspapers,  were  very  differently 
announced  in  commercial  circles  by  flying  rumors  of  work- 
people employed  night  and  day  on  the  perfumer's  house. 
The  rumors  took  various  forms;  here  is  was  said  that  Cesar 
had  taken  the  house  on  either  side;  there,  that  his  drawing- 
ing-rooms  were  to  be  gilded;  some  said  that  no  tradespeople 
would  be  invited,  and  that  the  ball  was  given  to  Government 
officials  only;  and  the  perfumer  was  severely  blamed  for  his 
ambition ;  they  scoffed  at  his  political  aspirations,  they  denied 
that  he  had  been  wounded !  More  than  one  scheme  was  set 
on  foot,  in  the  second  arrondissement,  in  consequence  of  the 
ball;  the  friends  of  the  family  took  things  quietly,  but  the 
claims  of  distant  acquaintances  were  vast. 

Those  who  have  favor  to  bestow,  never  lack  courtiers; 
and  a  goodly  number  of  the  guests  were  at  no  little  pains 
to  procure  their  cards  of  admission.  The  Birotteaus  were 
amazed  to  find  so  many  friends  whose  existence  they  had 
not  suspected.  This  eagerness  on  their  part  alarmed  Mme. 
Birotteau;  she  looked  more  and  more  gloomy  as  the  days 
went  by  and  the  solemn  festival  came  nearer.  She  had 
confessed  to  Cesar  from  the  very  first  that  she  should  not 
know  how  to-act  her  part  as  hostess,  and  the  innumerable  small 
details  frightened  her.  Where  was  the  plate  to  come  from? 


148  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

How  about  the  glass,  the  refreshments,  the  forks  and  spoons  ? 
And  who  would  look  after  it  all? — She  begged  Birotteau  to 
stand  near  the  door  and  see  that  no  one  came  who  had 
not  been  asked  to  the  ball ;  she  had  heard  strange  things 
about  people  who  came  to  dances  claiming  acquaintance 
with  people  whom  they  did  not  know  by  name. 

One  evening,  ten  days  before  the  famous  Sunday,  Mes- 
sieurs Braschon,  Grindot,  Lourdois,  and  Chaff aroux  the  con- 
tractor having  given  their  word  that  the  rooms  should  be 
ready  for  the  17th  of  December.,  there  had  been  a  laugh- 
able conference  after  dinner  in  the  humble  little  sitting- 
room  on  the  mezzanine  floor — Cesar  and  his  wife  and 
daughter  were  making  a  list  of  guests  and  writing  the  cards 
of  invitation,  which  had  been  sent  in  only  that  morning, 
nicely  printed  in  the  English  fashion  on  rose-colored  paper, 
in  accordance  with  the  precepts  laid  down  in  the  Complete 
Guide  to  Etiquette. 

"Look  here !"  said  Cesar ;  "we  must  not  leave  anybody  out." 

"If  we  forget  any  one,"  remarked  Constance,  "we  shall 
be  reminded  of  it.  Mme.  Derville,  who  never  called  upon 
us  before,  sailed  in  yesterday  evening  in  great  state." 

"She  was  very  pretty;   I   liked  her,"   said   Cesarine. 

"Yet  before  she  was  married  she  was  even  worse  off  than 
I,"  said  Constance;  "she  used  to  do  plain  needlework  in 
the  Eue  Montmartre;  she  has  made  shirts  for  your  father." 

"Well,  let  us  put  the  great  people  down  at  the  top  of  the 
list,"  said  Cesar.  "Write  'M.  le  Due  and  Mme.  la  Duchesse 
de  Lenoncourt,'  Cesarine." 

"Goodness!  Cesar,"  cried  Constance,  "pray  don't  begin 
to  send  invitations  to  people  whom  you  only  know  through 
the  business.  Are  you  going  to  ask  the  Princesse  de  Bla- 
mont-Chauvry  ?  She  is  more  nearly  related  to  your  late 
godmother,  the  Marquise  d'Uxelles,  than  even  the  Due  de 
Lenoncourt.  And  shall  you  ask  the  two  MM.  Vandenesse, 
M.  de  Marsay,  M.  de  Ronquerolles,  M.  d'Aiglemont ;  in  short, 
all  your  customers?  You  are  mad;  honors  are  turning  your 
head " 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  149 

"Yes!  but  M.  le  Comte  de  Fontaine  and  his  family.  Eh? 
He  used  to  come  to  the  Queen  of  Roses  under  the  name  of 
Grand-Jacques  with  the  Gars  (M.  lc  Marquis  de  Montauran 
that  was)  and  M.  de  la  Billardiere,  whom  they  called  the 
Nantais  in  the  days  before  the  great  affair  of  the  13th  of 
Vendemiaire.  And  they  would  shake  hands  with  you  then, 
and  it  was,  'My  dear  Birotteau,  keep  your  heart  up,  and 
give  your  life,  like  the  rest  of  us,  for  the  good  cause !'  We 
are  old  fellow-conspirators." 

"Put  him  down,"  said  Constance ;  "if  M.  de  la  Billar- 
diere and  his  son  are  coming,  they  must  have  somebody  to 
speak  to/' 

"Set  down  his  name,  Cesarine,"  said  Birotteau. — "Im- 
primis, His  Worship  the  Prefect  of  the  Seine;  he  may  or 
may  not  come,  but  he  is  the  head  of  the  municipal  corpora- 
tion, and  'honor  to  whom  honor  is  due.' — M.  de  la  Billar- 
diere, the  mayor,  and  his  son.  (Write  down  the  number 
of  the  people  after  every  name.) — My  colleague,  M.  Granet, 
and  his  wife.  She  is  very  ugly,  but,  all  the  same,  we  can- 
not leave  her  out. — M.  Curel,  the  goldsmith,  Colonel  of  the 
National  Guard,  and  his  wife  and  two  daughters.  Those 
are  what  I  call  the  authorities.  Now  for  the  bigwigs ! — 
M.  le  Comte  and  Mme.  la  Comtesse  de  Fontaine  and  their 
daughter,  Mile,  fimilie  de  Fontaine." 

"An  insolent  girl,  who  makes  me  come  out  of  the  shop 
to  speak  to  her  at  her  carriage  door  in  all  weathers,"  said 
Mme.  Cesar.  "If  she  comes  at  all,  it  will  be  to  make  fun 
of  us." 

"In  that  case,  perhaps  she  will  come,"  said  Cesar,  who 
meant  to  fill  his  rooms  at  all  costs.  "Go  on,  Cesarine — 
M.  le  Comte  and  Mme.  la  Comtesse  de  Granville,  my  land- 
lord, the  hardest  head  in  the  Court  of  Appeal,  Derville 
says. — Oh !  by  the  by,  M.  de  la  Billardiere  has  arranged  for 
me  to  be  presented  to-morrow  by  M.  le  Comte  de  Lacepede 
himself;  it  is  only  polite  to  ask  the  Grand  Chancellor  to 
dinner  and  to  the  ball. — M.  Vauquelin.  Put  him  down  for 
the  dinner  and  for  the  ball  too,  Cesarine.  And,  while  we 


150  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

remember  it,  all  the  Chiffrevilles  and  the  Protez  family. 
— M.  Popinot,  judge  of  the  Tribunal  of  the  Seine,  and 
Mme.  Popinot. — M.  and  Mme.  Thirion,  he  is  an  usher  of 
the  Privy  Chamber,  and  a  friend  of  the  Ragons;  it  is  said 
that  their  daughter  is  to  be  married  to  one  of  M.  Camusot's 
sons  by  his  first  marriage." 

"Cesar,  do  not  forget  young  Horace  Bianchon;  he  is  M. 
Popinot's  nephew  and  Anselme's  cousin,"  put  in  Constance. 

"Ah,  to  be  sure!  Cesarine  has  put  a  figure  four  very 
plainly  after  the  Popinots. — M.  and  Mme.  Rabourdin;  M. 
Rabourdin  is  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  departments  in  M. 
de  la  Billardiere's  division. — M.  Cochin  of  the  same  de- 
partment, and  his  wife  and  son;  they  are  sleeping-part- 
ners in  M.  Matifat's  concern;  and  while  we  are  about  it, 
put  down  M.  and  Mme.  and  Mile.  Matifat." 

"The  Matifats  have  been  making  overtures  for  their 
friends,  M.  and  Mme.  Colleville,  M.  and  Mme.  Thuillier, 
and  the  Saillards." 

"We  shall  see,"  said  Cesar.  "Our  stockbroker,  M.  Jules 
Desmarets  and  his  wife." 

"She  will  be  the  prettiest  woman  in  the  room !"  cried 
Cesarine.  "I  like  her,  oh !  more  than  any  one !" 

"Derville  and  his  wife." 

"Just  put  down  M.  and  Mme.  Coquelin,  who  took  over 
uncle  Pillerault's  business,"  said  Constance.  "They  made 
so  sure  of  being  asked,  that  the  poor  little  thing  is  having 
a  grand  ball-dress  made  by  my  dressmaker — a  white  satin 
overskirt  covered  with  tulle,  embroidered  with  blue  chicory 
flowers.  It  would  not  have  taken  much  to  persuade  her 
to  have  a  gold  embroidered  court-dress.  If  we  left  them 
out,  we  should  make  two  bitter  enemies." 

"Put  them  down,  Cesarine;  we  must  show  our  respect 
for  trade,  for  we  are  tradespeople  ourselves. — M.  and  Mme. 
Roguin." 

"Mamma,  Mine.  Roguin  will  wear  her  riviere,  all  her 
diamonds,  and  her  Mechlin  lace  gown.'' 

"M.   and   Mme.    Lebas,"    Cesar   continued. — '"And   next, 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  151 

the  President  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce  and  his  wife 
and  two  daughters  (I  forgot  to  put  them  among  the  authori- 
ties).— M.  and  Mme.  Lourdois  and  their  daughter. — M. 
Claparon  the  banker;  M.  du  Tillet,  M.  Grindot,  M. 
Molineux  ;  Pillerault  and  his  landlord ;  M.  and  Mme.  Camu- 
sot,  the  rich  silk  mercer,  and  all  their  family,  the  one  at  the 
ficole  polytechnique  and  the  advocate;  he  will  receive  an 
appointment  as  judge — he  is  the  one  that  is  engaged  to  be 
married  to  Mile.  Thirion." 

"It  will  only  be  a  Provincial  appointment/'  said  Cesarine. 

"M.  Cardot,  Camusot's  father-in-law,  and  all  the  young 
Cardots.  Stay !  there  are  the  Guillaumes  in  the  Rue  du 
Colombier,  Lebas'  wife's  people,  two  old  folk  who  will  be 
wall-flowers. — Alexandre  Crottat, — Celestin " 

"Papa,  do  not  forget  M.  Andoche  Finot  and  M.  Gaudis-? 
sart,  two  young  men  who  have  been  so  useful  to  M.  Anselme."} 

"Gaudissart?  He  got  himself  into  trouble.  But,  never 
mind,  he  is  going  away  in  a  few  days,  and  will  travel  for 
our  oil, — so  put  him  down !  As  for  Master  Andoche  Finot, 
what  is  he  to  us  ?" 

"M.  Anselme  says  that  he  will  be  a  great  man;  he  is 
as  clever  as  Voltaire." 

"An  author  is  he?     They  are  all  of  them  atheists." 

"Put  him  down,  papa;  so  far  there  are  not  so  very  many 
men  who  dance.  Besides,  your  nice  prospectus  for  the  oil 
was  his  doing." 

"He  believes  in  our  oil,  does  he?"  said  Cesar.  "Put  him 
down,  dear  child." 

"So  I  too  have  my  proteges  on  the  list,"  commented 
Cesarine. 

"Put  M.  Mitral,  my  process-server,  and  our  doctor,  M. 
Haudry;  it  is  for  form's  sake,  he  will  not  come. 

"He  will  come  for  his  game  of  cards,"  said  Cesarine. 

"Ah !  by  the  by,  Cesar,  I  hope  that  you  will  ask  M.  1'Abbe 
Loraux  to  dinner!" 

"I  have  written  to  him  already,"  said  Cesar. 

"Oh !  we  must  not  forget  Lebas'  sister-in-law,  Mme.  Au- 


152  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

gustine  de  Sommervieux,"  said  Cesarine.  "Poor  little  thiug ! 
she  is  very  unwell;  Lebas  said  that  she  was  dying  of  grief." 

"See  what  comes  of  marrying  an  artist,"  cried  the  per- 
fumer.— "Just  look  at  your  mother;  she  has  fallen  asleep," 
he  said,  in  a  low  voice,  to  his  daughter.  "Bye-bye — sleep 
softly,  Madame  Cesar. — Well,  now,"  said  Cesar,  turning  to 
his  daughter,  "how  about  your  mother's  dress?" 

"Yes,  papa,  everything  will  be  ready.  Mamma  thinks 
that  she  is  to  have  a  Canton  crape  gown  like  mine,  and  the 
dressmaker  is  sure  that  there  is  no  need  to  try  it  on." 

"How  many  are  there  altogether?"  Cesar  went  on  aloud, 
as  his  wife  opened  her  eyes. 

"A  hundred  and  nine,  with  the  assistants,"  said 
Cesarine. 

"Where  are  we  going  to  put  all  those  people  ?"  asked  Mme. 
Birotteau.  "And  when  all  is  over,  after  the  Sunday  comes 
Monday,"  she  said  naively. 

Nothing  can  be  done  simply  when  people  aspire  to  rise 
from  one  social  rank  to  another.  Neither  Mme.  Birotteau, 
nor  Cesar,  nor  any  one  else  might  venture  on  any  pretext 
whatsoever  on  to  the  first  floor.  Cesar  had  promised  the  er- 
rand-boy Eaguet  a  new  suit  of  clothes  if  he  kept  watch 
faithfully  and  carried  out  his  orders  properly.  Like  the 
Emperor  Napoleon  at  Compiegne,  when  he  had  the  Chateau 
restored  for  his  marriage  with  Marie-Louise  of  Austria, 
Birotteau  wanted  to  see  nothing  till  the  whole  was  finished ; 
he  meant  to  enjoy  "the  surprise."  So  all  unconsciously  the 
old  enemies  met,  this  time  not  on  the  field  of  battle,  but 
on  the  common  ground  of  bourgeois  vanity.  M.  Grindot  was 
to  take  Cesar  over  the  new  rooms  like  a  cicerone  exhibiting 
a  gallery  to  a  tourist. 

Every  one  in  the  house,  moreover,  had  his  or  her  own  "sur- 
prise." Cesarine,  the  dear  child,  had  spent  a  hundred  louis, 
all  her  little  hoard,  on  books  for  her  father.  M.  Grindot 
had  confided  to  her  one  morning  that  there  were  two  fitted 
bookcases  in  her  father's  room,  which  was  to  be  a  study; 
this  was  the  architect's  surprise;  and  Cesarine  spent  all  her 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  153 

savings  with  a  bookseller.  She  had  bought  the  works  of 
Bossuet,  Eacine,  Voltaire,  Jean-Jacques  Rousseau,  Montes- 
quieu, Moliere,  Buffon,  Fenelon,  Delille,  Bernardin  de  Saint- 
Pierre,  La  Fontaine,  Corneille,  Pascal,  and  La  Harpe;  in 
short,  the  ordinary  collection  of  classics  to  be  seen  every- 
where, books  which  her  father  would  never  read.  A  terrible 
bookbinder's  bill  must  of  necessity  be  the  result. 
Thouvenin,  that  great  and  unpunctual  artist  and  binder, 
had  undertaken  to  send  the  books  home  on  the  18th  at  mid- 
day. Cesarine  had  told  her  uncle  in  confidence  of  her  diffi- 
culty, and  he  had  undertaken  the  bill.  Cesar's  surprise  for 
his  wife  took  the  shape  of  a  cherry-colored  velvet  gown 
trimmed  with  lace;  it  was  of  this  dress  that  he  had  just  spoken 
to  the  daughter,  who  had  been  his  accomplice.  Mme. 
Birotteau's  surprise  for  the  new  Chevalier  of  Honor  con- 
sisted of  a  pair  of  gold  buckles  and  a  solitaire  pin.  Finally, 
there  was  the  surprise  of  the  new  rooms  for  the  whole 
family,  to  be  followed  in  a  fortnight  by  the  great  surprise 
of  the  bills  to  be  paid. 

After  mature  reflection,  Cesar  decided  that  some  of  the 
invitations  must  be  given  in  person,  and  some  might  be  de- 
livered by  Eaguet  in  the  evening.  He  took  a  cab  and  handed 
his  wife  into  it  (his  wife,  whose  beauty  suffered  a  temporary 
eclipse  from  a  hat  and  feathers  and  the  last  new  shawl,  the 
cashmere  shawl  for  which  she  had  longed  for  fifteen  years), 
and  away  went  the  perfumers  dressed  in  their  best  to  acquit 
themselves  of  twenty-two  calls  in  a  morning. 

Cesar  spared  his  wife  the  difficulties  attendant  on  strain- 
ing the  resources  of  a  bourgeois  household  to  prepare  the 
various  confections  which  the  splendor  of  the  occasion  de- 
manded. A  treaty  was  arranged  between  Birotteau  and  the 
great  Chevet.  Chevet  would  furnish  the  dinner  and  the 
wines;  he  would  provide  a  splendid  service  of  plate  (which 
brings  in  as  much  as  an  estate  to  its  owner),  and  a  retinue 
of  servants  under  the  command  of  a  sufficiently  imposing 
mattre  d'hotel,  all  of  them  responsible  for  their  sayings  and 
doings.  Chevet  was  to  take  up  his  quarters  in  the  kitchen 


154  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

and  dining-room  on  the  mezzanine  floor,  and  not  to  quit 
possession  until  he  had  served  up  a  dinner  for  twenty  persons 
at  six  o'clock,  and  a  grand  collation  an  hour  after  midnight. 
The  ices,  to  be  served  in  pretty  cups  with  silver-gilt  spoons 
on  silver  trays,  would  be  supplied  by  Foy's  Cafe,  and  the  re- 
freshments by  Tanrade — an  added  lustre  to  the  feast. 

"Be  easy,"  Cesar  said  to  his  wife,  who  looked  somewhat 
over-anxious  on  the  day  before  the  great  day.  "Chevet, 
Tanrade,  and  the  people  from  Foy's  Cafe  will  occupy  the 
mezzanine  floor,  Virginie  will  be  on  guard  above,  and  the 
shop  shall  be  shut  up.  There  is  nothing  left  for  us  to  do 
but  to  strut  about  on  the  first  floor." 

On  the  16th,  at  two  o'clock,  M.  de  la  Billardiere  came  for 
Cesar,  They  were  to  go  together  to  the  Chancellerie  de  la 
Legion  d'honneur,  where  Birotteau,  with  some  ten  others, 
was  to  be  received  as  a  Chevalier  by  M.  le  Comte  de 
Lacepede.  The  perfumer  had  tears  in  his  eyes  when  the 
mayor  came  for  him;  the  surprise  which  Constance  had 
planned  had  just  taken  place,  and  Cesar  had  been  presented 
with  the  gold  buckles  and  solitaire. 

"It  is  very  sweet  to  be  so  loved,"  said  he,  as  he  stepped 
into  the  cab;  Constance  and  Cesarine  standing  on  the 
threshold,  and  the  assistants  gathered  in  a  group  to  see 
him  go.  All  of  them  gazed  at  Cesar  in  his  silk  stockings 
and  black  silk  breeches,  and  the  new  coat  of  cornflower  blue 
on  which  the  ribbon  was  about  to  blaze — the  red  ribbon 
which,  according  to  Molineux,  had  been  steeped  in  blood. 

When  Cesar  came  back  at  dinner-time,  he  was  pale  with 
joy.  He  looked  at  his  Cross  in  every  looking-glass,  for  in 
his  first  intoxication  he  could  not  be  content  to  wear  the  rib- 
bon only ;  there  was  no  tinge  of  false  modesty  about  his  ela- 
tion. 

"The  Grand  Chancellor  is  charming,  dear,"  said  he;  "at  a 
word  from  M.  de  la  Billardiere,  he  accepted  my  invitation; 
he  is  coming  with  M.  Yauquelin.  M.  de  Lacepede  is  a  great 
man,  yes,  as  great  as  M.  Vauquelin.  He  has  written  forty 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  155 

volumes.  And  then  he  is  a  peer  of  France  as  well  as  an 
author.  We  must  not  forget  to  say  'Your  Lordship/  or  'M. 
le  Comte,'  when  we  address  him." 

"Do  eat  your  dinner,"  remarked  his  wife. — "Your  father  is 
worse  than  a  child,"  Constance  added,  looking  at  Cesarine. 

"How  nice  that  looks  at  your  button-hole !"  said  Cesarine. 
"They  will  present  arms  when  you  pass;  we  will  go  out  to- 
gether !" 

"All  the  sentries  will  present  arms  to  me." 

Grindot  and  Braschon  came  downstairs  as  he  spoke.  "After 
dinner,  sir,  you  and  madame  and  mademoiselle  may  like  to 
look  over  the  rooms;  Braschon's  foreman  is  just  putting  up  a 
few  curtain  brackets,  and  three  men  are  lighting  the  candles." 

"You  will  need  a  hundred  and  twenty  candles,"  said 
Braschon. 

"A  bill  for  two  hundred  francs  from  Trudon,"  began  Mme. 
Cesar,  but  a  look  from  the  Chevalier  checked  her  lamenta- 
tions. 

"Your  fete  will  be  magnificent,  M.  le  Chevalier,"  put  in 
Braschon. 

"Flatterers  already !"  Cesar  thought  within  himself.  "The 
Abbe  Loraux  enjoined  it  upon  me  not  to  fall  into  their  snares, 
and  to  remain  humble ;  I  will  keep  my  origin  in  mind." 

But  Cesar  did  not  understand  the  drift  of  the  remark  let 
fall  by  the  rich  upholsterer  of  the  Eue  Saint-Antoine. 
Braschon  had  made  a  dozen  futile  efforts  to  secure  invitations 
for  himself  and  his  wife,  his  daughter,  aunt,  and  mother-in- 
law.  And  so  Cesar  made  an  enemy.  On  the  threshold, 
Braschon  did  not  call  him  again  "M.  le  Chevalier." 

Then  came  the  private  view.  Cesar  and  his  wife  and 
Cesarine  went  out  through  the  shop  and  came  in  from  the 
street.  The  door  had  been  reconstructed  in  a  grand  style, 
the  two  leaves  were  divided  up  into  square  panels,  and  in  the 
centre  of  each  panel  was  a  cast-iron  ornament,  duly  painted. 
This  kind  of  door,  which  is  now  so  common  in  Paris,  was  at 
that  time  the  very  newest  thing.  Beneath  the  double  staircase 
in  the  vestibule,  opposite  the  door,  in  the  plinth  which  had 


156  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

so  disturbed  Cesar's  mind,  a  sort  of  box  had  been  contrived1 
where  an  old  woman  could  be  ensconced.  The  vestibule,  with 
its  black-and-white  marble  floor,  and  its  walls  painted  to 
look  like  marble,  was  lighted  by  a  lamp  of  antique  pattern, 
with  four  sockets  for  the  wicks.  The  architect  had  combined 
a  rich  effect  with  apparent  simplicity.  A  narrow  crimson 
carpet  relieved  the  whiteness  of  the  stone.  The  first  landing 
gave  access  to  the  mezzanine  floor.  The  door  on  the  staircase, 
which  gave  access  to  the  first-floor  rooms,  was  in  the  same 
style  as  the  street  door,  but  this  was  a  piece  of  cabinet  work. 

"How  charming  I"  said  Cesarine.  "And  yet  there  is  noth- 
ing which  catches  the  eye/' 

"Exactly,  mademoiselle,  the  effect  is  produced  by  the  exact 
proportions  of  the  stylobates,  the  plinths,  the  cornice,  and  the 
ornaments;  and  then  I  have  not  employed  gilding  anywhere; 
the  colors  are  subdued,  and  there  are  no  glaring  tones." 

"It  is  a  science,"  said  Cesarine. 

Then  they  entered  the  ante-room;  it  was  simple,  spacious, 
and  tastefully  decorated;  a  parquet  floor  had  been  laid  down. 
The  drawing-room  was  lighted  by  three  windows,  which 
looked  upon  the  street;  here  the  colors  were  white  and  red; 
the  outlines  of  the  cornices  were  delicate,  so  was  the  paint; 
there  was  nothing  to  dazzle  the  eyes.  The  ornaments  on  the 
mantel-shelf,  of  white  marble  supported  on  white  marble  col- 
umns, had  been  carefully  chosen;  there  was  nothing  tawdry 
about  them,  and  they  were  in  keeping  with  the  details  of  the 
furniture.  In  fact,  throughout  the  room  a  subtle  harmony 
prevailed,  such  as  none  but  an  artist  can  establish,  by  subordi- 
nating everything,  down  to  the  least  accessories,  to  the  general 
scheme  of  decoration ;  a  harmony  which  strikes  the  philistine, 
though  he  cannot  account  for  it.  The  light  of  twenty-four 
wax  candles  in  the  chandelier  displayed  the  glories  of  the 
crimson  silk  curtains;  the  parquet  floor  tempted  Cesarine  to 
dance.  Through  a  green-and-white  boudoir  they  reached 
Cesar's  study. 

"I  have  put  a  bed  here,"  said  Grindot,  throwing  open  the 
doors  of  an  alcove,  cleverly  concealed  between  the  two  book- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  157 

"Either  you  or  Mme.  Birotteau  may  fall  ill,  and  an  in- 
valid requires  a  separate  room." 

"But  the  bookcase  is  full  of  bound  books!  .  .  .  Oh! 
wife,  wife  !"  cried  Cesar. 

"No,  this  is  Cesarine's  surprise." 

"Pardon  a  father's  emotion,"  exclaimed  Birotteau,  embrac- 
ing his  daughter. 

"Of  course,  of  course,  sir,"  said  Grindot.  "You  are  in  your 
own  house." 

The  prevailing  tone  of  the  study  was  brown,  relieved  by 
green ;  for  by  skilful  modulations  all  the  rooms  were  brought 
into  harmony  with  each  other.  Thus  the  prevailing  color  of 
one  room  was  more  sparingly  introduced  as  a  subsidiary  in 
another,  and  vice  versa.  The  print  of  Hero  and  Leander 
shone  conspicuous  from  a  panel  in  Cesar's  new  sanctum. 

"And  you  are  to  pay  for  all  this  ?"  Cesar  said  merrily. 

"That  beautiful  engraving  is  M.  Anselme's  gift  to  you," 
said  Cesarine. 

(Anselme,  like  the  others,  had  managed  to  afford  his  sur- 
prise.) 

"Poor  boy !  he  has  done  as  I  did  for  M.  Vauquelin." 

Mme.  Birotteau's  room  came  next  in  order.  Here  the  archi- 
tect had  lavished  splendors  to  please  the  good  folk  whom  he 
wished  to  use  to  his  own  ends.  He  had  promised  to  make  a 
study  of  this  redecoration,  and  he  had  kept  his  word.  The 
room  was  hung  with  blue  silk,  but  the  cords  and  tassels  were 
white;  while  the  furniture,  covered  with  white  cashmere,  was 
relieved  with  blue.  The  clock  on  the  white  marble  chimney- 
piece  took  the  form  of  a  marble  slab,  on  which  Venus  reclined. 
The  pretty  Wilton  carpet,  of  Eastern  design,  was  the  keynote 
of  Cesarine's  apartment,  a  dainty  little  bedroom  hung  with 
chintz ;  there  stood  her  piano,  a  pretty  wardrobe  with  a  mirror 
in  it,  a  small  white  bed  with  plain  curtains,  and  all  the  little 
possessions  that  girls  love. 

The  dining-room  lay  behind  Cesar's  study  and  the  blue-and- 
white  bedroom,  and  was  entered  by  a  door  on  the  staircase. 
Here  the  decorations  were  in  the  style  known  as  Louis  XIV. 


158  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

The  sideboards  were  inlaid  with  brass  and  tortoise-shell; 
there  was  a  Boule  clock,  and  the  walls  wero  hung  with  stuffs 
and  adorned  with  gilt  studs. 

No  words  can  describe  the  joy  of  these  three  human  beings, 
which  reached  its  height  when  Mme.  Birotteau,  returning  to 
her  room,  found  her  new  dress  lying  there  on  the  bed ;  the 
cherry-colored  velvet  gown,  trimmed  with  lace,  which  her  hus- 
band had  given  her.  Virginie  had  stolen  in  on  tiptoe  to  lay  it 
there. 

"The  rooms  do  you  great  credit,  sir,"  Constance  said,  ad- 
dressing Grindot.  "More  than  a  hundred  people  will  be  here 
to-morrow  evening,  and  you  will  be  complimented  by  every- 
body." 

"I  shall  recommend  you,"  said  Cesar.  "You  will  meet  all 
the  first-rate  people,  and  you  will  be  better  known  in  a  single 
evening  than  if  you  had  built  a  hundred  houses." 

Constance,  touched  by  what  had  happened,  no  longer 
thought  of  the  expense  or  of  criticising  her  husband,  and  for 
the  following  reasons.  That  morning,  when  Popinot  had 
brought  the  Hero  and  Leander,  he  had  assured  her  that  the 
Cephalic  Oil  would  be  a  success.  Constance  had  always  had 
a  high  opinion  of  Popinot's  abilities  and  intelligence,  and 
Popinot  was  working  with  unheard-of  enthusiasm.  The 
money  lavished  by  Birotteau  on  these  extravagances  might 
amount  to  a  good  round  sum,  but  the  young  lover  had 
promised  that,  in  six  months'  time,  Birotteau's  share  of  the 
profits  on  the  sales  of  the  oil  would  cover  them.  After  nine- 
teen years  of  apprehension,  it  was  so  sweet  to  put  doubts  aside 
for  a  single  day;  and  Constance  promised  her  daughter  that 
she  would  not  spoil  her  husband's  joy  by  any  afterthought, 
but  would  give  herself  up  entirely  to  gladness.  So  when  M. 
Grindot  left  them  about  eleven  o'clock,  she  flung  her  arms 
about  her  husband's  neck  and  shed  a  few  tears  of  joy. 

"Ah,  Cesar,"  she  said,  "you  make  me  very  silly  and  very 
happy." 

"If  it  will  only  last,  you  mean,  do  you  not  ?"  Cesar  asked, 
smiling. 


RISE  AND   FALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  159 

"It  will  last ;  I  have  no  fear  now/'  said  Mme.  Cesar. 

"That  is  right ;  you  appreciate  me  at  last." 

Those  who  have  sufficient  greatness  of  character  to  know 
their  weaknesses  will  confess  that  a  poor  orphan  girl  who, 
eighteen  years  ago,  had  heen  earning  her  living  behind  the 
counter  of  the  Little  Sailor  in  the  lie  Saint-Louis,  and  a  poor 
peasant  lad  who  had  come  on  foot  from  Touraine,  stick  in 
hand  and  with  hobnailed  shoes  on  his  feet,  might  well  feel 
gratified  and  happy  to  give  such  a  fete  on  an  occasion  so  much 
to  their  credit. 

"Mon  Dieu,  I  would  willingly  give  a  hundred  francs  for  a 
visitor,"  cried  Cesar. 

"M.  PAbbe  Loraux,"  announced  Virginie,  and  the  Abbe  ap- 
peared. The  priest  was  at  this  time  curate  of  Saint-Sul- 
pice.  Never  has  the  power  of  the  soul  been  more  plainly  re- 
vealed than  in  this  reverend  ecclesiastic,  who  left  a  profound 
impression  on  the  minds  of  all  those  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact.  The  exercise  of  Catholic  virtues  had  given  sublimity 
to  a  harsh  face,  almost  repellent  in  its  ugliness ;  it  was  as  if 
something  of  the  light  of  heaven  shone  from  it  before  the 
time.  The  influences  of  a  simple  and  sincere  life,  passing 
into  the  blood,  had  modified  those  rugged  features,  the  fires 
of  charity  had  chastened  their  uncouth  outlines.  In 
Claparon's  case,  the  nature  of  the  man  had  stamped  itself  on 
his  face  and  degraded  and  brutalized  it,  but  here  the  grace  of 
the  three  fair  human  virtues,  Hope,  Faith,  and  Charity,  hov- 
ered about  the  wrinkled  lines.  There  was  a  penetrating 
power  in  his  words,  slowly  and  gently  spoken.  He  dressed  like 
other  priests  in  Paris,  and  allowed  himself  a  chestnut-brown 
overcoat.  No  trace  of  ambition  had  sullied  the  pure  heart, 
which  the  angels  would  surely  bear  to  God  in  its  primitive 
innocence;  it  had  required  all  the  kindly  urgency  of  the 
daughter  of  Louis  XVI.  to  induce  the  Abbe  Loraux  to  ac- 
cept a  benefice  in  Paris,  and  then  he  had  taken  one  of  the 
poorest. 

Just  now  he  looked  somewhat  disquieted  as  he  surveyed  aW 


160  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

these  splendors ;  he  smiled  at  the  three  before  him,  and  shook 
his  head. 

"Children,"  he  said,  "it  is  my  part  to  comfort  those  that 
mourn,  and  not  to  be  present  at  festivals.  I  have  come  to 
thank  M.  Cesar  and  to  congratulate  you.  There  is  only  one 
festival  that  will  bring  me  here — the  marriage  of  this  pretty 
maid." 

A  quarter  of  an  hour  later  the  Abbe  took  his  leave,  and 
neither  Cesar  nor  his  wife  had  dared  to  show  him  the  new 
arrangements.  The  sober  apparition  threw  a  few  drops  of 
cold  water  on  Cesar's  joyous  ebullitions. 

They  slept  that  night  amid  the  new  glories,  each  taking 
possession  of  the  little  luxuries  and  pretty  furniture  for  which 
they  had  longed.  Cesarine  helped  her  mother  to  undress  be- 
fore the  mirror  of  the  white  marble  toilet  table;  Cesar  was 
fain  to  use  his  newly-acquired  superfluities  at  once;  and  the 
heads  of  all  the  three  were  filled  with  visions  of  the  joys  of 
the  morrow. 

The  next  day,  at  four  o'clock,  they  had  been  to  mass,  and 
had  read  vespers ;  the  mezzanine  floor  had  been  delivered  over 
to  the  secular  arm,  in  the  shape  of  Chevet's  people,  and 
Cesarine  and  her  mother  betook  themselves  to  their  toilets. 
Never  was  costume  more  becoming  to  Mme.  Cesar  than  the 
cherry-colored  velvet  gown  with  the  lace  about  it,  the  short 
sleeves  adorned  with  lappets;  the  rich  stuff  and  the  glowing 
color  set  off  the  youthful  freshness  of  her  shapely  arms,  the 
dazzling  whiteness  of  her  skin,  the  gracious  outlines  of  her 
neck  and  shoulders.  The  naive  happiness  felt  by  every  woman 
when  she  is  conscious  that  she  looks  at  her  best  lent  a  vague 
sweetness  to  Mme.  Birotteau's  Grecian  profile;  and  the  out- 
lines of  her  face,  finely  cut  as  a  cameo,  appeared  in  all  their 
delicate  beauty.  Cesarine,  in  her  white  crape  dress,  with  a 
wreath  of  white  roses  in  her  hair,  and  a  rose  at  her  waist,  her 
shoulders  and  the  outlines  of  her  bodice  modestly  covered  by 
a  scarf,  turned  Popinot's  head. 

"These  people  are  eclipsing  us,"  said  Mme.  Roguin  to  her 
husband,  as  she  went  through  the  rooms. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  101 

The  notary's  wife  was  furious.  A  woman  can  always  meas- 
ure the  superiority  or  inferiority  of  a  rival,  and  Mme.  Roguin 
felt  that  she  was  not  as  beautiful  as  Mme.  Cesar. 

"Pooh,  not  for  long.  In  a  little  while  the  poor  thing  will 
be  ruined,  and  your  carriage  will  splash  the  mud  on  her  as 
she  goes  afoot  through  the  streets." 

Vauquelin's  manner  was  perfect.  He  came  with  M.  de 
Lacepede,  who  had  brought  his  colleague  in  his  carriage.  To 
Mme.  Cesar,  in  her  radiant  beauty,  the  two  learned 
Academicians  paid  compliments  in  scientific  language. 

"You  possess  the  secret,  unknown  to  chemistry,  of  retaining 
youth  and  beauty,  madame." 

"You  are  in  your  own  house,  so  to  speak,  M.  1'Acade- 
micien,"  said  Birotteau. — "Yes,  M.  le  Comte,"  he  went  on, 
turning  to  the  Grand  Chancellor  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  "I 
owe  my  success  to  M.  Vauquelin.  I  have  the  honor  of  present- 
ing to  your  lordship  M.  le  President  (of  the  Tribunal  of 
Commerce). — That  is  M.  le  Comte  de  Lacepede,  a  peer  of 
France,  and  one  of  the  greatest  men  in  France  besides;  he 
has  written  forty  volumes,"  he  added,  for  the  benefit  of  Jo- 
seph Lebas,  who  came  with  the  President. 

The  guests  were  punctual.  The  ordinary  tradesman's  din- 
ner party  followed,  abundant  in  good  humor  and  merriment, 
and  enlivened  by  the  homely  jokes  that  never  fail  to  provoke 
laughter.  Ample  justice  was  done  to  the  excellent  dishes, 
and  the  wines  were  thoroughly  appreciated.  It  was  half-past 
nine  before  they  went  into  the  drawing-room  for  coffee,  and 
cabs  had  already  begun  to  arrive  with  impatient  dancers.  An 
hour  later,  the  rooms  were  full,  and  the  dance  had  become  a 
crush.  M.  de  Lacepede  and  M.  Vauquelin  went,  in  spite  of 
entreaties  from  Cesar,  who  followed  them  despairingly  to  the 
staircase.  He  had  better  fortune  with  the  elder  Popinot  and 
M.  de  la  Billardiere,  who  remained. 

With  the  exception  of  three  women,  Mile.  Fontaine,  Mme. 
Jules,  and  Mme.  Eabourdin,  who  severally  represented  aris- 
tocracy, finance,  and  official  dignities,  and  by  their  brilliant 
beauty,  dress,  and  manner  presented  a  striking  contrast  to  the 


162  BISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

rest  of  the  assembly,  the  toilettes  of  the  remainder  were  of  the 
heavy  and  substantial  order,  too  suggestive  of  a  well-lined 
purse,  which  gives  to  a  crowd  of  citizens'  wives  and  daughters 
a  certain  air  of  vulgarity,  made  cruelly  prominent  in  the 
present  case  by  the  daintiness  and  grace  of  the  three  ladies. 

The  bourgeoisie  of  the  Hue  Saint-Denis  displayed  itself 
majestically  in  the  full  glory  of  its  absurdities  carried  to  the 
burlesque  point.  It  was  that  same  bourgeoisie,  nor  more  nor 
less,  which  tricks  its  offspring  out  in  the  uniform  of  the 
1  Lancers  or  of  the  National  Guard,  that  buys  Victories  and 
Conquests,  The  Old  Soldier  at  the  Plough,  and  admires  The 
Pauper's  Funeral,  which  rejoices  to  go  on  Guard,  goes  on  Sun- 
days to  the  inevitable  country  house,  is  at  pains  to  acquire  a 
distinguished  air,  and  dreams  of  municipal  honors;  the  bour- 
geoisie that  looks  on  every  one  with  jealous  eyes,  and  yet  is 
kindly,  helpful,  devoted,  warm-hearted,  and  compassionate, 
ready  to  subscribe  for  the  orphan  children  of  a  General  Foy, 
for  the  Greeks  (all  unwitting  of  their  piracies),  for  the 
Champ  d'Asile  when  it  no  longer  exists;  a  bourgeoisie  that 
falls  a  victim  to  its  own  good  qualities,  and  is  flouted  by  a 
social  superiority  which  marks  a  real  inferiority,  for  an  igno- 
rance of  social  conventions  fosters  that  native  kindliness  of 
heart ;  a  bourgeoisie  which  brings  up  frank-hearted  daughters 
inured  to  work,  full  of  good  qualities,  which  are  lost  at  once  if 
they  mingle  with  the  classes  above  them;  a  common-sense, 
matter-of-fact  womankind,  from  among  whom  the  worthy 
Chrysale  should  have  taken  a  wife ;  that  bourgeoisie,  in  short, 
so  admirably  represented  by  the  Matifats,  the  druggists  in 
the  Rue  des  Lombards,  who  had  supplied  the  Queen  of  Roses 
for  sixty  years. 

Mme.  Matifat,  anxious  to  appear  stately,  wore  a  turban  on 
her  head,  and  was  dancing  in  a  heavy  poppy-red  gown  em- 
broidered with  gold,  a  toilette  that  harmonized  with  a  haughty 
countenance,  a  Roman  nose,  and  the  splendors  of  a  crimson 
complexion.  Even  M.  Matifat,  so  glorious  when  the  National 
Guard  was  reviewed,  when  you  might  see  the  chain  and  bunch 
of  seals  blazing  on  his  portly  person  fifty  paces  away,  was  ob- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  163 

scured  by  this  Catherine  II.  of  the  counting-house;  yet  her 
short,  stout,  spectacled  consort,  with  his  shirt  collar  almost  up 
to  his  ears,  distinguished  himself  by  his  deep  bass  voice  and 
by  the  richness  of  his  vocabulary. 

He  never  said  "Corneille,"  but  "the  sublime  Corneille." 
Eacine  was  the  "tender  Eacine" ;  Voltaire,  oh !  Voltaire, 
"takes  the  second  place  in  every  class,  more  of  a  wit  than  a 
genius,  but  nevertheless  a  man  of  genius !"  Eousseau,  "a 
gloomy,  suspicious  nature,  a  man  over-brimming  with  pride, 
who  ended  by  hanging  himself."  He  related  tedious  stock 
anecdotes  about  Piron,  who  is  looked  upon  as  a  prodigious  per- 
sonage among  the  bourgeoisie.  There  was  a  slight  tendency 
to  obscenity  in  Matifat's  conversation;  he  was  an  infatuated 
admirer  of  theatrical  divinities;  and  it  was  even  said  of  him 
that,  in  imitation  of  old  Cardot  and  the  wealthy  Camusot,  he 
kept  a  mistress.  Now  and  then  Mme.  Matifat  would  hastily 
interrupt  him  on  the  brink  of  an  anecdote  by  crying,  at  the 
top  of  her  voice,  "Mind  what  you  are  going  to  tell  us,  old 
man !"  In  familiar  conversation  she  always  addressed  him 
as  "old  man."  The  voluminous  lady  of  the  Eue  des  Lombards 
caused  Mile,  de  Fontaine's  aristocratic  countenance  to  lose 
its  repose;  the  haughty  damsel  could  not  help  smiling  when 
she  overheard  Mme.  Matifat  say  to  her  husband,  "Don't  make 
a  rush  for  the  ices,  old  man ;  it  is  bad  style !" 

It  is  harder  to  explain  the  differences  which  distinguish 
the  great  world  from  the  bourgeoisie  than  it  is  for  the  bour- 
geoisie to  efface  them.  The  women,  conscious  of  their 
toilettes,  felt  that  this  was  a  holiday;  they  made  no  attempt 
to  conceal  an  enjoyment  which  plainly  showed  that  this  ball 
was  a  great  event  in  their  busy  lives ;  while  the  three  women, 
each  of  whom  represented  a  different  higher  social  sphere, 
were  at  that  moment  as  they  would  be  on  the  morrow.  They  did 
not  seem  to  be  dressed  for  the  occasion,  had  no  desire  to  behold 
themselves  amid  the  unaccustomed  marvels  of  their  costume, 
and  showed  no  uneasiness  as  to  its  effect,  which  they  had 
ascertained  once  and  for  all  as  they  put  the  last  touches  to 
their  ball  dresses  before  the  mirror ;  there  was  no  excitement 


164  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

in  their  faces ;  they  danced  with  the  grace  and  ease  of  move' 
ment  which  the  forgotten  sculptors  of  a  bygone  age  caught 
and  recorded  in  their  statues.  But  the  others  bore  the  im- 
press of  daily  toil,  toil  showed  itself  in  their  attitude,  in  their 
exaggerated  enjoyment;  their  glances  were  naively  curious, 
their  voices  were  not  subdued  to  the  key  of  the  low  murmur 
which  gives  such  an  inimitable  piquancy  to  ballroom  conversa- 
tion; and,  above  all  things,  they  lacked  the  impertinent 
gravity  which  contains  the  germ  of  epigram,  the  repose  of 
manner  which  marks  those  whose  self-command  is  perfect. 
So  Mme.  Rabourdin,  Mme.  Jules,  and  Mile,  de  Fontaine,  who 
had  expected  infinite  amusement  from  this  perfumer's  ball, 
stood  out  against  the  background  of  citizens'  wives  and 
daughters,  conspicuous  by  their  languid  grace,  by  the  ex- 
quisite taste  displayed  in  their  toilettes,  and  by  their  manner 
of  dancing,  even  as  three  principal  performers  at  the  Opera 
are  set  off  by  the  rank  and  file  of  supernumeraries  on  the 
stage.  Jealous  and  astonished  eyes  watched  them.  Mme. 
Roguin,  Constance,  and  Cesarine  formed  a  link,  as  it  were, 
between  these  three  aristocratic  types  and  the  tradesmen's 
womankind. 

At  every  ball  a  moment  comes  when  excitement,  or  the  tor- 
rents of  light,  the  gaiety,  the  music,  and  the  movement  of  the 
dance  carries  away  the  dancers,  and  all  the  shades  of  differ- 
ence are  drowned  in  the  crescendo  of  the  tutil.  In  a  little 
while  the  ball  would  become  a  romp.  Mile,  de  Fontaine  de- 
termined to  go;  but  as  she  sought  the  venerable  Vendean. 
leader's  arm,  Birotteau  and  his  wife  and  daughter  hastened 
to  prevent  the  defection  of  the  aristocracy  of  their  assembly. 

"There  is  a  perfume  of  good  taste  about  the  rooms  which 
really  surprises  me;  I  congratulate  you  upon  it,"  said  the 
insolent  girl,  addressing  the  perfumer. 

Birotteau  was  too  much  intoxicated  by  the  compliments 
publicly  addressed  to  him  to  understand  this  speech;  but  his 
wife  flushed  up,  and  did  not  know  what  to  answer. 

"This  is  a  national  festival  which  does  you  honor,"  Camu- 
sot  said. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  165 

"I  have  seldom  seen  so  fine  a  ball,'"  said  M.  de  la  Billar- 
diere,  an  official  fib  that  cost  him  nothing. 

Birotteau  took  all  the  congratulations  seriously. 

"What  a  charming  sight,  and  how  good  the  band  is !  Shall 
you  often  give  us  balls?"  asked  Mme.  Lebas. 

"What  beautiful  rooms!  Did  you  plan  them  yourself?" 
inquired  Mme.  Desmarets,  and  Cesar  ventured  on  a  lie,  and 
allowed  it  to  be  thought  that  he  was  the  originator  of  the 
scheme  of  decoration.  Cesarine,  whose  list  of  partners  for 
the  quadrilles  was  of  course  filled  up,  learned  how  much  deli- 
cacy there  was  in  Anselme's  nature. 

"If  I  only  listened  to  my  own  wishes,"  he  had  said  in  her 
ear,  as  they  rose  from  dinner,  "I  would  entreat  the  favor  of  a 
quadrille  with  you,  but  my  happiness  would  cost  our  self-love 
too  dear." 

Cesarine,  who  thought  all  men  who  walked  straight  un- 
graceful in  their  gait,  determined  to  open  the  ball  with  Popi- 
not.  Popinot,  encouraged  by  his  aunt,  who  had  bade  him  be 
bold,  dared  to  speak  of  his  love  during  the  quadrille  to  the 
charming  girl  at  his  side,  but  in  the  roundabout  ways  that 
timid  lovers  take. 

"My  fortune  depends  on  you,  mademoiselle." 

"And  how?" 

"There  is  but  one  hope  which  can  give  m?  the  power  to 
make  it." 

"Then  hope." 

"Do  you  really  know  all  that  you  have  said  in  those  two 
words?"  asked  Popinot. 

"Hope  for  fortune,"  said  Cesarine,  with  a  mischievous 
smile. 

As  soon  as  the  quadrille  was  over,  Anselme  rushed  to  his 
friend.  "Gaudissart !  Gaudissart !  succeed,  or  I  shall  blow 
my  brains  out."  He  squeezed  his  friend's  arm  in  a  Herculean 
grasp.  "Success  means  that  I  shall  marry  Cesarine.  She  has 
told  me  so ;  and  see  how  beautiful  she  is !" 

"Yes,  she  is  prettily  rigged  out,"  said  Gaudissart;  "and 

she  is  rich.    We  will  do  her  in  oil." 
12 


16C  RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

The  good  understanding  between  Mile.  Lourdois  and 
Alexandre  Crottat  (Roguin's  successor-designate)  did  not 
escape  Mme.  Birotteau,  who  could  not  give  up  without  a  pang 
the  prospect  of  seeing  her  daughter  the  wife  of  a  Paris  no- 
tary. Uncle  Pillerault,  after  exchanging  a  greeting  with 
little  Molineux,  took  up  his  quarters  in  an  easy-chair  near  the 
bookcase.  Hence  he  watched  the  card-players,  listened  to  the 
talk  about  him,  and  went  from  time  to  time  to  the  door  to 
look  at  the  moving  flower-garden  as  the  dancers'  heads 
swayed  in  the  figures  of  the  quadrille.  He  turned  a  truly 
philosophical  countenance  on  it  all.  The  men  were  unspeak- 
able, with  the  exception  of  du  Tillet,  who  had  already  learned 
something  of  the  manners  of  the  fashionable  world ;  of  young 
Billardiere,  an  incipient  dandy ;  M.  Jules  Desmarets,  and  the 
official  personages.  But  among  the  faces,  all  more  or  less 
comical,  which  gave  the  assembly  its  character,  there  was  one 
in  particular,  worn  into  meaningless  smoothness  like  the  head 
on  a  five-franc  piece  issued  by  the  Republic,  but  curious  by 
reason  of  its  association  with  a  suit  of  clothes.  This  person, 
it  will  have  been  guessed,  was  none  other  than  the  petty  tyrant 
of  the  Cour  Batave,  arrayed  in  fine  linen,  yellowed  with  lying 
by  in  the 'press,  displaying  a  shirt  frill  of  venerable  lace, 
secured  by  a  pin  with  a  bluish  cameo.  Short  breeches  of 
black  silk  treacherously  revealed  the  spindle  shanks  on  which 
he  dared  to  repose  his  weight.  Cesar  triumphantly  took  him 
round  the  four  apartments  devised  by  the  architect  on  the 
first  floor  of  his  house. 

"Hey !  hey  !  it  is  your  own  affair,  sir,"  said  Molineux.  "My 
first  floor  done  up  in  this  way  will  be  worth  another  thou- 
sand crowns." 

Birotteau  turned  this  off  with  a  joke,  but  the  little  old 
man's  words  and  tone  had  been  like  the  prick  of  a  needle. 
"I  shall  soon  have  my  first  floor  again ;  this  man  is  ruining 
himself!'' — that  was  the  underlying  sense  of  that  "will  be 
worth/'  which  had  been  a  sudden  revelation  of  Molineux's 
claws. 

The  pale,  meagre  face  and  cruel  eyes  struck  du  Tillet, 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  167 

whose  attention  had  been  called  to  the  landlord  in  the  first 
instance  by  the  watch-chain  from  which  a  pound  weight  of 
trinkets  hung  and  jingled,  the  green  coat  with  white  threads 
in  it,  and  the  odd-looking,  turned  up  collar,  which  gave  the 
old  man  somewhat  the  appearance  of  a  rattlesnake.  So  the 
banker  went  over  to  the  little  money-lender  to  learn  how 
he  came  to  be  at  a  merry-making. 

"Here,  sir,"  said  Molineux,  putting  a  foot  into  the 
boudoir,  "I  am  on  M.  le  Comte  Granville's  property,  but  here" 
(he  pointed  to  the  other  foot)  "I  am  on  my  own,  for  this 
house  belongs  to  me." 

And  Molineux,  more  than  willing  to  gratify  the  only  one 
who  had  a  mind  to  listen  to  him,  was  so  charmed  with  du 
Tillet's  attentive  attitude,  that  he  described  himself,  and  gave 
an  account  of  his  habits,  together  with  a  complete  history  of 
the  sauciness  of  Master  Gendrin,  and  an  exact  relation  of 
his  transactions  with  the  perfumer,  without  which  transac- 
tion the  ball  would  not  have  taken  place. 

"Ah!  so  M.  Cesar  has  paid  his  rent  beforehand,"  said  du 
Tillet ;  "nothing  is  more  contrary  to  his  habits." 

"Oh !  I  asked  him  to  do  so ;  I  am  so  accommodating  with 
my  tenants!" 

"If  old  Birotteau  goes  bankrupt,"  thought  du  Tillet,  "that 
little  rogue  will  certainly  make  a  capital  assignee.  Such  cap- 
tiousness  is  not  often  met  with;  he  must  amuse  himself  at 
home,  like  Domitian,  by  killing  flies  when  he  is  alone." 

Du  Tillet  betook  himself  to  the  card-tables,  where  Claparon 
(by  his  orders)  had  already  taken  his  post.  Du  Tillet 
thought  that,  screened  by  a  lamp  shade,  at  bouillotte,  his 
dummy  banker  would  escape  all  scrutiny.  As  they  sat 
opposite  one  another,  they  looked  such  perfect  strangers 
that  the  most  suspicious  observer  could  have  discovered  no 
sign  of  an  understanding  between  them.  Gaudissart,  who 
knew  that  Claparon  had  risen  in  the  world,  did  not  dare  to 
approach  him ;  the  wealthy  ex-commercial  traveler  had  given 
him  the  portentously  cool  stare  of  an  upstart  who  does  not 
care  to  be  claimed  by  an  old  acquaintance. 


168  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

Towards  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  ball  came  to  an 
end,  like  a  spent  rocket.  By  that  time  there  only  remained 
some  forty  cabs  out  of  a  hundred  or  more  which  had  filled 
the  Eue  Saint-Honore ;  and  in  the  ballroom  they  were  danc- 
ing the  boulangere,  which  later  was  succeeded  by  the  cotillon 
and  the  English  galop.  Du  Tillet,  Koguin,  young  Cardot, 
Jules  Desmarets,  and  the  Comte  de  Granville  were  playing 
bouillotte.  Du  Tillet  had  won  three  thousand  francs.  The 
light  of  the  wax-candles  was  growing  pale  in  the  dawn  when 
the  card-players  rose  to  join  in  the  last  quadrille. 

In  bourgeois  houses  this  supreme  enjoyment  never  comes 
to  an  end  without  some  enormities.  Those  who  imposed  awe 
or  restraint  on  the  others  are  gone ;  the  intoxication  of  move- 
ment, the  hot  rooms,  the  spirits  that  lurk  in  the  most  harm- 
less beverages,  relax  the  stiffness  of  the  dowagers,  who  allow 
themselves  to  be  drawn  into  the  quadrilles,  and  yield  to  the 
excitement  of  the  moment;  men  are  heated,  the  lank  hair 
comes  down  over  their  faces,  and  their  grotesque  appearance 
provokes  laughter ;  the  younger  women  grow  frivolous,  flowers 
have  fallen  here  and  there  from  their  hair.  Then  it  is  that 
the  bourgeois  Momus  enters,  followed  by  his  antic  crew! 
Laughter  breaks  out  in  peals,  and  every  one  gives  himself 
up  to  the  merriment,  thinking  that  with  morning  labor  will 
resume  its  sway  over  him.  Matifat  was  dancing  with  a 
woman's  hat  on  his  head;  Celestin  was  indulging  in  burlesque 
movements.  A  few  of  the  ladies  clapped  their  hands  noisily 
when  they  changed  the  figures  of  the  intermidable  quadrille. 

"How  they  are  enjoying  themselves !"  said  the  happy  Bi- 
rotteau. 

"If  only  they  break  nothing,"  said  Constance,  who  stood 
by  Uncle  Pillerault. 

"You  have  given  the  most  magnificent  ball  that  I  have 
seen,  and  I  have  seen  many,"  said  du  Tiilet,  with  a  bow  to 
his  late  employer. 

There  is  in  one  of  Beethoven's  eight  symphonies  a  fantasia 
like  a  great  poem;  it  is  the  culminating  point  of  the  finale 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  169 

of  the  Symphony  in  C  minor.  When,  after  the  slow  prepara- 
tion of  the  mighty  magician,  so  well  understood  by  Habeneck, 
the  rich  curtain  rises  on  this  scene ;  when  the  bow  of  the  en- 
thusiastic leader  of  the  orchestra  calls  forth  the  dazzling 
motif,  through  which  the  whole  gathered  force  of  the  music 
flows,  the  poet,  as  his  heart  beats  fast,  will  understand  that 
this  ball  was  in  Birotteau's  life  like  this  moment  when  his 
own  imagination  feels  the  quickening  power  of  the  music, 
of  this  motif,  which  in  itself  perhaps  raises  the  Symphony 
in  C  minor  above  its  glorious  sisters.  For  a  radiant  fairy 
springs  up  and  waves  her  wand,  and  you  hear  the  rustling 
of  the  purple  silken  curtains  raised  by  angels;  the  golden 
doors,  carved  like  the  bronze  gates  of  the  Baptistery  in 
Florence,  turn  upon  their  hinges  of  adamant,  and  your  eyes 
wander  over  far-off  glories  and  vistas  of  fairy  palaces.  Forms 
not  of  this  earth  glide  among  them,  the  incense  of  prosperity 
rises,  the  fire  is  kindled  on  the  altar  of  fortune,  the  scented 
air  circles  about  it.  Beings  clad  in  white  blue-bordered  tunics 
smile  divinely  as  they  float  before  your  eyes,  shapes  delicate 
and  ethereal  beyond  expression  turn  faces  of  unearthly 
beauty  upon  you.  The  Loves  hover  in  the  air,  filling  it  with 
the  flames  of  their  torches.  You  feel  that  you  are  loved ;  you 
are  glad  with  a  joy  that  you  drink  in  without  comprehend- 
ing it  as  you  bathe  in  the  floods  of  a  torrent  of  harmony 
which  pours  out  for  each  the  nectar  of  his  choice ;  for  as  the 
music  slides  into  your  inmost  soul,  its  desires  are  realized  for 
a  moment.  Then  when  you  have  walked  for  a  while  in 
heaven,  the  enchanter  plunges  you  back,  by  some  deep  and 
mysterious  transition  of  the  bass,  into  the  morass  of  chill 
reality,  only  to  draw  you  thence  when  he  has  awakened  in  you 
a  thirst  for  his  divine  melodies,  and  your  soul  cries  out  to 
hear  those  sounds  again.  The  history  of  the  soul  at  the  most 
glorious  point  in  that  beautiful  -finale  is  the  history  of  the 
sensations  which  this  festival  brought  in  abundance  for  Con- 
stance and  Cesar.  But  it  was  no  Beethoven,  but  a  Collinet, 
who  had  composed  upon  his  flute  the  finale  of  their  commer- 
cial symphony. 


170  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

The  three  Birotteaus,  tired  but  happy,  slept  that  morning 
with  the  sounds  of  the  festival  ringing  in  their  ears.  The 
building,  repairs,  furniture,  banquets,  toilettes,  and 
Cesarine's  library  (for  the  money  had  been  repaid  to  her) 
had  altogether  raised  the  expense  of  that  entertainment,  with- 
out Cesar's  having  a  suspicion  of  it,  to  sixty  thousand  francs. 
So  much  did  that  luckless  red  ribbon,  fastened  by  the  King 
to  a  perfumer's  buttonhole,  cost  the  wearer.  If  any  mis- 
fortune should  befall  Cesar  Birotteau,  this  extravagance  of 
his  was  like  to  bring  him  into  serious  trouble  at  the  police 
court;  a  merchant  lays  himself  open  to  a  term  of  two  years' 
imprisonment  if,  on  examination,  his  expenses  are  considered 
excessive.  It  is,  perhaps,  more  unpleasant  to  go  to  the  Sixth 
Chamber  for  simple  bad  management  or  for  a  foolish  trifle, 
than  to  come  before  a  Court  of  Assize  for  a  gigantic  fraud; 
and  in  some  people's  eyes  it  is  better  to  be  a  knave  than  a 
fool. 


II. 

CE"SAR  STRUGGLES  WITH  MISFORTUNE 

'  A  WEEK  after  the  ball,  that  final  flare  of  the  straw-fire  o^. 
a  prosperity  which  had  lasted  for  eighteen  years,  and  now  was 
about  to  die  out  in  darkness,  Cesar  stood  watching  the 
passers-by  through  his  shop  window.  He  was  thinking  of  the 
wide  extent  of  his  business  affairs,  and  found  them  almost 
more  than  he  could  manage.  Hitherto  his  life  had  been  quite 
simple;  he  manufactured  and  sold  his  goods,  or  he  bought 
to  sell  again.  But  now  there  was  the  speculation  in  build- 
ing land,  and  his  own  share  in  the  enterprise  of  A.  Popinot 
&  Company,  besides  a  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  francs 
worth  of  bills  to  meet.  Before  long  he  would  be  compelled 
to  discount  some  of  his  customers'  bills  (and  his  wife  would 
not  like  it),  or  there  must  be  an  unheard-of  success  on 
Popinot's  part;  altogether,  the  poor  man  had  so  many  things 
to  think  of  that  he  felt  as  if  he  had  more  skeins  to  wind 
than  he  could  hold. 

How  would  Anselme  steer  his  course?  Birotteau  treated 
Popinot  much  as  a  professor  of  rhetoric  treats  a  student; 
he  felt  little  confidence  in  his  capacity,  and  was  sorry  that 
he  could  not  be  always  on  hand  to  look  after  him.  The  ad- 
monitory kick  bestowed  on  Anselme's  shins  by  way  of  a  recom- 
mendation to  hold  his  tongue  in  Vauquelin's  presence  will 
illustrate  the  fears  which  the  perfumer  felt  as  to  the  newly- 
started  business.  Birotteau  was  very  careful  to  hide  his 
thoughts  from  his  wife  and  daughter,  and  from  his  assistant ; 
but  within  himself  he  felt  as  a  Seine  boatman  might  feel  if 
by  some  freak  of  fortune  a  Minister  should  give  him  the 
command  of  a  frigate.  Such  thoughts  as  these,  rising  like 
a  fog  in  his  brain,  were  but  little  favorable  to  clear  think- 


172  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

ing,  he  stood,  therefore,  trying  to  see  things  distinctly  in 
his  own  mind. 

Just  at  that  moment  a  figure,  for  which  he  felt  an  intense 
aversion,  appeared  in  the  street;  he  beheld  his  second  land- 
lord, little  Molineux.  Everybody  knows  those  dreams  in 
which  events  are  so  crowded  together  that  we  pass  through 
a  whole  lifetime,  dreams  in  which  a  fantastical  being  reap- 
pears from  time  to  time,  always  as  the  bearer  of  bad  tidings — 
the  villain  of  the  piece.  It  seemed  to  Birotteau  that  fate  had 
sent  Molineux  to  play  a  similar  part  in  his  waking  life.  That 
countenance  had  grinned  diabolically  at  him  when  the  feast 
was  at  its  height,  and  had  turned  an  evil  eye  on  the  splendor ; 
and  now  when  Cesar  saw  it  again,  he  remembered  the  im- 
pression which  the  "little  curmudgeon"  (to  use  his  own  ex- 
pression) had  given  him  but  so  much  the  more  vividly,  be- 
cause Molineux  had  given  him  a  fresh  feeling  of  repulsion 
by  suddenly  breaking  in  upon  his  musings. 

"Sir/'  said  the  little  man  in  his  vampire  voice,  "we  did 
this  business  in  such  an  offhand  fashion,  that  you  forgot  to 
approve  the  additions  to  this  little  private  covenant  of 
ours." 

As  Birotteau  took  up  the  lease  to  repair  the  omission,  the 
architect  came  in,  bowed  to  the  perfumer,  and  hovered  about 
him  with  a  diplomatic  air. 

"You  know,  sir,  the  difficulties  at  the  outset  when  you 
are  starting  in  business,"  he  said  at  last  in  Birotteau's  ear; 
"you  are  satisfied  with  me;  you  would  oblige  me  very  much 
by  paying  my  honorarium  at  once." 

Birotteau,  who  had  paid  away  all  his  ready  money  and 
emptied  his  portfolio,  told  Celestin  to  draw  a  bill  for  two 
thousand  francs  at  three  months  and  a  form  of  receipt. 

"It  is  a  very  lucky  thing  for  me  that  you  undertook  to  pay 
the  quarter  which  your  next-door  neighbor  owed,"  said 
Molineux,  with  malicious  cunning  in  his  smile.  "My  porter 
has  been  round  to  tell  me  that  the  authorities  .have  been  af- 
fixing seals  to  his  property,  because  Master  Cayron  had  disap- 
peared from  the  scene." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU    .       173 

"If  only  they  don't  come  down  on  me  for  the  five  thou- 
sand francs,"  thought  Birotteau. 

''People  thought  that  he  was  doing  very  well,"  said  Lour- 
dois,  who  had  just  come  in  to  hand  his  statement  to  the  per- 
fumer. 

"No  one  in  business  is  quite  safe  from  reverses  until  he 
retires,"  remarked  little  Molineux,  folding  up  his  document 
with  punctilious  neatness. 

The  architect  watched  the  little  old  creature  with  the  pleas- 
ure that  every  artist  feels  at  the  sight  of  a  living  caricature 
which  confirms  his  prejudices  against  the  bourgeoisie. 

"When  you  hold  an  umbrella  over  your  head,  you 
generally  suppose  that  it  is  sheltered  if  it  rains,"  he  ob- 
served. 

Molineux  looked  harder  at  the  architect's  moustache  and 
"royale"  than  at  his  face,  and  the  contempt  that  he  felt  for 
Grindot  quite  equaled  Grindot's  contempt  for  him.  He 
stayed  on  to  give  the  architect  a  parting  scratch.  By  dint  of 
living  with  his  cats,  there  had  come  to  be  something  feline 
in  Molineux's  ways  as  well  as  in  his  eyes. 

Just  at  that  moment,  Eagon  and  Pillerault  came  in  to- 
gether. 

"We  have  been  talking  over  this  business  with  the  judge," 
Eagon  said  in  Cesar's  ear.  "He  says  that  in  a  speculation  of 
this  kind  we  must  actually  complete  the  purchase  and  have 
a  receipt  from  the  vendors  if  we  are  really  to  be  severally  pro- 
priet— 

"Oh !  are  you  in  the  affair  of  the  Madeleine  ?"  asked  Lour- 
dois.  "People  are  talking  about  it;  there  will  be  houses  to 
build !" 

The  house-painter  had  come  to  ask  for  a  prompt  settle- 
ment, but  he  found  it  to  his  interest  not  to  press  the  per- 
fumer. 

"I  have  sent  in  my  statement  because  it  is  the  end  of  the 
year,"  he  said  in  a  low  voice  for  Cesar's  benefit;  "I  do  not 
want  anything." 

"Well,  what  is  it,  Cesar?"  asked  Pillerault,  noticing  his 


174       •     RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAL 

nephew's  surprise;  for  Cesar,  overcome  by  the  sight  of  the 
statement,  made  no  answer  to  either  Ragon  or  Lourdois. 

"Oh!  a  trifle;  I  took  five  thousand  francs  of  bills  from 
a  neighbor,  the  umbrella  dealer,  who  is  bankrupt.  If  he  has 
given  me  bad  paper,  I  shall  be  caught  like  a  simpleton." 

"Why,  I  told  you  so  long  ago,"  cried  Eagon;  "a  drowning 
man  will  catch  hold  of  his  father's  leg  to  save  himself,  and 
drag  him  down  with  him.  I  have  seen  so  much  of  bankrupt- 
cies !  A  man  is  not  exactly  a  rogue  to  begin  with ;  but  when 
he  gets  into  trouble,  he  is  forced  to  become  one." 

"True,"  said  Pillerault. 

"Ah!  if  I  ever  get  as  far  as  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  or 
have  some  influence  with  Government  .  .  ."  said  Birot- 
teau,  rising  on  tiptoe,  and  sinking  back  again  on  his  heels. 

"What  will  you  do?"  asked  Lourdois.  "You  are  a  wise 
man." 

Molineux,  always  interested  by  a  discussion  on  law,  stayed 
in  the  shop  to  listen;  and  as  the  attention  paid  by  others  is 
infectious,  Pillerault  and  Eagon,  who  knew  Cesar's  opinions, 
listened  none  the  less  with  as  much  gravity  as  the  three 
strangers. 

"I  should  have  a  Tribunal  and  a  permanent  bench  of 
judges,"  said  Cesar,  "and  a  public  prosecutor  for  criminal 
cases.  After  an  examination,  made  by  a  judge  who  should 
discharge  the  functions  of  agents  by  procuration  trustees  and 
registrar,  the  trader  should  be  declared  temporarily  insolvent 
or  a  fraudulent  bankrupt.  In  the  first  case,  he  should  be 
bound  over  to  pay  his  creditors  in  full;  to  that  end,  he 
should  be  trustee  for  his  own  and  his  wife's  property 
(for  everything  he  had,  or  might  inherit,  would  belong 
to  his  creditors)  ;  he  should  manage  his  estate  for  their 
benefit  and  under  their  inspection;  in  fact,  he  should  carry 
on  the  business  for  them,  signing  his  name,  in  every  case,  as 
'such  a  one,  in  liquidation,'  until  everybody  was  paid  in  full. 
But  if  he  were  made  a  bankrupt,  he  should  be  condemned  to 
stand  in  the  pillory  in  the  Exchange  for  a  couple  of  hours, 
as  they  used  to  do,  with  a  green  cap  on  his  head.  His  own 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  175 

property  and  his  wife's,  and  his  interest  in  any  other  estate, 
should  be  forfeit  to  his  creditors,  and  he  should  be  banished 
the  kingdom." 

"Business  would  be  a  little  safer/'  said  Lourdois;  "people 
would  think  twice  before  going  into  a  speculation." 

"The  law  as  it  stands  is  never  carried  out,"  cried  Cesar, 
lashing  himself  up;  "more  than  fifty  merchants  out  of  a  hun- 
dred could  only  pay  seventy-five  per  cent,  or  they  sell  goods 
at  twenty-five  per  cent  below  invoice  price,  and  spoil  trade 
in  that  way." 

"M.  Birotteau  is  in  the  right,"  said  Molineux;  "the  law 
allows  far  too  much  latitude.  The  entire  estate  should  be 
made  over  to  the  creditors,  or  the  man  should  be  disgraced." 

"Bother  take  it,"  said  Cesar,  "at  the  rate  at  which  things 
are  going,  a  merchant  will  become  a  licensed  robber.  By 
signing  his  name  he  can  dip  in  any  one's  purse." 

"You  are  severe,  M.  Birotteau,"  said  Lourdois. 

"He  is  right,"  said  old  Eagon. 

"Every  man  who  fails  is  a  suspicious  character,"  Cesar 
went  on,  exasperated  by  the  little  loss  which  rang  in  his  ears ; 
it  was  like  the  huntsman's  first  distant  halloo  to  a  stag. 

As  he  spoke,  Chevet's  steward  brought  his  invoice,  a 
pastry-cook's  boy  from  Felix  and  the  Cafe  Foy  arrived,  to- 
gether with  the  clarinet-player  of  Collinet's  band,  each  with 
an  account. 

"The  Quart  d'heure  de  Rabelais"  smiled  Eagon. 

"My  word,  that  was  a  splendid  fete  of  yours,"  said  Lour- 
dois. 

"I  am  busy,"  Cesar  said,  and  the  messengers  departed,  leav- 
ing their  invoices. 

"M.  Grindot,"  said  Lourdois,  who  noticed  that  the  archi- 
tect was  folding  up  a  bill  which  bore  Cesar's  signature,  "you  k 
will  check  my  account  and  see  that  it  is  all  in  order ;  you  need 
do  nothing  more  than  run  through  it,  all  the  prices  have  been 
agreed  to  on  M.  Birotteau's  behalf." 

Pillerault  looked  at  Lourdois  and  Grindot. 

"If  architect  and  contractor  settle  the  prices  between  them, 
you  are  being  robbed,"  he  said  in  his  nephew's  eai. 


176  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR.  BIROTTEAU 

Grindot  went  out.  Molineux  followed  and  came  up  to  him 
with  a  mysterious  expression. 

"Sir,"  he  remarked,  "you  heard  what  I  said,  but  you  did  not 
take  my  meaning;  I  wish  you  an  umbrella  when  it  comes  on 
to  rain." 

Fear  seized  on  Grindot.  A  man  clings  all  the  more  tightly 
to  gain  which  is  not  lawfully  his;  such  is  human  nature.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  too,  this  had  been  a  labor  of  love  for  the 
artist;  he  had  given  all  his  time  and  his  utmost  skill  to  the 
alterations  of  the  rooms;  he  had  done  five  times  as  much 
as  he  had  been  paid  for,  and  had  fallen  a  victim  to  his  own 
self-love.  The  contractors  had  had  little  difficulty  in  tempt- 
ing him.  And  besides  the  irresistible  argument,  there  was  a 
menace,  understood  though  not  expressed,  of  doing  him  an 
injury  by  slandering  him,  and  there  was  a  y.et  more  cogent 
reason  for  yielding — the  remark  that  Lourdois  made  as  to  the 
building  land  near  the  Madeleine.  Clearly,  Birotteau  did 
not  mean  to  put  up  a  single  house;  he  was  only  speculating 
in  land. 

Architects  and  contractors  are  in  somewhat  the  same  rela- 
tive positions  as  actors  and  dramatists ;  they  are  dependent  on 
each  other.  Grindot,  to  whom  Birotteau  left  the  settlement 
of  the  charges,  was  for  the  handicraftsman  as  against  the 
citizen-householder.  So  the  end  of  it  was  that  three  large 
contractors — Lourdois,  Chaffaroux,  and  Thorien  the  car- 
penter— declared  him  to  be  "one  of  those  good  fellows  for 
whom  it  is  a  pleasure  to  work."  Grindot  foresaw  that  the  ac- 
counts on  which  he  was  to  have  his  share  would  be  paid,  like 
his  own  fee.  by  bills;  and  this  little  old  man  had  given  him 
doubts  as  to  whether  those  bills  would  be  met.  Grindot  was 
prepared  to  show  no  mercy;  after  the  manner  of  artists,  the 
most  ruthless  enemies  of  the  bourgeois. 

By  the  end  of  December,  Cesar  had  invoices  for  sixty  thou- 
sand francs.  Felix,  the  Cafe  Foy,  Tanrade,  and  others,  to 
whom  small  amounts  were  owing  which  must  be  paid  in  cash, 
had  sent  three  times  for  the  money.  In  business  these  small 
trifles  do  more  harm  than  a  heavy  loss;  they  set  rumors  in 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  177 

circulation.  A  loss  which  every  one  knows  is  a  definite 
thing,  but  panic  knows  no  limits.  Birotteau's  safe  was 
empty. 

Then  fear  seized  on  the  perfumer.  Such  a  thing  had  never 
happened  before  in  his  business  career.  Like  all  people  who 
have  almost  forgotten  their  struggles  with  poverty,  and  have 
little  strength  of  character,  this  incident,  a  daily  occurrence 
in  the  lives  of  most  petty  shopkeepers  in  Paris,  troubled 
Cesar's  brain. 

He  told  Celestin  to  send  in  invoices  to  his  own  customers ; 
such  an  unheard-of  order  had  to  be  repeated  twice  before 
the  astonished  first  assistant  understood  it.  The  "clients" 
— the  grand  name  that  shopkeepers  used  to  apply  to  their 
customers,  and  retained  by  Cesar  in  speaking  of  them,  in 
spite  of  his  wife,  who  had  yielded  at  last  with  a  "Call  them 
what  you  like,  so  long  as  they  pay  us" — the  "clients"  were 
wealthy  people,  who  paid  when  they  pleased ;  in  Cesar's  busi- 
ness there  were  no  bad  debts,  though  the  outstanding  accounts 
often  amounted  to  fifty  or  sixty  thousand  francs.  The  second 
assistant  took  the  invoice-book,  and  began  to  copy  out  the 
largest  amounts.  Cesar  stood  in.  fear  of  his  wife.  He  did 
not  wish  her  to  see  his  prostration  beneath  the  simoom  of 
misfortune,  so  he  determined  to  go  out. 

"Good-day,  sir,"  said  Grindot,  coming  in  with  the  care- 
less air  that  artists  assume  when  they  talk  of  business  mat- 
ters, to  which  they  say  they  are  entirely  unaccustomed.  "I 
cannot  obtain  ready  money  of  any  sort  or  description  for 
your  paper,  so  I  am  compelled  to  ask  you  to  give  me  cash  in- 
stead. It  is  a  most  unfortunate  thing  for  me  that  I  must 
take  this  step;  but  I  have  not  been  to  the  money-lender's 
about  it ;  I  should  not  like  to  hawk  your  name  about ;  I  know 
enough  of  business  to  know  that  it  would  be  casting  a  slur 
on  it ;  so  it  is  to  your  own  interest  to " 

"Speak  lower,  sir,  if  you  please,"  said  Birotteau  in  bewilder- 
ment. "I  am  very  much  surprised  at  this." 

Lourdois  came  in. 

"Here,  Lourdois,"  said  Birotteau  with  a  smile,  "do  you 


178  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAD 

know  about  this? "  he  stopped  short.  With  the  good 

faith  of  a  merchant  who  feels  secure,  the  poor  man  had  been 
about  to  ask  Lourdois  to  take  Grindot's  bill,  by  way  of  laugh- 
ing at  the  architect;  but  he  saw  a  cloud  on  Lourdois'  brow, 
and  trembled  at  his  own  imprudence.  The  harmless  joke  was 
the  death-knell  of  a  credit  not  above  suspicion.  In  such  a 
case  a  rich  merchant  takes  back  his  bill;  he  does  not  offer 
it.  Birotteau  felt  dizzy;  it  was  as  if  a  stroke  of  a  pickaxe 
had  laid  open  the  pit  which  yawned  at  his  feet. 

"My  dear  M.  Birotteau,"  said  Lourdois,  retiring  with  him 
to  the  back  of  the  shop,  "my  account  has  been  checked  and 
passed;  I  must  ask  you  to  have  the  money  ready  for  me  by 
to-morrow.  My  daughter  is  going  to  be  married  to  young 
Crottat;  he  wants  money,  and  notaries  will  not  wait  and  bar- 
gain; besides,  no  one  has  ever  seen  my  name  on  a  bill." 

"You  can  send  round  the  day  after  to-morrow,"  said 
Birotteau  stiffly  (he  counted  on  the  payment  of  the  invoices). 
"And  you  also,  sir," — he  spoke  to  Grindot. 

"Why  can  I  not  have  it  at  once  ?"  asked  the  architect. 

"I  have  my  men's  wages  to  pay  in  the  Faubourg,"  said 
Cesar,  who  had  never  told  a  lie. 

He  took  up  his  hat  to  go  with  them;  but  the  bricklayer 
came  in  with  Thorien  and  Chaffaroux,  and  stopped  him  just 
as  he  shut  the  door. 

"We  really  want  the  money,  sir,"  said  Chaffaroux. 

"Eh !  I  haven't  the  wealth  of  the  Indies,"  cried  Cesar,  out 
of  patience;  and  he  quickly  put  a  hundred  paces  between 
himself  and  the  three  visitors. — "There  is  something  under- 
neath all  this.  Confound  the  ball !  Everybody  takes  you 
for  a  millionaire.  Still,  there  was  something  very  strange 
about  Lourdois,"  he  thought;  "there  is  some  snake  in  the 
hedge." 

He  went  along  the  Rue  Saint-Honore  without  thinking 
where  he  was  going,  feeling  at  a  very  low  ebb,  when  at  a 
corner  of  the  street  he  ran  up  against  Alexandre  Crottat,  like 
a  battering-ram,  or  as  one  mathematician  absorbed  in  the 
working  of  a  problem  might  collide  with  another. 


RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  179 

"Ah!  sir,"  exclaimed  the  future  notary,  "one  word  with 
you !  Did  Eoguin  pay  over  your  four  hundred  thousand 
francs  to  M.  Claparon?" 

"You  were  there  when  the  thing  was  done.  M.  Claparon 
gave  me  no  receipt  of  any  kind;  my  bills  were  to  he  nego- 
tiated. .  .  .  Roguin  ought  to  have  paid  them  to  him 
.  .  .  my  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs  in  coin. 
.  .  .  He  was  told  that  the  money  was  to  be  paid  down 
and  the  transaction  completed.  .  .  .  M.  Popinot  of  the 
Tribunal  says.  .  .  .  The  vendor's  receipt !  .  .  .  But 
.  .  .  what  makes  you  ask  the  question?" 

"What  makes  me  ask  you  such  a  question?  To  know 
whether  your  two  hundred  thousand  francs  are  in  Claparon's 
hands  or  Eoguin's.  Roguin  is  such  an  old  acquaintance  of 
yours,  that  he  might  have  scrupled  to  take  your  money,  and 
handed  it  over  to  Claparon;  if  so,  you  will  have  had  a  nar- 
row escape !  But  how  stupid  I  am !  He  has  made  off  with 
them,  for  he  has  M.  Claparon's  money;  luckily,  Claparon 
had  only  paid  a  hundred  thousand  francs.  Roguin  has  ab- 
sconded ;  I  myself  paid  him  a  hundred  thousand  francs  for  his 
practice  without  taking  a  receipt;  I  gave  it  him  as  I  might 
give  my  purse  to  you  to  keep  for  me.  Your  vendors  have  not 
been  paid  a  stiver ;  they  have  just  been  round  to  see  me.  The 
money  you  raised  on  your  land  has  no  existence  for  you,  nor 
for  the  man  of  whom  you  borrowed  it ;  Roguin  had  swallowed 
it  like  your  hundred  thousand  francs ;  which — er — he  has  not 
had  this  long  while.  And  he  has  taken  your  last  payment  of 
a  hundred  thousand  francs  with  him  too;  1  remember  going  to 
the  bank  for  the  money." 

The  pupils  of  Cesar's  eyes  dilated  so  widely  that  he  could 
see  nothing  but  red  flames  before  him. 

"Your  draft  on  the  bank  for  a  hundred  thousand  francs, 
a  hundred  thousand  francs  of  mine  paid  for  the  practice, 
and  a  hundred  thousand  francs  belonging  to  M.  Claparon — 
three  hundred  thousand  francs  gone  like  smoke,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  defalcations  that  have  yet  to  be  found  out,"  the 
young  notary  went  on.  "They  feared  for  Mme.  Roguin's 


180  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

life ;  M.  du  Tillet  spent  the  night  beside  her.  Du  Tillet  him- 
self has  had  a  narrow  escape !  Eoguin  has  been  pestering  him 
this  month  past  to  draw  him  into  the  Madeleine  speculation, 
but,  luckily,  all  his  capital  was  locked  up  in  some  project  of 
the  Nucingens'.  Eoguin  wrote  his  wife  a  frightful  letter. 
I  have  just  seen  it.  For  five  years  he  has  been  gambling  with 
his  clients'  money,  and  why  ?  To  spend  it  on  a  mistress — La 
belle  Hollandaise;  he  left  her  a  fortnight  before  he  made 
this  stroke.  She  had  squandered  till  she  had  not  a  farthing; 
her  furniture  was  sold;  she  had  put  her  name  on  bills  of  ex- 
change. Then  she  hid  from  her  creditors  in  a  house  in  the 
Palais-Royal,  and  was  murdered  there  last  evening  by  an 
officer  in  the  army.  Heaven  soon  dealt  the  punishment  to 
her  who,  beyond  a  doubt,  had  run  through  Roguin's  fortune. 
There  are  women  to  whom  nothing  is  sacred ;  think  of  squan- 
dering away  a  notary's  practice ! 

"Mme.  Roguin  will  have  nothing  except  what  has  been 
secured  to  her  by  her  legal  mortgage,  and  all  the  scoundrel's 
property  has  been  mortgaged  beyond  its  value.  The  practice 
is  to  be  sold  for  three  hundred  thousand  francs!  and  I, 
who  thought  I  was  doing  a  good  stroke  of  business,  must 
begin  by  paying  an  extra  hundred  thousand  francs  for  my 
practice;  I  hold  no  receipt;  and  there  are  defalcations  which 
will  eat  up  the  value  of  the  practice  and  the  deposit  of  cau- 
tion money.  The  creditors  will  think  that  I  am  in  it  if  I  say 
anything  about  my  hundred  thousand  francs,  and  you  have  to 
be  very  careful  of  your  reputation  when  you  are  beginning  for 
yourself. — You  will  hardly  get  thirty  per  cent.  Such  a  brew 
to  drink  of  at  my  age !  That  a  man  of  fifty-nine  should  take 
up  with  a  woman.  .  .  .  The  old  rogue !  Three  weeks  ago 
he  told  me  not  to  marry  Cesarine,  and  said  that  before  long 
you  would  not  have  bread  to  eat,  the  monster !" 

Alexandre  might  have  talked  on  for  a  long  while;  Birot- 
teau  stood  like  a  man  turned  to  stone.  Each  sentence  fell 
like  a  stunning  blow.  He  heard  nothing  in  the  sounds  but  his 
death-knell;  just  as  when  Alexandre  first  began  to  speak,  he 
had  seemed  to  see  his  own  house  in  flames.  He  looked  so 


RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTBATT  181 

white,  and  stood  so  motionless,  that  Alexandre  Crottat,  who 
had  taken  the  worthy  perfumer  for  a  clear-headed,  capable 
man  of  business,  was  frightened  at  last.  Roguin's  successor 
did  not  know  that  this  stroke  had  swept  away  Cesar's  whole 
fortune.  A  swift  thought  of  suicide  flashed  through  the 
brain  of  the  merchant,  so  profoundly  religious  by  nature.  In 
such  a  case  suicide  is  a  way  of  escape  from  a  thousand  deaths, 
and  it  seems  logical  to  accept  but  one.  Alexandre  Crottat 
lent  his  arm,  and  tried  to  walk  with  him,,  but  it  was  impossible 
— Cesar  tottered  as  if  he  had.  been  drunk. 

"Why,  what  is  the  matter  with  you?"  asked  Crottat.  "My 
good  M.  Cesar,  pluck  up  heart  a  little !  It  takes  more  than 
this  to  kill  a  man !  Besides,  you  will  recover  forty  thousand 
francs ;  the  man  who  lent  you  the  money  had  not  the  money 
to  lend,  and  did  not  pay  it  over  to  you;  you  might  plead  that 
the  contract  was  void."  • 

"My  ball. — My  Cross. — Two  hundred  thousand  francs' 
worth  of  my  paper  on  the  market,  and  nothing  in  the 
safe.  .  .  .  The  Eagons,  Pillerault.  .  .  .  And  my 
wife,  who  saw  it  all !" 

A  shower  of  confused  words,  which  called  up  ideas  that 
overwhelmed  him  and  caused  unbearable  pangs,  fell  like  hail 
laying  waste  the  flower  beds  of  the  Queen  of  Roses. 

"If  only  my  head  were  cut  off,"  Birotteau  cried  at  last ;  "it 
is  so  heavy  that  it  weighs  me  down,  and  it  is  good  for  nothing 
in  this  .  .  ." 

"Poor  old  Birotteau !"  said  Alexandre ;  "then  are  you  in 
difficulties?" 

"Difficulties !" 

"Very  well ;  keep  up  your  heart  and  struggle  with  them/' 

"Struggle !"  echoed  the  perfumer. 

"Du  Tillet  used  to  be  your  assistant;  he  has  a  level  head, 
he  will  help  you." 

"Du  Tillet?" 

"Come  along !" 

"Good  heavens!     T  don't  like  to  go  home  like  this,"  cried 

Birotteau.    "You  that  are  my  friend,  if  friends  there  are,  you 
13 


18£  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR   RIROTTEAU 

who  have  dined  with  me,  you  ill  whom  1  have  taken  an  in- 
terest, call  a  cab  for  me,  for  my  wife's  sake ;  and  come  with 
me,  Xandrot  .  .  ." 

With  no  little  difficulty  Crottat  put  the  inert  mechanism, 
called  Cesar,  into  a  cab. 

"Xandrot."  he  said,  in  a  voice  broken  with  tears,  for  the 
tears  had  begun  to  fall,  and  the  iron  band  about  his  head 
seemed  to  be  loosened  a  little,  "let  us  call  at  the  shop.  Speak 
to  Celestin  for  me.  My  friend,  tell  him  that  it  is  a  matter  of 
life  and  death  for  me  and  for  my  wife.  And  let  no  one 
prattle  about  Roguin's  disappearance  on  any  pretext  whatever. 
Ask  Cesarine  to  come  down,  and  beg  her  to  allow  no  one  to 
say  anything  about  it  to  her  mother.  You  must  beware  of 
your  best  friends,  Pillerault,  the  Ragons,  everybody " 

The  change  in  Birotteau's  voice  made  a  deep  impression  on 
Crottat,  who  understood  the  importance  of  the  request.  On 
their  way  to  the  magistrate,  they  stopped  at  the  house  in  the 
Rue  Saint-Honore.  Celestin  and  Cesarine  were  horrified  to 
see  Birotteau  lying  back  in  white  and  speechless  hebetude,  as 
it  were,  in  the  cab. 

"Keep  the  affair  a  secret  for  me,"  said  the  perfumer. 

"Ah !"  said  Xandrot  to  himself,  "he  is  coming  round ;  I 
thought  it  was  all  over  with  him." 

The  conference  between  Alexandre  and  the  magistrate 
lasted  long.  The  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Notaries  was 
sent  for;  Cesar  was  taken  hither  and  thither  like  a  parcel; 
he  did  not  stir,  he  did  not  utter  a  word.  Towards  seven 
o'clock  in  the  evening  Alexandre  Crottat  took  the  perfumer 
home  again,  and  the  thought  of  appearing  before  his  wife 
had  a  bracing  effect  on  him.  The  young  notary  had  the 
charity  to  precede  him,  to  tell  Mme.  Birotteau  that  her  hus- 
band had  had  a  sort  of  fit. 

"His  ideas  are  confused,"  he  said,  making  a  gesture  to  de- 
scribe a  bewildered  state  of  the  brain ;  "perhaps  he  should  be 
bled,  or  leeches  ought  to  be  put  on  him." 

"I  knew  how  it  would  be,"  said  Constance — nothing  was 
further  from  her  thoughts  than  the  actual  disaster — "he  did 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  183 

not  take  his  medicine  as  usual  at  the  beginning  of  winter, 
and  for  these  two  months  he  has  been  working  like  a  galley 
slave,  as  if  he  had  to  earn  his  daily  bread." 

So  Cesar's  wife  and  daughter  begged  him  to  go  to  bed,  and 
Dr.  Haudry,  Birotteau's  doctor,  was  sent  for.  Old  Haudry 
was  a  doctor  of  the  school  of  Moliere ;  he  had  a  large  practice, 
and  adhered  to  old-fashioned  methods  and  out-of-date 
formulae ;  consulting  physician  though  he  was,  he  drugged  his 
patients  like  any  quack  doctor.  He  came,  made  his  diagnosis, 
and  ordered  the  immediate  application  of  a  sinapism  to  the 
soles  of  Cesar's  feet;  he  detected  symptoms  of  cerebral  con- 
gestion. 

"What  can  have  brought  it  on?"  asked  Constance. 

"The  damp  weather,"  said  the  doctor.  Cesarine  had  given 
him  a  hint. 

A  doctor  is  often  obliged  professionally  to  talk  nonsense 
with  a  learned  air,  to  save  the  honor  or  the  life  of  persons 
in  health  who  stand  about  the  patient's  bed.  The  old  physi- 
cian had  seen  so  much,  that  half  a  word  sufficed  for  him. 
Cesarine  went  out  on  to  the  stairs  to  ask  about  the  treatment. 

"Best  and  quiet;  then  when  there  is  less  pressure  on  the 
head,  we  will  venture  on  tonics." 

For  two  days  Mme.  Cesar  sat  by  her  husband's  bedside. 
Often  she  thought  that  he  was  delirious.  As  he  lay  in  his 
wife's  pretty  blue  chamber,  he  said  many  things,  which  were 
enigmas  for  Constance,  at  the  sight  of  the  hangings,  the 
furniture,  and  the  costly  magnificence  of  the  room. 

"He  is  light-headed,"  she  said  to  Cesarine,  when  Cesar  sat 
upright  in  bed  and  began  solemnly  to  repeat  scraps  of  the 
Code.  "If  the  personal  or  household  expenses  are  considered 
excessive.  .  .  .  Take  away  those  curtains !"  he  cried. 

After  three  dreadful  days  of  anxiety  for  Cesar's  reason, 
the  Tourangeau's  strong  peasant  constitution  triumphed, 
the  pressure  on  the  brain  ceased.  M.  Haudry  ordered  cordials 
and  a  strengthening  diet,  and  after  a  cup  of  coffee  seasonably 
administered,  Cesar  was  on  his  feet  again.  Constance,  worn 
out,  took  her  husband's  place. 


184  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Poor  thing !"  said  Cesar,  when  he  saw  her  sleeping. 

"Come,  papa,  take  courage !  You  have  so  much  talent,  that 
you  will  triumph  over  this.  Never  mind.  M.  Anselme  will 
help  you,"  and  Cesarine  murmured  the  sweet,  vague  words, 
made  still  sweeter  by  tenderness,  which  put  courage  into  the 
most  sorely  defeated,  as  a  mother's  crooning  songs  soothe  the 
pain  of  a  teething  infant. 

"Yes,  child,  I  will  struggle.  But  not  a  word  of  this  to 
any  one  whatever;  not  to  Popinot,  who  loves  us,  nor  to  your 
uncle.  In  the  first  place,  I  will  write  to  my  brother;  he  is 
a  canon,  I  believe,  a  priest  attached  to  a  cathedral.  He  spends 
.nothing,  so  he  must  have  saved  something.  Five  thousand 
francs  put  by  every  year  for  twenty  years — he  ought  to  have  a 
hundred  thousand  francs.  Priests  have  credit  in  country 
places." 

Cesarine,  in  her  hurry  to  set  a  little  table  and  the  neces- 
saries for  writing  a  letter  before  her  father,  brought  the  re- 
mainder of  the  rose-colored  cards  for  the  ball. 

"Burn  them  all!"  cried  the  merchant.  "The  devil  alone 
could  have  put  the  notion  of  that  ball  into  my  head.  If  I 
fail,  it  will  look  as  if  I  were  a  rogue.  Come,  let  us  go  straight 
to  the  point." 

Cesar's  letter  to  Francois  Birotteau. 

"My  DEAR  BROTHER, — My  business  is  passing  through  a 
crisis  so  difficult  that  I  implore  you  to  send  me  all  the  money 
at  your  disposal,  even  if  you  arc  obliged  to  borrow. — Yours 
truly,  CESAR. 

"Your  niece  Cesarine,  who  is  with  me  as  I  write  this  letter, 
while  my  poor  wife  is  asleep,  desires  to  be  remembered  to  you, 
and  sends  her  love." 

This  postscript  was  added  at  Cesarine's  instance.  She  gave 
the  letter  to  Raguet. 

"Father,"  said  she,  when  she  came  up  again,  "here  is  M. 
Lebas,  who  wants  to  speak  to  you." 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  iar» 

"M.  Lebas!"  cried  Cesar,  starting  as  though  misfortune 
had  made  a  criminal  of  him,  "a  judge !" 

"Dear  M.  Birotteau,"  said  the  stout  merchant-draper  as 
he  came  in,  "I  take  too  deep  an  interest  in  you — knowing  each 
other  so  long  as  we  have,  and  being  elected  judges  together, 
as  we  were,  for  the  first  time — not  to  let  you  know  that  one 
Bidault,  otherwise  Gigonnet,  has  bills  of  yours  made  payable 
to  his  order,  without  guarantee,  by  the  firm  of  Claparon. 
Those  two  words  are  not  merely  an  insult;  they  give  a  fatal 
shake  to  your  credit." 

"M.  Claparon  would  like  to  speak  to  you,"  said  Celestin, 
putting  in  his  head;  "am  I  to  show  him  up?" 

"We  shall  soon  hear  the  why  and  wherefore  of  this  affront," 
remarked  Lebas. 

"This  is  M.  Lebas,  sir,"  said  Cesar,  as  Claparon  came  in; 
"he  is  a  judge  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce,  and  my 
friend " 

"Oh !  the  gentleman  is  M.  Lebas,  is  he  ?"  said  Claparon, 
interrupting  Cesar,  "delighted  to  make  his  acquaintance;  M. 
Lebas  of  the  tribunal,  there  are  so  many  Lebas,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  liauts  and  the  has " 

"He  has  seen  the  bills  which  I  gave  to  you,  and  which 
(so  you  told  me)  should  not  be  negotiated,"  Birotteau  went 
on,  interrupting  the  rattle  in  his  turn;  "he  has  seen  them 
with  the  words  'without  guarantee'  written  upon  them." 

"Well,"  said  Claparon,  "and  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  will 
not  be  negotiated ;  they  are  in  the  hands  of  a  man  with  whom 
I  do  a  great  deal  of  business — old  Bidault.  That  is  why  I 
put  'without  guarantee'  on  them.  If  the  bills  had  been  meant 
to  be  put  in  circulation,  you  would  have  made  them  to  his 
order  in  the  first  place.  M.  Lebas,  as  a  judge,  will  under- 
stand my  position.  What  do  the  bills  represent?  The  price 
of  some  landed  property.  To  be  paid  by  whom  ?  By  Birot- 
teau. Why  would  you  have  me  guarantee  Birotteau  by  my 
signature  ?  We  must,  each  of  us,  pay  our  share  of  the  afore- 
said price.  Now,  isn't  it  enough  to  be  jointly  and  severally 
responsible  to  the  vendors?  I  have  made  an  inflexible  rule 


186  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

in  business:  I  no  more  give  my  signature  for  nothing  than 
I  give  a  receipt  for  money  that  is  still  to  be  paid.  1  assume 
the  worst.  Who  signs,  pays.  I  don't  want  to  be  laid  open  to 
pay  three  times  over." 

"Three  times/'  said  Cesar. 

"Yes,  sir/'  said  Claparon.  "I  have  already  guaranteed 
Birotteau  to  the  vendors;  why  should  I  guarantee  him  again 
to  the  bill-discounter?  Our  case  is  a  hard  one;  Eoguin  goes 
off  with  a  hundred  thousand  francs  of  mine;  so,  even  now, 
my  half  of  the  land  is  costing  me  five  hundred  thousand  in- 
stead of.  four.  Eoguin  has  taken  two  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  francs  belonging  to  Birotteau.  What  would  you  do 
in  my  place,  M.  Lebas?  Put  yourself  in  my  shoes.  I  have 
not  the  honor  of  being  known  to  you,  any  more  than  I  know 
M.  Birotteau.  Do  you  take  me  ?  We  go  halves  in  a  business 
speculation.  You  pay  down  all  your  share  of  the  money  in 
cash;  and  as  for  me,  I  give  bills  for  my  share.  I  offer  you 
the  bills,  and  out  of  excessive  benevolence  you  take  them  and 
give  money  for  them.  You  learn  that  Claparon  the  rich 
banker,  looked  up  to  by  everyone — I  accept  all  the  virtues  in 
the  world — that  the  virtuous  Claparon  is  in  difficulties  for  a 
matter  of  six  millions;  would  you  select  that  moment  to  give 
your  name  as  a  guarantee  for  mine  ?  You  would  be  mad ! 
Well,  now,  M.  Lebas,  Birotteau  is  in  the  position  in  which  I 
imagined  Claparon  to  be.  Don't  you  see  that  in  that  case, 
being  jointly  and  severally  responsible,  I  may  be  made  to  pay 
the  purchasers ;  that  I  can  be  called  upon  to  pay  a  second  time 
for  Birotteau's  share  to  the  extent  of  his  bills,  that  is,  if  I 
back  them,  without  having " 

"Pay  whom  ?"  interrupted  the  perfumer. 

"Without  having  his  half  of  the  land,"  pursued  Claparon, 
heedless  of  the  interruption,  "for  I  should  have  no  hold  on 
him ;  so  I  should  have  to  buy  it  over  again.  So — I  might  pay 
three  times  over." 

"Repay  whom?"  insisted  Birotteau. 

"Why,  the  holder  of  the  bills;  if  I  endorsed  them,  and  you 
came  to  grief." 


RISE   AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  187 

"I  shall  not  fail,  sir,"  said  Birotteau. 

"All  right,"  said  Claparon.  "You  have  been  a  judge,  you 
are  a  clever  man  of  business,  you  know  that  we  ought  to  pro- 
vide for  all  contingencies,  so  do  not  be  astonished  is  I  act 
in  a  business-like  way." 

"M.  Claparon  is  right,"  said  Joseph  Lebas. 

"I  am  right,"  continued  Claparon,  "right  from  a  business 
point  of  view.  But  this  is  a  question  of  landed  property. 
Now,  what  ought  I  myself  to  receive? — Money,  for  the 
vendors  must  be  paid  in  coin.  Let  us  set  aside  the  two  hun- 
dred and  forty  thousand  francs,  which  M.  Birotteau  will  find, 
I  am  sure,"  said  Claparon,  looking  at  Lebas.  "I  came  to  ask 
you  for  the  trifling  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  francs,"  he 
added,  looking  at  Birotteau. 

"Twenty-five  thousand  francs !"  cried  Cesar,  and  it  seemed 
to  him  that  the  blood  turned  to  ice  in  his  veins.  "But,  sir, 
what  for?" 

"Eh !  my  dear  sir,  we  are  bound  to  sign,  seal,  and  deliver 
the  deeds  in  the  presence  of  a  notary.  Now,  as  to  paying  for 
the  land,  we  may  arrange  that  among  ourselves,  but  when 
the  Treasury  comes  in — your  humble  servant !  The  Treasury 
does  not  amuse  itself  with  idle  words;  it  allows  you  credit 
from  your  hand  to  your  pocket,  and  we  shall  have  to  come 
down  with  the  money — forty-four  thousand  francs  this  week 
in  law  expenses.  I  was  far  from  expecting  reproaches  when  I 
came  here;  for,  thinking  that  you  might  find  it  inconvenient 
to  pay  twenty-five  thousand  francs,  I  was  going  to  tell  you 
that  by  the  merest  chance  I  had  saved  for  you " 

"What?"  asked  Birotteau,  giving  in  that  word  that  cry  of 
distress  which  no  man  can  mistake. 

"A  trifle !  Twenty-five  thousand  francs  in  bills  given  to 
you  by  one  and  another,  which  Eoguin  gave  me  to  discount. 
I  have  credited  you  with  the  amount  as  against  the  registra- 
tion and  other  expenses;  I  will  send  you  the  account;  there 
is  a  little  matter  to  deduct  for  discounting  them,  and  six  or 
seven  thousand  francs  will  still  be  owing  to  me." 

"This  all  seems  to  me  to  be  perfectly  fair,"  said  Lebas.    "In 


188  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

the  place  of  this  gentleman,  who  appears  to  me  to  understand 
business  very  well,  I  should  act  the  same  towards  a  stranger." 

"This  will  not  be  the  death  of  M.  Birotteau,"  said 
Claparon;  "it  takes  more  than  one  blow  to  kill  an  old  wolf; 
I  have  seen  wolves  with  bullets  in  their  heads  running  about 
like — Lord,  yes,  like  wolves." 

"Who  could  have  foreseen  such  rascality  on  Roguin's  part  ?" 
asked  Lebas,  as  much  alarmed  by  Cesar's  dumbness  as  by  so 
vast  a  speculation  outside  the  perfumery  trade. 

"A  little  more,  and  I  should  have  given  this  gentleman  a  re- 
ceipt for  four  hundred  thousand  francs,"  said  Claparon,  "and 
I  was  in  a  stew.  I  had  paid  over  a  hundred  thousand  francs 
to  Roguin  the  night  before.  Our  mutual  confidence  saved 
me.  It  would  have  seemed  to  us  all  a  matter  of  indifference 
whether  the  money  should  be  lying  at  his  office  or  in  my  pos- 
session till  the  day  when  the  contracts  were  completed." 

"It  would  have  been  much  better  if  each  had  deposited  his 
money  with  the  Bank  of  France  till  the  time  came  for  pay- 
ing it  over,"  said  Lebas. 

"Eoguin  was  as  good  as  the  Bank,  I  thought,"  said  Cesar. 
"But  he  too  is  in  this  business,"  he  added,  looking  at  Clapa- 
ron. 

"Yes,  for  a  fourth,  and  in  name  only,"  answered  Claparon. 
"After  the  imbecility  of  allowing  him  to  go  off  with  my 
money,  there  is  but  one  thing  more  out-and-out  idiotic. — and 
that  would  be  to  make  him  a  present  of  some  more.  If  he 
sends  me  back  my  hundred  thousand  francs,  and  two  hundred 
thousand  more  on  his  own  account,  then  we  will  see!  But 
he  will  take  good  care  not  to  put  the  money  into  an  affair 
that  must  simmer  for  four  years  before  you  have  a  spoonful 
of  soup.  If  he  has  only  gone  off  with  three  hundred  thou- 
sand francs,  as  they  say,  he  will  want  quite  fifty  thousand 
livres  a  year  to  live  decently  abroad." 

"The  bandit !" 

"Eh !  goodness !  An  infatuation  for  a  woman  brought 
Roguin  to  that  pass,"  said  Claparon.  "What  man  at  his  age 
can  answer  for  it  that  he  will  not  be  mastered  and  carried 


RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BlROTTEAU  189 

away  by  a  last  fancy?  Not  one  of  us,  sober  as  we  are,  can 
tell  where  it  will  end.  A  last  love  is  the  most  violent.  Look 
at  Cardot,  and  Camusot,  and  Matifat — every  one  of  them 
has  a  mistress !  And  if  all  of  us  are  gulled,  is  it  not  our 
own  fault?  How  was  it  that  we  did  not  suspect  a  notary 
who  speculated  on  his  own  account?  Any  notary,  any  bill- 
broker,  or  stockbroker  who  does  business  on  his  own  account, 
is  not  to  be  trusted.  Failure  for  them  is  fraudulent  bank- 
ruptcy ;  they  are  sent  up  to  the  Court  of  Assize  for  trial ;  so, 
of  course,  they  prefer  a  foreign  court.  I  shall  not  make  that 
blunder  again.  Well,  well,  we  are  all  too  weak  to  pass  judg- 
ment by  default  on  a  man  with  whom  we  have  dined,  who  has 
given  grand  balls,  a  man  in  society,  in  fact!  Nobody  com- 
plains; it  is  wrong." 

"Very  wrong,"  said  Birotteau.  "The  provisions  of  the  law 
with  regard  to  liquidations  and  insolvency  ought  to  be  re- 
vised throughout." 

"If  you  should  happen  to  need  me,"  said  Lebas,  address- 
ing Birotteau,  "I  am  quite  at  your  service." 

"M.  Birotteau  has  need  of  no  one,"  said  the  indefatigable 
prattler  (du  Tillet  had  opened  the  sluices  after  pouring  in 
the  water,  and  Claparon  was  repeating  a  lesson  which  du 
Tillet  had  very  skilfully  taught  him).  "His  position  is  clear. 
Eoguin's  estate  will  pay  a  dividend  of  fifty  per  cent,  from  what 
young  Crottat  tells  me.  Besides  the  dividend,  M.  Cesar  will 
come  by  the  forty  thousand  francs  which  the  lender  on  the 
mortgage  did  not  pay  over;  he  can  raise  more  money  on  his 
property ;  and  we  have  four  months  in  which  to  pay  two  hun- 
dred thousand  francs  to  the  vendors.  Between  now  and  then 
M.  Birotteau  will  meet  his  bills  (for  he  ought  not  to  reckon  on 
meeting  them  with  the  money  which  Eoguin  made  off  with). 
But  if  M.  Birotteau  should  find  himself  a  little  pinched 
.  .  .  well,  with  one  or  two  accommodation  bills,  he  will 
pull  through." 

The  perfumer  took  heart  as  he  listened.  Claparon  an- 
alyzed the  business,  summed  it  up,  and  traced  out  a  plan  of 
action,  as  it  were,  for  him.  Gradually  his  expression  grew  de- 


190  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

cided  and  resolute,  and  he  conceived  a  great  respect  for  the 
ex-commercial  traveler's  business  capacity.  Du  Tillet  had 
thought  it  expedient  to  make  Claparon  believe  that  he  was  one 
of  Roguin's  victims.  He  had  given  Claparon  a  hundred  thou- 
sand francs  to  give  to  Roguin,  who  returned  them  to  du 
Tillet.  Claparon,  being  uneasy,  played  his  part  to  the  life; 
he  told  anybody  who  cared  to  listen  to  him  that  Roguin  had 
mulcted  him  of  a  hundred  thousand  francs.  Du  Tillet 
doubted  Claparon's  strength  of  mind;  he  fancied  that  prin- 
ciples of  honesty  and  conscientious  scruples  still  lingered  in 
his  puppet,  and  would  not  confide  the  whole  of  his  plans  to 
him;  he  knew,  moreover,  that  his  instrument  was  incapable 
of  guessing  at  them. 

A  day  came  when  his  commercial  go-between  reproached 
him.  "If  our  first  friend  is  not  our  first  dupe,  we  should 
never  find  a  second,"  said  du  Tillet,  and  he  broke  in  pieces  the 
tool  which  was  no  longer  useful. 

M.  Lebas  and  Claparon  went  out  together,  and  Birotteau 
was  left  alone. 

"I  can  pull  through,"  he  said  to  himself.  "My  liabilities, 
in  the  shape  of  bills  to  be  met,  amount  to  two  hundred  and 
thirty-five  thousand  francs.  That  is  to  say — seventy-five  thou- 
sand francs  for  the  house,  and  a  hundred  and  seventy-five 
thousand  francs  for  the  building-land.  Now,  to  cover  this,  I 
have  Roguin's  dividend,  which  will  amount  may  be  to  a  hun- 
dred thousand  francs;  and  I  can  cancel  the  loan  on  my  land, 
that  is  a  hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs  in  all.  The  thing 
to  be  done  is  to  make  a  hundred  thousand  francs  by  the 
Cephalic  Oil ;  and  a  few  accommodation  bills,  or  a  loan  from  a 
banker,  will  tide  me  over  until  I  can  make  good  the  loss,  and 
the  building-land  reaches  its  enhanced  value." 

When  a  man  in  misfortune  once  can  weave  a  romance  of 
hope  out  of  the  more  or  less  solid  reasonings  with  which 
he  fills  the  pillow  on  which  he  lays  his  head,  he  is  often  saved. 
Many  a  one  has  taken  the  confidence  given  by  an  illusion  for 
energy. — Perhaps  the  half  of  courage  is  really  hope,  and  the 
Catholic  religion  reckons  hope  among  the  virtues.  Has  not 


RISE   AND   FALL   OF  CESAR  BIROTTBAU  191 

hope  buoyed  up  many  a  weakling,  giving  him  time  to  await  the 
chances  which  life  brings  ? 

Birotteau  made  up  his  mind  to  apply,  in  the  first  place, 
to  his  wife's  uncle,  and  to  disclose  his  position  to  his  rela- 
tive before  going  elsewhere.  He  went  down  the  Rue  Saint- 
Honore  and  reached  the  Rue  Bourdoimais,  not  without  ex- 
periencing inward  pangs,  which  caused  such  violent  internal 
disturbance  that  he  thought  his  health  was  deranged.  There 
was  a  fire  in  his  vitals.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  those  whose  sen- 
tience is  keenest  in  the  diaphragm  suffer  in  that  region;  just 
as  those  whose  faculty  of  perception  resides  in  the  brain 
suffer  in  the  head.  In  the  grave  crises,  the  system  is  at- 
tacked at  the  point  where  the  temperament  locates  the  seat 
of  life  in  the  individual;  weaklings  have  the  colic,  a  Na- 
poleon grows  drowsy. 

Before  a  man  of  honor  can  storm  a  confidence  and  over- 
leap the  barriers  of  pride,  he  must  have  felt  the  prick  of  the 
spur  of  Necessity,  that  hard  rider,  more  than  once.  So  for 
two  days  Birotteau  had  borne  that  spurring  before  he  went  to 
see  Pillerault,  and  then  family  reasons  decided  him — how- 
ever things  might  go,  he  must  explain  the  position  to  the 
stern  ironmonger.  Yet,  for  all  that,  when  he  reached  the 
door,  he  felt  in  his  inmost  soul  as  a  child  feels  on  a  visit  to 
the  dentist,  that  his  courage  was  sinking  away;  and  Birot- 
teau was  not  about  to  face  a  momentary  pang,  he  quailed 
before  a  whole  lifetime  to  come.  Slowly  he  went  up  the  stairs, 
and  found  the  old  man  reading  the  Constitutionnel  by  the 
fireside;  on  a  little  round  table  his  frugal  breakfast  was  set — 
a  roll,  butter,  Brie  cheese,  and  a  cup  of  coffee. 

"There  is  real  wisdom,"  said  Birotteau  to  himself,  and  he 
envied  his  uncle's  life. 

"Well,"  said  Pillerault,  laying  down  his  spectacles,  "I 
heard  about  Roguin's  affair  yesterday  at  the  Cafe  David; 
so  his  mistress,  La  belle  Hollandaise,  is  murdered !  I  hope 
that,  warned  by  us  who  want  to  be  actual  proprietors,  you 
have  been  to  Claparon  and  taken  a  receipt  ?" 

"Alas!  uncle,  that  is  just  it;  vou  have  laid  your  finger  on 
the  spot.  No." 


192  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Oh,  bother!  you  are  ruined,"  said  Pillerault,  dropping 
his  paper;  and  Birotteau  picked  it  up,  although  it  was  the 
Constitutionnel. 

This  thought  was  such  a  shock,  that  Pillerault's  stern 
features,  always  like  a  profile  on  a  coin,  grew  hard  as  if  they 
had  been  struck  in  bronze.  He  stared  with  steady  eyes  that 
saw  nothing,  through  the  windows,  at  the  opposite  wall,  and 
listened  while  Birotteau  poured  out  a  long  discourse.  Evi- 
dently while  he  heard  he  deliberated;  he  was  pondering  the 
case  with  the  inflexibility  of  a  Minos  who  crossed  the  Styx 
of  commerce,  when  he  left  the  Quai  des  Morfondus  for  his 
little  third-floor  dwelling. 

"Well,  uncle,"  asked  Birotteau  at  last,  expecting  some 
answer  to  a  final  entreaty  to  sell  rentes  worth  six  thousand 
francs  a  year. 

"Well,  my  poor  nephew,  I  cannot  do  it.  Things  have  gone 
too  far.  We,  the  Eagons  and  I,  shall  both  lose  fifty  thousand 
francs.  It  was  by  my  advice  that  the  good  folk  sold  their 
shares  in  the  Wortschin  Mines.  I  feel  myself  bound,  if  they 
lose  the  money,  not  to  replace  their  capital,  but  to  give  them  a 
helping  hand,  and  to  help  my  niece  and  Cesarine.  You 
might  perhaps  all  of  you  want  bread,  and  you  must  come  to 
me " 

"Bread,  uncle?" 

"Well,  yes,  bread.  Just  look  the  facts  in  the  face :  you  will 
not  pull  through!  Out  of  five  thousand  six  hundred  francs 
a  year,  I  will  set  aside  four  thousand  to  divide  between  you 
and  the  Eagons.  When  your  disaster  comes,  I  know  Con- 
stance, she  will  slave  and  deny  herself  everything — and  so 
will  you,  Cesar !" 

"There  is  hope  yet,  uncle." 

"I  do  not  see  it  as  you  do." 

"I  will  prove  the  contrary." 

"Nothing  would  please  me  better." 

Birotteau  went  without  an  answer  for  Pillerault.  He  had 
come  to  find  comfort  and  encouragement,  he  had  received  a 
second  blow;  a  blow  less  heavy  than  the  first  one,  it  is  true; 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR   BIROTTEAU  193 

but  whereas  the  first  had  been  dealt  at  his  head,  this  thrust 
had  gone  to  his  heart,  and  the  poor  man's  life  lay  in  his  af- 
fections. He  had  gone  down  part  of  the  way,  and  then  he 
turned  and  went  up  again. 

"Sir,"  he  said,  in  a  constrained  voice,  "Constance  knows 
nothing  of  this,  keep  the  secret  for  me  at  least;  and  beg  the 
Eagons  not  to  disturb  the  peace  that  I  need  if  I  am  to  fight 
against  misfortune." 

Pillerault  made  a  sign  of  assent. 

"Take  courage,  Cesar,"  he  said.  "I  see  that  you  are  angry 
with  me,  but  some  day  yon  will  acknowledge  that  I  am 
right,  when  you  think  of  your  wife  and  daughter." 

Discouraged  by  this  opinion  given  by  his  uncle,  whose 
clear-headedness  he  acknowledged,  Cesar  suddenly  dropped 
from  the  heights  of  hope  into  the  miry  slough  of  uncertainty. 
When  a  man's  affairs  take  an  ugly  turn  like  this,  he  is  apt 
to  become  the  plaything  of  circumstances,  unless  he  is  of 
Pillerault's  temper;  he  follows  other  people's  ideas,  or  his 
own,  much  as  a  wayfarer  pursues  a  will-o'-the-wisp.  He 
allows  himself  to  be  swept  away  by  the  whirlwind  when  he 
should  either  lie  prostrate  with  his  eyes  shut,  and  let  it  pass 
over  him,  or  rise  and  watch  the  direction  that  it  takes,  to 
escape  the  blast.  In  the  midst  of  his  anguish,  Birotteau 
bethought  himself  of  the  necessary  steps  to  be  taken  with  re- 
gard to  his  loan.  He  went  to  see  Derville,  a  consulting  bar- 
rister in  the  Rue  Vivienne,  so  as  to  set  about  it  the  sooner, 
if  Derville  should  see  any  chance  of  cancelling  the  contract. 
Him  he  found  sitting,  wrapped  in  his  white  flannel  dressing- 
gown,  by  the  fireside,  staid  and  self-possessed,  as  is  the  wont 
of  men  of  law,  accustomed  as  they  are  to  the  most  harrowing 
disclosures.  Birotteau  felt,  as  a  new  thing  in  his  experience, 
this  necessary  coolness;  it  was  like  ice  to  an  excited  man 
like  Birotteau,  telling  the  story  of  his  misfortunes,  smarting 
from  the  wounds  that  he  had  received,  stricken  with  the 
fever  induced  by  the  risks  his  fortunes  were  running,  and 
cruelly  beset,  since  honor  and  life  and  wife  and  child 'were 
all  imperiled. 


194  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR   BIROTTEAU 

"If  it  is  proved/'  said  Derville,  when  he  had  heard  him  out, 
"that  the  lender  no  longer  had  in  Roguin's  keeping  the  sum 
of  money  which  Roguin  induced  you  to  borrow  of  him,  as 
there  has  been  no  transfer  of  the  actual  money,  the  con- 
tract might  be  annulled,  and  the  lender  will  have  his  rem- 
edy (as  you  also  will  have  for  your  hundred  thousand 
francs)  in  Roguin's  caution-money.  In  that  case,  I  will 
answer  for  your  lawsuit,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  answer 
for  any  action  at  law,  for  no  action  is  a  foregone  conclu- 
sion." 

The  opinion  of  so  learned  an  expert  put  a  little  heart  into 
Birotteau.  He  begged  Derville  to  obtain  a  judgment  within 
a  fortnight.  The  advocate  answered  to  the  effect  that  Bi- 
rotteau might  be  obliged  to  wait  three  months  before  the  con- 
tract would  be  annulled. 

"Three  months!"  cried  Birotteau,  who  thought  that  he 
had  found  an  expedient  for  raising  money  at  once. 

"Well,  if  you  yourself  succeed  in  gaining  a  prompt  hear- 
ing for  your  case.,  we  cannot  hurry  your  opponent  to  suit  your 
pace;  he  will  take  advantage  of  the  delays  of  procedure;  advo- 
cates are  not  always  at  the  Palais;  who  knows  but  that  the 
other  party  will  let  judgment  go  against  him  by  default? 
And  he  will  appeal.  You  can't  set  your  own  pace,  my  dear 
sir !"  said  Derville,  smiling. 

"But  at  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce " 

"Oh !"  said  the  advocate,  "the  Consular  Tribunal  is  one 
thing,  and  the  Tribunal  of  First  Instance  is  another.  You  do 
things  in  a  slashing  way  over  yonder.  Now,  at  the  Palais  de 
Justice  there  are  formalities  to  be  gone  through.  These  for- 
malities are  the  bulwarks  of  Justice.  How  would  you  like  it  if 
a  demand  for  forty  thousand  francs  was  suddenly  fired  off  at 
you?  Well,  your  opponent,  who  will  see  that  amount  com- 
promised, will  dispute  it.  Delays  are  the  chevaux-de-frise  of 
the  law." 

'"You  are  right,"  said  Birotteau,  and  he  took  leave  of  Der- 
ville with  a  deadly  chill  at  his  heart. — "They  are  all  right. 
Money  !  Money  !"  cried  the  perfumer,  out  in  the  street,  talking 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  195 

to  himself,  as  is  the  wont  of  busy  men  in  this  turbulent  seeth- 
ing Paris,  which  a  modern  poet  calls  "a  vat." 

As  he  came  into  his  shop,  one  of  the  assistants,  who  had 
been  out  delivering  invoices  to  the  customers,  told  him  that 
as  the  New  Year  was  at  hand,  every  one  had  torn  off  the  re- 
ceipt-form at  the  foot  and  kept  the  invoices. 

"Then  there  is  no  money  anywhere !"  Birotteau  exclaimed 
aloud  in  the  shop.  All  the  assistants  looked  up  at  this,  and  he 
bit  his  lips. 

In  this  way  five  days  went  by;  and  during  those  five  days 
Braschon,  Lourdois,  Thorien,  Grindot,  Chaffaroux,  and  all 
the  creditors  whose  bills  remained  unpaid,  passed  through 
the  chameleon's  intermediate  transitions  of  tone,  from  the 
serene  hues  of  confidence  to  the  wrathful  red  of  the  com- 
mercial Bellona.  In  Paris,  in  such  crises,  suspicion  is  as  quick 
to  reach  the  panic  stage  as  confidence  is  slow  to  show  expan- 
sive symptoms;  and  when  a  creditor  once  adopts  the  restrin- 
gent  system  of  doubts  and  precautions  in  business  relations,  he 
is  apt  to  descend  to  underhand  villainies  that  put  him  below 
his  debtor's  level.  From  cringing  civility,  the  creditors  passed 
successively  through  the  inflammatory  phase,  the  red  of  im- 
patience, the  lurid  coruscations  of  importunity,  to  outbursts 
of  disappointment,  and  from  the  cold-blue  stage  of  making 
up  their  minds  to  the  black  insolence  of  threatening  to  serve 
a  writ. 

Braschon,  the  rich  furniture-dealer  of  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Antoine,  who  had  not  been  included  in  the  invitations  to  the 
ball,  sounded  to  arms  in  his  quality  of  the  creditor  whose  self- 
love  has  been  wounded.  Paid  he  meant  to  be,  and  within 
twenty-four  hours;  he  required  security,  not  deposits  of  fur- 
niture, but  a  second  mortgage,  the  mortgage  for  forty  thou- 
sand francs  on  the  property  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple.  In 
spite  of  their  furious  recriminations,  these  gentry  still  left 
Cesar  occasional  intervals  of  peace,  when  he  might  breathe; 
but  instead  of  bringing  a  resolute  will  to  carry  these  outworks 
cf  r.n  awkward  position,  and  so  putting  an  end  to  them,  Birot- 
teau was  taxing  all  his  wits  to  keep  the  state  of  things  from 


196  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

the  knowledge  of  his  wife,  and  the  one  person  who  could  give 
him  counsel  knew  nothing  of  his  difficulties.  He  stood  sen- 
tinel on  the  threshold  of  his  shop.  He  confided  his  momen- 
tary inconvenience  to  Celestin,  who  watched  his  employer 
with  curious  and  astonished  eyes;  already  Cesar  had  fallen 
somewhat  in  his  esteem,  as  men  accustomed  to  prosperity  are 
apt  to  dwindle  when  evil  days  discover  that  all  their  power 
consists  in  the  increased  facility  of  dealing  with  matters  of 
every-day  experience,  acquired  by  an  ordinary  intelligence. 

But  if  Cesar  lacked  the  mental  energy  required  for  defend- 
ing himself  when  attacked  at  so  many  points  at  once,  he  had 
sufficient  courage  to  face  his  position.  Before  the  15th  of 
January  he  required  the  sum  of  sixty  thousand  francs,  and 
thirty  thousand  of  these  were  due  on  the  31st  of  December. 
Part  of  this  sum  was  owing  for  the  house,  part  for  rent  and 
accounts  to  be  paid  in  ready  money,  part  of  it  in  bills  to  be 
met ;  with  all  his  efforts  he  could  only  collect  twenty  thousand 
francs,  so  that  there  was  a  deficit  of  ten  thousand,  to  be  made 
up  by  the  end  of  the  month.  Nothing  seemed  hopeless  to  him, 
for  he  had  already  ceased  to  look  beyond  the  present  moment, 
and,  like  an  adventurer,  had  begun  to  live  from  day  to  day. 
At  length  he  resolved  to  make  what  for  him  was  a  bold  stroke. 
Before  it  was  known  that  he  was  in  difficulties,  he  would  apply 
to  Frangois  Keller,  banker,  orator,  and  philanthropist,  widely 
known  for  his  beneficence,  and  for  his  desire  to  stand  well 
with  the  mercantile  world  of  Paris,  always  with  a  view  to 
representing  their  interests  one  day  as  a  deputy  in  the  Cham- 
ber. In  politics  the  banker  was  a  Liberal,  and  Cesar  was  a 
Royalist;  but  the  perfumer  decided  that  the  capitalist  was  a 
man  after  his  own  heart,  and  that  a  difference  of  opinion  in 
politics  was  but  one  reason  the  more  for  opening  an  account. 
If  paper  should  be  necessary,  he  did  not  doubt  Popinot's  de- 
votion, and  counted  upon  obtaining  from  him  some  thirty  bills 
of  a  thousand  francs  each ;  with  these  he  might  hold  out  until 
he  gained  his  lawsuit,  the  forty  thousand  francs  involved  in 
it  being  offered  as  security  to  the  most  urgent  creditors. 

The  effusive  soul,  who  was  wont  to  confide  to  the  pillow  of 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  197 

his  dear  Constance  the  least  emotions  of  his  existence,  who 
drew  his  courage  from  her,  and  was  wont  to  seek  of  her  the 
light  thrown  by  contradiction  on  all  topics,  was  cut  off  from 
all  exchange  of  ideas  with  his  first  assistant,  his  uncle,  and 
his  wife,  and  found  that  the  weight  of  his  cares  was  thereby 
doubled.  Yet  this  self-sacrificing  martyr  preferred  suffering 
alone  to  the  alternative  of  casting  his  wife's  soul  into  the  fiery 
furnace ;  he  would  tell  her  about  the  danger  when  it  was  past. 
Perhaps,  too,  he  shrank  from  telling  her  the  hideous  secret; 
he  stood  in  some  fear  of  his  wife,  and  this  fear  lent  him 
courage.  He  went  every  morning  to  low  mass  at  Saint-Koch, 
and  told  his  troubles  to  God. 

"If  I  do  not  meet  a  soldier  on  my  way  back  from  Saint- 
Koch,  I  will  take  it  as  a  sign  that  my  prayer  is  heard.  It  shall 
be  God's  answer  to  me,"  he  said  to  himself,  after  he  had 
prayed  for  deliverance. 

And,  for  his  happiness,  he  did  not  meet  a  soldier.  Yet, 
nevertheless,  his  heart  was  over-full,  and  he  needed  another 
human  heart  to  whom  he  could  make  moan.  Cesarine,  to 
whom  he  had  already  told  the  fatal  news,  learned  the  whole 
truth,  and  stolen  glances  were  exchanged  between  them, 
glances  fraught  with  despair  or  repressed  hope,  passionate 
invocations,  appeals,  and  sympathetic  responses,  answering 
gleams  of  intelligence  between  soul  and  soul.  For  his  wife 
Cesar  put  on  high  spirits  and  mirth.  If  Constance  asked 
any  question — "Pshaw,  everything  was  all  right.  Popinot" 
(to  whom  Cesar  gave  not  a  thought)  "was  doing  well !  The 
Oil  was  selling!  Claparon's  bills  would  be  met;  there  was 
nothing  to  fear."  The  hollow  merriment  was  ghastly.  When 
his  wife  lay  sleeping  amid  the  splendors,  Birotteau  would  rise, 
and  fall  to  thinking  over  his  misfortune;  and  more  than  once 
Cesarine  came  in,  in  her  night-shift,  barefooted,  with  a  shawl 
about  her  white  shoulders. 

"Papa,  you  are  crying ;  I  can  hear  you/'  she  would  say,  and 
she  would  cry  herself  as  she  spoke. 

When  Cesar  had  written  to  ask  the  great  Francois  Keller 
to  make  an  appointment  with  him,  he  fell  into  such  a  state  of 
14 


198  RISE   AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BLROTTEAU 

torpor  chat  Cesarine  persuaded  him  to  walk  out  with  her.  In 
the  streets  of  Paris  he  saw  nothing  but  huge  red  placards,  and 
the  words  CEPHALIC  OIL  in  staring  letters  everywhere  met 
his  eyes. 

While  the  glory  of  the  Queen  of  Roses  was  thus  waning  in 
disastrous  gloom,  the  firm  of  A.  Popinot  was  dawning  radiant 
with  the  sunrise  splendors  of  success.  Anselme  had  taken 
counsel  of  Gaudissart  and  Finot,  and  had  launched  his  oil 
boldly.  During  the  past  three  days  two  thousand  placards 
had  been  posted  in  the  most  conspicuous  situations  in  Paris. 
Every  one  in  the  streets  was  confronted  with  the  Cephalic 
Oil,  and  willy-nilly  must  read  the  pithy  remarks  from  Finot's 
pen  as  to  the  impossibility  of  stimulating  the  growth  of  the 
hair,  and  the  perils  attendant  on  dyeing  it,  together  with  an 
extract  from  a  paper  read  before  the  Academic  des  Sciences  by 
Vauquelin.  It  was  as  good  as  a  certificate  of  existence  for 
dead  hair,  thus  held  out  to  those  who  should  use  the  Cephalic 
Oil.  The  shop-doors  of  every  perfumer,  hair-dresser,  and  wig- 
maker  in  Paris  were  made  glorious  with  gilded  frames,  con- 
taining a  beautiful  design,  printed  on  vellum  paper,  with  a 
reduced  facsimile  of  the  picture  of  Hero  and  Leander  at  the 
top,  and  beneath  it  ran  the  motto,  The  ancient  peoples  of  an- 
tiquity preserved  their  hair  by  the  use  of  CEPHALIC  OIL. 

"He  has  thought  of  permanent  frames;  he  has  found  an 
advertisement  that  will  last  for  ever!"  said  Birotteau  to  him- 
self, as  he  stood  staring  in  dull  amazement  at  the  shop-front 
of  the  Silver  Bell. 

"Then  you  did  not  see  a  frame  on  your  own  door?"  asked 
his  daughter.  "M.  Anselme  brought  it  himself,  and  left  three 
hundred  bottles  of  the  oil  with  Celestin." 

"No,  I  did  not  see  it,"  he  answered. 

"And  Celestin  has  already  sold  fifty  to  chance  comers,  and 
sixty  to  our  own  customers." 

"Oh!"  said  Cesar. 

The  sound  of  myriad  bells  that  misery  sets  ringing  in  the 
ears  of  her  victims  had  made  the  perfumer  dizzy;  his  head 
seemed  to  spin  round  and  round  in  those  days.  Popinot  had 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  199 

waited  a  whole  hour  to  speak  with  him  on  the  day  before,  and 
had  gone  away  after  chatting  with  Constance  and  Cesarine; 
the  women  told  him  that  Cesar  was  very  busy  over  his  great 
scheme. 

"Oh  yes,  the  building-land!"  Popinot  had  said. 

Luckily,  Popinot  had  not  left  the  Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants 
for  a  month ;  he  had  worked  day  and  night  at  his  business,  and 
had  seen  neither  Eagon,  nor  Pillerault,  nor  his  uncle.  .The 
poor  lad  was  never  in  bed  before  two  o'clock  in  the  morning; 
he  had  only  two  assistants,  and  at  the  rate  at  which  things 
were  going  he  would  soon  have  work  enough  for  four.  Op- 
portunity is  everything  in  business;  success  is  a  horse  which, 
if  caught  by  the  mane  and  ridden  by  a  bold  rider,  will  carry 
him  on  to  fortune.  Popinot  told  himself  that  he  should  re- 
ceive a  welcome  when,  at  the  end  of  six  months,  he  could 
carry  the  news  to  his  aunt  and  uncle — "I  am  saved ;  my  for- 
tune is  made !" — a  welcome,  too,  from  Birotteau  when,  at  the 
end  of  the  first  half  year,  he  should  bring  him  his  share  of  the 
profits — thirty  or  forty  thousand  francs !  He  had  not  heard 
of  Roguin's  disappearance,  nor  of  Cesar's  consequent  disasters 
and  difficulties ;  so  that  he  could  not  let  fall  any  indiscreet  re- 
marks in  Madame  Birotteau's  presence. 

Popinot  had  promised  Finot  five  hundred  francs  for  each 
of  the  leading  newspapers  (ten  in  all),  and  three  hundred 
francs  for  each  second-rate  paper  (and  of  these,  too,  there 
were  ten),  if  the  Cephalic  Oil  was  mentioned  three  times  a 
month  in  each.  Of  those  eight  thousand  francs,  Finot  beheld 
three  thousand  as  his  own,  his  first  stake  to  lay  on  the  vast 
green  table  of  speculation.  So  he  had  sprung  like  a  lion  upon 
his  friends  and  acquaintances ;  he  haunted  newspaper  offices ; 
writers  of  newspaper  articles  awoke  from  slumber  to  find  him 
sitting  by  their  pillows;  and  the  evening  found  him  pacing 
the  lobbies  of  all  the  theatres.  "Remember  my  oil,  my  dear 
fellow ;  it  is  nothing  to  me ;  a  matter  of  good  fellowship,  you 
know;  Gaudissart,  a  jolly  dog."  With  this  formula,  his  ha- 
rangues always  began  and  ended.  He  filled  up  spaces  at  the 
foot  of  the  last  columns  in  the  papers,  and  left  the  money  to 


200  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

those  upon  the  staff.  He  was  as  cunning  as  any  super  who 
is  minded  to  transform  himself  into  an  actor,  and  as  active 
as  an  errand  boy  on  sixty  francs  a  month ;  he  wrote  insinuat- 
ing letters,  he  worked  on  the  vanity  of  all  and  sundry,  he  did 
dirty  work  for  editors,  to  the  end  that  his  paragraphs  might 
be  inserted  in  their  papers.  His  enthusiastic  energy  left  no 
means  untried — money,  dinners,  platitudes.  By  means  of 
tickets  for  the  play  he  corrupted  the  men  who  finish  off  the 
columns  towards  midnight  with  short  paragraphs  of  small 
news  items  already  set  up;  hanging  about  the  printing-office 
for  that  purpose,  as  if  he  had  proofs  to  revise. 

So  by  dint  of  making  every  one  his  friend,  Finot  secured 
the  triumph  of  the  Cephalic  Oil  over  the  Pate  de  Regnault 
and  the  Mixture  Bresilienne,  over  all  the  inventions,  in  fact, 
whose  promoters  had  the  wit  to  comprehend  the  influence  of 
journalism  and  the  effect  produced  upon  the  public  mind  by 
the  piston  stroke  of  the  reiterated  paragraph.  In  that  age  of 
innocence,  journalists,  like  draught-oxen,  were  unaware  of 
their  strength ;  their  heads  ran  on  actresses — Mesdemoiselles 
Florine,  Tullia,  Mariette — they  lorded  it  over  all  creation, 
and  made  no  practical  use  of  their  powers.  In  Andoche's 
propositions  there  was  no  actress  to  be  applauded,  no  drama 
to  be  put  upon  the  stage;  he  did  not  ask  them  to  make  a  suc- 
cess of  his  vaudevilles,  nor  to  pay  him  for  his  paragraphs ;  on 
the  contrary,  he  offered  money  in  season  and  opportune  break- 
fasts ;  so  there  was  not  a  newspaper  that  did  not  mention  the 
Cephalic  Oil,  and  how  that  it  was  in  accordance  with  Vauque- 
lin's  investigations;  not  a  journal  that  did  not  scoff  at  the 
superstition  that  the  hair  could  be  induced  to  grow,  and  pro- 
claim the  danger  of  dyeing  it. 

These  paragraphs  rejoiced  Gaudissart's  heart.  He  laid  in 
a  supply  of  papers  wherewith  to  demolish  prejudice  in  the 
provinces,  and  accomplished  the  manoeuvre  known  amon.er 
speculators  since  his  time  as  "taking  the  public  by  storm." 
In  those  days  newspapers  from  Paris  exercised  a  great  influ- 
ence in  the  departments,  the  hapless  country  districts  being 
still  "without  organs."  The  Paris  newspaper,  therefore,  was 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  201 

taken  up  as  a  serious  study,  and  read  through  from  the  head- 
ing to  the  printer's  name  on  the  last  line  of  the  last  page, 
where  the  irony  of  persecuted  opinion  might  be  supposed  to 
lurk. 

Gaudissart,  thus  supported  by  the  press,  had  a  brilliant  suc- 
cess from  the  very  first  in  every  town  where  his  tongue  had 
play.  Every  provincial  shopkeeper  was  anxious  for  a  frame 
and  copies  of  Hero  and  Leander.  Finot  devised  that  charm- 
ing joke  against  Macassar  Oil,  which  drew  such  laughter  at 
the  Funambules,  when  Pierrot  takes  up  an  old  house-brush, 
visibly  worn  down  to  the  holes,  and  rubs  it  with  Macassar 
Oil,  and  lo  the  stump  becomes  a  mop,  a  piece  of  irony  which 
brought  down  the  house.  In  later  days  Finot  would  gaily 
relate  how  that  but  for  those  three  thousand  francs  he  must 
have  died  of  want  and  misery.  For  him  three  thousand  francs 
was  a  fortune.  In  this  campaign  he  discovered  the  power  of 
advertising,  which  he  was  to  wield  so  wisely  and  so  much 
to  his  own  profit.  Three  months  later  this  pioneer  was  the 
editor  of  a  small  paper,  of  which  after  a  time  he  became  the 
proprietor,  and  so  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fortune.  Even 
as  the  Illustrious  Gaudissart,  that  Murat  among  commercial 
travelers,  "took  the  public  by  storm,"  and  gained  brilliant 
victories  along  the  frontiers  and  in  the  provinces  for  the  house 
of  Popinot,  so  did  the  cause  gain  ground  in  public  opinion 
in  Paris,  thanks  to  the  desperate  assault  upon  the  newspapers, 
which  gave  it  the  prompt  publicity  likewise  secured  by  the 
Mixture  Bresilienne  and  the  Pate  de  Regnault.  Three  for- 
tunes were  made  by  this  means,  and  then  began  the  descent 
of  the  thousands  of  ambitious  tradesmen  who  have  since  gone 
down  by  battalions  into  the  arena  of  journalism,  and  there 
called  advertising  into  being.  A  mighty  revolution  was 
wrought. 

At  that  moment  the  words  "Popinot  &  Company"  were 
flaunting  on  every  wall  and  shop  door;  and  "Birottoau.  unable 
to  measure  the  enormous  area  over  which  these  announce- 
ments were  displayed,  contented  himself  with  saying  to 
Cesarine,  "Little  Popinot  is  following  in  my  footsteps,"  with- 


202  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR   BIROTTEAU 

out  comprehending  the  difference  of  the  timea,  without  appre- 
ciation of  the  new  methods  and  improved  means  of  communi- 
cation which  spread  intelligence  much  more  rapidly  than 
heretofore. 

Birotteau  had  not  set  foot  in  his  factory  since  the  ball;  he 
did  not  know  how  busy  and  energetic  Popinot  had  been. 
Anselme  had  set  all  Birotteau's  operatives  on  the  work,  and 
slept  in  the  place.  He  saw  Cesarine  sitting  on  every  packing- 
case  and  reclining  on  every  package;  her  face  looked  at  him 
from  each  new. invoice.  "She  will  be  my  wife!"  he  said  to 
himself,  as  with  coat  thrown  off,  and  shirt-sleeves  rolled  above 
the  elbows,  he  hammered  in  the  nails  with  all  his  might,  while 
his  assistants  were  sent  out  on  business. 

The  next  day,  after  spending  the  whole  night  in  pondering 
what  to  say  and  what  not  to  say  to  the  great  banker,  Cesar 
reached  the  Rue  du  Houssaye,  and  entered,  with  a  heart  that 
beat  painfully  fast,  the  mansion  of  the  Liberal  financier,  the 
adherent  of  a  political  party  accused,  and  not  unjustly,  of 
desiring  the  downfall  of  the  Bourbons.  To  Birotteau,  as  to 
most  small  merchants  in  Paris,  the  manners  and  customs  and 
the  personality  of  those  who  move  in  high  financial  circles 
were  quite  unknown;  for  the  smaller  traders  usually  deal 
with  lesser  houses,  which  form  a  sort  of  intermediate  term,  a 
highly  satisfactory  arrangement  for  the  great  capitalists,  who 
find  in  them  one  guarantee  the  more. 

Constance  and  Birotteau,  who  had  never  overdrawn  their 
balance,  who  had  never  known  what  it  was  to  have  no  money 
in  the  safe,  and  no  bills  in  the  portfolio,  had  not  had  recourse 
to  these  banks  of  the  second  order;  and,  for  the  best  of  rea- 
sons, were  entirely  unknown  in  the  higher  financial  world. 
Perhaps  it  is  a  mistaken  policy  sedulously  to  abstain  from 
borrowing  even  though  you  may  not  require  the  money ;  opin- 
ions differ  on  this  head;  but  be  that  as  it  may,  Birotteau 
at  that  moment  deeply  regretted  that  he  had  never  put  his 
signature  to  a  piece  of  paper.  Yet,  as  he  was  known  as  a 
deputy-mayor  and  a  shrewd  man  of  business,  he  imagined 
that  he  would  only  have  to  mention  his  name,  and  he  should 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAH  BIROTTEAU        203 

see  the  banker  at  once;  he  did  not  know  that  men  flocked  to 
the  Kellers'  audiences  as  to  the  court  of  a  king.  In  the  ante- 
chamber of  the  study  occupied  by  the  man  with  so  many 
claims  to  greatness,  Birotteau  found  himself  among  a  crowd 
composed  of  deputies,  writers,  journalists,  stockbrokers,  great 
merchants,  men  of  business,  engineers,  and,  above  all,  of  fa- 
miliars, who  made  their  way  through  the  groups  of  speakers 
and  knocked  in  a  particular  manner  at  the  door  of  the  study, 
where  they  had  the  privilege  of  entry. 

"What  am  I  in  the  middle  of  this  machinery?"  Birotteau 
asked  himself,  quite  bewildered  by  the  stir  and  bustle  in  this 
factory,  where  so  much  brain-power  was  at  work  furnishing 
daily  bread  for  the  camp  of  the  Opposition ;  this  theatre  where 
rehearsals  of  the  grand  tragi-comedy  played  by  the  Left  were 
wont  to  take  place. 

On  one  hand  he  heard  a  discussion  relative  to  a  loan  that 
was  being  negotiated  to  complete  the  construction  of  the 
principal  lines  of  canal  recommended  by  the  Department  of 
Eoads  and  Bridges;  a  question  of  millions!  On  the  other, 
journalists,  the  bankers'  jackals,  were  talking  of  yesterday's 
sitting  and  of  their  patron's  extempore  speech.  During  the 
two  hours  while  he  waited,  he  saw  the  banker-politician  thrice 
emerge  from  his  cabinet,  accompanying  some  visitor  of  im- 
portance for  a  few  paces  through  the  ante-chamber.  Keller 
went  as  far  as  the  door  with  the  last — General  Foy. 

"It  is  all  over  with  me!"  Birotteau  said  to  himself,  and 
something  clutched  at  his  heart. 

As  the  great  banker  returned  to  his  cabinet,  the  whole  troop 
of  courtiers,  friends,  and  followers  crowded  after  him,  like 
the  canine  race  about  some  attractive  female  of  the  species. 
One  or  two  bolder  curs  slipped  in  spite  of  him  into  the  audi- 
ence chamber.  The  conferences  lasted  for  five  minutes,  ten 
minutes,  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  Some  went  away  visibly  chop- 
fallen  ;  some  with  a  satisfied  look ;  some  assumed  important 
airs.  Time  went  by,  and  Birotteau  looked  anxiously  at  the 
clock.  No  one  paid  the  slightest  attention  to  the  man  with  a 
secret  care,  sighing  restlessly  in  the  gilded  chair  by  the 


204  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  B1ROTTEAU 

hearth,  at  the  very  door  of  the  closet  that  contained  that 
panacea  for  all  troubles — credit. 

Dolefully  Cesar  thought  how  that  he  too  in  his  own  house, 
and  for  a  little  while,  had  been  a  king,  as  this  man  was,  morn- 
ing after  morning;  and  he  fathomed  the  depths  of  the  abyss 
into  which  he  was  falling.  He  had  bitter  thoughts!  How 
many  unshed  tears  were  crowded  into  those  two  hours !  How 
many  petitions  he  put  up  that  this  man  might  incline  a  favor- 
able ear;  for  beneath  the  husk  of  popularity-seeking  good- 
nature, Birotteau  instinctively  felt  that  there  lurked  in  Keller 
an  insolent,  tyrannous,  and  violent  temper,  a  brutal  craving 
to  domineer,  which  alarmed  his  meek  nature.  At  length, 
when  but  ten  or  a  dozen  people  were  left,  Birotteau  deter- 
mined to  start  up  when  the  outer  door  of  the  audience  cham- 
ber creaked  on  its  hinges,  and  to  put  himself  on  a  level  with 
the  great  public  speaker  with  the  remark,  "I  am  Birotteau !" 
The  first  grenadier  who  flung  himself  into  the  redoubt  at 
Borodino  did  not  display  more  courage  than  the  perfumer 
when  he  made  up  his  mind  to  carry  out  this  manoeuvre. 

"After  all,"  said  he  to  himself,  "I  am  his  deputy-mayor," 
and  he  rose  to  give  his  name. 

Frangois  Keller's  countenance  took  on  an  amiable  expres- 
sion ;  clearly  he  meant  to  be  civil ;  he  glanced  at  Birotteau's 
red  ribbon,  turned,  opened  the  door  of  his  cabinet,  and  indi- 
cated the  way;  but  stayed  behind  himself  for  a  while  to  speak 
with  two  newcomers  who  sprang  up  the  staircase  with  tem- 
pestuous speed. 

"Decazes  would  like  to  speak  with  you,"  said  one  of  these 
two. 

"It  is  a  question  of  making  an  end  of  the  Pavilion  Marsan  ! 
The  King  sees  clearly.  He  is  coming  over  to  us !"  cried  the 
other. 

"We  will  all  go  to  the  Chambers,"  returned  the  banker, 
and  he  entered  his  cabinet  with  the  air  of  the  frog  that  would 
fain  be  an  ox. 

"How  can  he  think  of  his  own  affairs?"  thought  Ce"sar, 
overwhelmed 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  205 

The  radiance  of  the  sun  of  superiority  dazzled  the  per- 
fumer, as  the  light  blinds  those  insects  which  can  only  exist 
in  the  shade  or  in  the  dusk  of  a  summer  night. 

Birotteau  saw  a  copy  of  the  Budget  lying  on  a  vast  table, 
among  piles  of  pamphlets  and  volumes  of  the  Moniieur,  which 
Jay  open,  displaying  marked  passages,  past  utterances  of  a 
Minister,  which  were  shortly  to  be  hurled  at  his  head ;  he  was 
to  be  made  to  eat  his  words  amid  the  plaudits  of  a  crowd  of 
dunces,  incapable  of  comprehending  that  events  modify  every- 
thing. On  another  table  stood  a  collection  of  boxes  full  of 
papers,  a  heap  of  memorials  and  projects,  the  thousand  and 
one  reports  confided  to  a  man  in  whose  exchequer  every 
nascent  industry  endeavors  to  dip. 

The  regal  splendor  of  the  cabinet,  filled  with  pictures  and 
statues  and  works  of  art ;  the  litter  on  the  chimney-piece ;  the 
accumulations  of  documents  relating  to  business  concerns  at 
home  and  abroad,  heaped  up  like  bales  of  goods, — all  these 
things  impressed  Birotteau ;  he  dwindled  in  his  own  eyes,  his 
nervousness  increased,  the  blood  ran  cold  in  his  veins. 

On  Frangois  Keller's  desk  there  lay  some  bundles  of  bills, 
letters  of  exchange,  and  circular-letters.  To  these  the  great 
man  addressed  himself;  and  as  he  swiftly  put  his  signature 
to  those  that  required  no  examination,  "To  what  do  I  owe  the 
honor  of  your  visit,  sir?"  asked  he. 

At  these  words  addressed  to  him  alone,  by  the  voice  that 
spoke  to  all  Europe,  while  the  restless  hand  never  ceased  to 
traverse  the  paper,  the  poor  perfumer  felt  as  if  a  red-hot  iron 
had  been  thrust  through  his  vitals.  His  face  forthwith  as- 
sumed that  ingratiating  expression  with  which  the  banker 
had  grown  familiar  during  ten  years  of  experience;  the  ex- 
pression always  meant  that  the  wearers  desired  to  involve  the 
house  of  Keller  in  some  affair  of  great  importance  to  the 
would-be  borrowers  and  to  no  one  else,  an  expression  which 
shuts  the  banker's  doors  upon  them  at  once.  So  Francois 
Keller  shot  a  glance  at  Cesar,  a  Napoleonic  glance,  which 
seemed  to  go  through  the  perfumer's  head.  This  imitation  of 
their  Emperor  was  a  slight  piece  of  affectation  which  certain 


206  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR   BIROTTEAU 

parvenus  permitted  themselves,  though  the  false  coin  was 
scarcely  a  passable  copy  of  the  true.  For  Cesar,  of  the  ex- 
treme Right  in  politics,  the  fanatical  partisan  of  the  Govern- 
ment, the  factor  in  the  monarchical  election,  that  glance  was 
like  the  stamp  which  a  custom-house  officer  sets  on  a  bale  of 
goods. 

"I  do  not  want  to  take  up  your  minutes  unduly,  sir ;  I  will 
be  brief.  I  have  come  on  a  simple  matter  of  private  business, 
to  know  if  you  will  open  a  loan  account  with  me.  As  an  ex- 
judge  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce,  and  a  man  well  known 
at  the  Bank  of  France,  you  can  understand  that  if  I  had 
bills  to  discount  I  should  only  have  to  apply  to  the  Bank 
where  you  are  a  Governor.  I  have  had  the  honor  of  being 
associated  in  my  functions  at  the  Tribunal  with  M.  le  Baron 
Thibon,  the  head  of  the  bill-discounting  department,  and  he 
certainly  would  not  refuse  me.  But  as  I  have  never  tried 
to  borrow  money  nor  accepted  a  bill,  my  signature  is  unknown, 
and  you  know  how  many  difficulties  lie  in  the  way  of  nego- 
tiating a  loan  in  such  a  case " 

Keller  moved  his  head ;  and  Birotteau,  construing  this  as  a 
sign  of  impatience,  continued: 

"The  fact  is,  sir,  that  I  have  engaged  in  a  speculation  in 
land,  outside  my  own  line  of  business 

Frangois  Keller,  still  signing  and  reading,  and,  to  all  ap- 
pearance, paying  no  attention  to  Cesar's  remarks,  turned  at 
this,  with  a  sign  that  he  was  following  what  was  said.  Birot- 
teau took  heart;  his  affair  was  in  a  promising  way,  he 
thought;  he  breathed  more  freely. 

"Go  on;  I  understand,"  said  Keller  good-humoredly. 

"I  am  the  purchaser  of  one-half  of  the  building-land  near 
the  Madeleine." 

"Yes.  I  heard  from  Nucingen  of  the  big  affair  that  the 
firm  of  Claparon  is  negotiating." 

"Well,"  the  perfumer  went  on,  "a  loan  of  a  hundred  thou- 
sand francs,  secured  on  my  share  of  the  land,  or  on  my  busi- 
ness, would  suffice  to  tide  me  over  until  I  can  touch  the  profits 
which  must  shortly  accrue  from  a  venture  in  my  own  way  of 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  207 

business.  If  necessary,  I  would  cover  the  amount  by  bills 
drawn  on  a  new  firm — Popinot  &  Company,'  a  young  house 
which " 

Keller  seemed  to  be  very  little  interested  in  this  descrip- 
tion of  the  firm  of  Popinot,  and  Birotteau  gathered  that  he 
had  somehow  taken  a  wrong  turn;  he  stopped;  then,  in  dis- 
may at  the  pause,  he  went  on  again. 

"As  for  the  interest,  we " 

"Yes,  yes,"  said  the  banker;  "the  thing  may  be  arranged, 
and  do  not  doubt  my  desire  to  meet  you  in  the  matter.  Oc- 
cupied as  I  am,  I  have  all  the  finances  of  Europe  on  my  hands, 
and  the  Chamber  absorbs  every  moment  of  my  time,  so  you 
will  not  be  surprised  to  hear  that  I  leave  the  investigation  of  a 
vast  amount  of  regular  business  to  my  managers.  Go  down- 
stairs, and  see  my  brother  Adolphe ;  explain  the  nature  of  your 
guarantees  to  him;  and  if  he  assents,  return  here  with  him 
to-morrow  or  the  day  after,  at  the  time  when  I  look  into  af- 
fairs of  this  kind,  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning.  We  shall 
be  proud  and  happy  to  receive  your  confidence;  you  are  one 
of  the  consistent  Eoyalists;  and  your  esteem  is  the  more  flat- 
tering, since  that  politically  we  may  find  ourselves  at  enmity." 

"Sir,"  said  the  perfumer,  elated  by  this  oratorical  flourish, 
"I  am  as  deserving  of  the  honor  you  do  me  as  of  the  signal 
mark  of  Eoyal  favor  .  .  .  not  unmerited  by  the  dis- 
charge of  my  functions  at  the  Consular  Tribunal,  and  by 
fighting  for 

"Yes,"  continued  the  banker,  "the  reputation  which  you 
enjoy  is  a  passport,  M.  Birotteau.  You  are  sure  to  propose 
nothing  that  is  not  feasible,  and  you  can  reckon  upon  our  co- 
operation." 

A  door,  which  Birotteau  had  not  noticed,  was  opened,  and 
a  woman  entered ;  it  was  Mme.  Keller,  one  of  the  two  daugh- 
ters of  the  Comte  de  Gondreville,  a  peer  of  France. 

"I  hope  I  shall  see  you,  dear,  before  you  go  to  the  Cham- 
ber," said  she. 

"It  is  two  o'clock,"  exclaimed  the  banker;  "the  battle  has 
begun.  Excuse  me,  sir, — the  question  is  one  of  upsetting  a 


208  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

ministry "  he  went  as  far  as  the  door  of  the  salon  with 

the  perfumer,  and  bade  a  man  in  livery,  "Take  this  gen- 
tleman to  M.  Adolphe." 

Birotteau  traversed  a  labyrinth  of  staircases  on  the  way  to 
a  private  office,  less  sumptuous  than  the  cabinet  of  the  head  of 
the  firm,  but  more  business-like  in  appearance;  he  was  borne 
along  by  an  if,  that  easiest  pacing  mount  that  hope  can  fur- 
nish; he  stroked  his  chin,  and  thought  that  the  great  man's 
compliments  augured  excellently  well  for  his  plans.  It  was 
regrettable  that  a  man  so  amiable,  so  capable,  so  great  an 
orator,  should  be  inimical  to  the  Bourbons. 

Still  full  of  these  illusions,  he  entered  M.  Adolphe  Keller's 
sanctum,  a  bare,  chilly-looking  room.  Dingy  curtains  hung 
in  the  windows,  the  floor  was  covered  with  a  much-worn  car- 
pet, and  the  furniture  consisted  of  a  couple  of  cylinder  desks 
and  one  or  two  office  chairs.  This  cabinet  was  to  the  first  as 
the  kitchen  to  the  dining-room,  as  the  factory  to  the  shop. 
Here  matters  of  business  were  penetrated  to  the  core,  here 
enterprises  were  analyzed,  and  preliminary  charges  levied  by 
the  bank  on  all  promising  undertakings.  Here  originated  all 
those  bold  strokes  for  which  the  Kellers  were  so  well  known 
in  the  highest  commercial  regions,  when  they  would  secure 
and  rapidly  exploit  a  monopoly  in  a  few  days.  Here,  too, 
omissions  on  the  part  of  the  legislature  received  careful  at- 
tention, and  unblushing  demands  were  made  for  "sops  in  the 
pan"  (in  the  language  of  the  Stock  Exchange),  that  is  to  say, 
for  money  paid  in  consideration  for  small  indefinable  ser- 
vices, for  standing  godfather  to  an  infant  enterprise,  and  so 
accrediting  it.  Here  were  woven  those  tissues  of  fraud  after 
a  legal  pattern,  which  consist  in  investing  money  as  a  sleep- 
ing-partner in  some  concern  in  temporary  difficulties,  with  a 
view  to  slaughtering  the  affair  as  soon  as  it  succeeds;  the 
brothers  would  lie  in  wait,  call  in  their  capital  at  a  critical 
moment,  an  ugly  manoeuvre  that  put  the  whole  thing  in  their 
own  hands,  and  involved  the  hapless  active  partner  in  their 
toils. 

The  two  brothers  adopted  separate  roles.     On  high  stood 


RISE  AND   B^ALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  209 

Frangois,  the  politician,  the  man  of  brilliant  parts;  he  bore 
himself  like  a  king,  he  distributed  favors  and  promises,  he 
made  himself  agreeable  to  every  one.  Everything  was  easy 
when  you  spoke  with  him ;  he  did  business  royally ;  he  poured 
out  the  heady  wine  of  fair  words,  which  intoxicated  inexperi- 
enced speculators  and  promoters  of  new  schemes;  he  devel- 
oped their  own  ideas  for  them.  But  Adolphe  below  absolved 
his  brother  on  the  score  of  political  preoccupations,  and 
cleverly  raked  in  the  winnings ;  he  was  the  responsible  brother, 
the  one  who-  was  hard  to  persuade;  so  that  there  were  two 
words  to  every  bargain  concluded  with  that  treacherous  house, 
and  not  seldom  the  gracious  Yes  of  the  sumptuous  cabinet 
was  transmuted  into  a  dry  No  in  Adolphe's  office. 

This  mancEuvre  of  delay  gained  time  for  reflection,  and 
often  served  to  amuse  less  skilful  competitors. 

Adolpjie  Keller  was  chatting  with  the  famous  Palma,  the 
trusted  counselor  of  the  house,  who  withdrew  as  Birotteau 
came  in.  The  perfumer  explained  his  errand ;  and  Adolphe, 
the  more  cunning  of  the  two  brothers,  lynx-natured,  keen- 
eyed,  thin-lipped,  hard-favored,  listened  to  him  with  lowered 
head,  watching  the  app^jant  over  his  spectacles,  eyeing  him 
the  while  with  what  must  be  called  the  banker's  gaze,  in  which 
there  is  something  of  the  vulture,  something  of  the  attorney ; 
a  gaze  at  once  covetous  and  cold,  clear  and  inscrutable,  sombre 
and  ablaze  with  light. 

"Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  send  me  the  documents  rela- 
tive to  this  Madeleine  affair,"  said  he,  "since  therein  lies  the 
guarantee  of  the  account;  they  must  be  examined  into  before 
we  begin  to  discuss  the  case  on  its  merits.  If  the  affair  is 
satisfactory,  we  might  possibly,  to  avoid  encumbering  you,  be 
content  to  take  part  of  the  profits  instead  of  discount." 

"Come,"  said  Birotteau  to  himself,  as  he  went  home  again, 
"I  see  his  drift.  Like  the  hunted  beaver,  I  must  part  with 
some  of  my  skin.  It  is  better  to  loose  your  fleece  than  to  lose 
your  life." 

He  went  upstairs  in  high  spirits,  and  his  mirth  had  a  genu- 
ine ring. 


210  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR   BIROTTEAU 

"I  am  saved,"  he  told  Cesarine;  "Keller  will  open  a  loan 
account  with  me." 

But  not  until  the  29th  of  December  could  Birotteau  gain 
admittance  a  second  time  to  Adolphe  Keller's  office.  On  the 
occasion  of  his  first  call,  Adolphe  was  six  leagues  away  from 
Paris,  looking  at  some  property  which  the  great  orator  had  a 
mind  to  buy.  The  next  time  both  the  Kellers  were  closeted 
together,  and  could  see  no  one  that  morning;  it  was  a  ques- 
tion of  a  tender  for  a  loan  proposed  by  the  Chambers,  and 
they  begged  M.  Birotteau  to  return  on  the  following  Friday. 
These  delays  were  heartbreaking  to  the  perfumer;  but  Fri- 
day came  at  last,  and  Birotteau  sat  by  the  fire  in  the  office, 
with  the  daylight  falling  full  on  his  face,  and  Adolphe  Kel- 
ler, sitting  opposite,  was  saying,  as  he  held  up  the  notarial 
deeds,  "These  are  all  right,  sir;  but  what  proportion  of  the 
purchase-money  have  you  paid  ?" 

"A  hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs." 

"In  money?" 

"In  bills. 

"Have  they  been  met?'* 

"They  have  not  fallen  due." 

"But  suppose  that  you  have  given  more  for  the  land  than 
it  is  actually  worth  (taking  it  at  its  present  value),  where  is 
our  guarantee?  We  should  have  no  security  but  the  good 
opinion  which  you  inspire  and  the  esteem  in  which  you  are 
held.  Business  is  not  based  on  sentiment.  If  you  had  paid 
two  hundred  thousand  francs,  supposing  that  you  have  given 
too  much  by  a  hundred  thousand  francs  to  get  possession  of 
the  land,  we  should  in  that  case  have  at  any  rate  a  guarantee 
of  a  hundred  thousand  francs  for  the  hundred  thousand  you 
want  to  borrow.  The  result  for  us  would  be  that  we  should  be 
owners  of  the  land  in  your  place,  by  paying  your  share;  in 
that  case  we  must  know  if  it  is  a  good  piece  of  business.  For 
if  we  are  to  wait  five  years  to  double  our  capital,  it  would  be 
better  to  put  the  money  out  to  interest  through  the  bank.  So 
many  things  may  happen.  You  want  to  draw  an  accommo- 
dation bill  to  meet  your  bills  when  they  fall  due?  It  is  a 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  211 

risky  thing  to  do !  You  go  back  to  take  a  leap  better.  This 
is  not  in  our  way  of  business." 

For  Birotteau,  it  was  as  if  the  executioner  had  touched  his 
shoulder  with  the  branding-iron.  He  lost  his  head. 

"Let  us  see,"  said  Adolphe,  "my  brother  takes  a  warm  in- 
terest in  you ;  he  spoke  of  you  to  me.  Let  us  look  into  your 
affairs,"  he  added,  and  he  glanced  at  the  perfumer  with  the 
expression  of  a  courtesan  pressed  for  a  quarter's  rent. 

Birotteau  became  a  Molineux,  and  acted  the  part  of  the 
man  at  whom  he  had  laughed  so  loftily.  Kept  in  play  by  the 
banker,  who  took  a  pleasure  in  unwinding  the  skein  of  the 
poor  man's  thoughts,  and  showed  himself  as  expert  in  the  art 
of  examining  a  merchant  as  the  elder  Popinot  was  skilled  in 
unloosing  a  criminal's  tongue,  Cesar  told  the  story  o?  his  bus- 
iness career ;  he  brought  the  Pate  des  Sultanes  and  the  Toilet 
Lotion  upon  the  scene;  he  gave  a  complete  account  of  his 
dealings  with  Roguin,  and,  finally,  of  the  lawsuit  with  re- 
gard to  that  mortgage  from  which  he  had  reaped  no  benefit. 
He  saw  Keller's  musing  smile  and  jerk  of  the  head  from 
time  to  time,  and  said  to  himself,  "He  is  giving  an  ear  to 
me !  He  is  interested ;  I  shall  have  my  loan !"  and  Adolphe 
Keller  was  laughing  at  Birotteau,  as  Birotteau  himself  had 
laughed  at  Molineux.  Carried  away  by  the  impulse  of  lo- 
quacity peculiar  to  those  people  on  whom  misfortune  has  an 
intoxicating  effect,  Cesar  showed  himself  as  he  really  was; 
he  helped  the  banker  to  take  his  measure  when  he  suggested 
as  his  final  expedient  the  Cephalic  Oil  and  the  firm  of  Popi- 
not by  way  of  a  guarantee.  Led  away  by  a  delusive  hope,  he 
allowed  Adolphe  Keller  to  fathom  him  and  examine  into  his 
affairs,  until  Adolphe  Keller  saw  in  the  man  before  him  a 
Royalist  blockhead  on  the  brink  of  bankruptcy.  Then,  de- 
lighted at  the  prospect  of  this  failure  of  the  deputy-mayor 
of  his  arrondissement,  of  a  man  whose  party  was  in  power, 
who  had  been  but  lately  decorated,  Adolphe  told  Birotteau 
plainly  that  he  could  neither  open  a  loan  account  with  him, 
nor  speak  on  his  behalf  to  the  orator  brother,  the  great  Frar- 
gois.  If  Frangois  were  inclined  to  extend  an  imbecile  gener- 


212  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

osity  to  a  political  adversary,  and  to  come  to  the  aid  of  a  man 
who  held  opinions  diametrically  opposed  to  his  own,  he, 
Adolphe,  had  no  mind  that  his  brother  should  be  a  dupe ;  he 
would  do  all  that  in  him  lay  to  prevent  his  brother  from  hold- 
ing out  a  helping  hand  to  one  of  Napoleon's  old  antagonists, 
to  a  man  who  was  wounded  at  Saint-Roch.  Birotteau,  exas- 
perated at  this,  tried  to  say  something  about  covetousness  in 
the  high  places  of  the  financial  world,  of  hard-heartedness  and 
sham  philanthropy;  but  he  was  overcome  with  such  terrible 
distress,  that  he  could  scarcely  stammer  out  a  few  words  about 
the  institution  of  the  Bank  of  France,  to  which  the  Kellers 
had  recourse. 

"But  the  Bank  of  France  will  never  make  an  advance  which 
a  private  bank  declines,"  said  Adolphe  Keller. 

"It  has  always  seemed  to  me,"  said  Birotteau,  "that  the 
Bank  was  not  fulfilling  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  estab- 
lished, when  the  governors  congratulate  themselves  on  a 
oalance-sheet  in  which  they  have  only  lost  one  or  two  hundred 
thousand  francs  in  transactions  with  the  mercantile  world 
of  Paris;  it  is  the  province  of  the  Bank  to  watch  over  and 
foster  trade." 

Adolphe  began  to  smile,  and  rose  to  his  feet  like  a  man 
who  is  bored. 

"If  the  Bank  began  to  finance  all  the  men  in  difficulties 
on  'Change,  where  rascality  congregates  in  the  slipperiest 
places  of  the  financial  world,  the  Bank  would  file  her  schedule 
before  a  year  was  out.  The  Bank  is  hard  put  to  it  as  it  is 
to  guard  against  accommodation  bills  and  fraudulent  letters 
of  exchange,  and  how  would  it  be  possible  to  examine  into  the 
affairs  of  every  one  who  should  be  minded  to  apply  for  assist- 
ance?" 

"I  want  ten  thousand  francs  for  to-morrow,  Saturday  the 
30th;  and  where  are  they  to  come  from?"  Birotteau  asked 
himself,  as  he  crossed  the  court. 

When  the  31st  is  a  holiday,  payment  is  due  on  the  30th,  ac- 
cording to  custom.  Cesar's  eyes  were  so  full  of  tears  that, 
a»  he  reached  the  great  gateway,  he  scarcely  saw  a  handsome 


RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  213 

English  horse,  covered  with  foam,  that  pulled  up  sharply 
at  the  gate,  and  one  of  the  neatest  cabriolets  to  be  seen  in  the 
streets  of  Paris.  He  would  fain  have  been  run  over  by  the 
cabriolet;  it  would  be  an  accidental  death,  and  the  confusion 
in  his  affairs  would  have  been  set  down  to  the  suddenness  of 
the  catastrophe.  He  did  not  recognize  du  Tillet's  slender  fig- 
ure in  faultless  morning  dress,  or  see  him  fling  the  reins  to 
his  servant  and  put  a  rug  over  the  back  of  the  thoroughbred. 

"What  brings  you  here?"  asked  du  Tillet,  addressing  his 
/>ld  master. 

Du  Tillet  knew  quite  well  why  Birotteau  had  come.  The 
Kellers  had  made  inquiries  of  Claparon,  and  Claparon,  taking 
his  cue  from  du  Tillet,  had  blighted  the  perfumer's  old-estab- 
lished business  reputation.  The  tears  in  the  unlucky  mer- 
chant's eyes  told  the  tale  sufficiently  plainly,  in  spite  of  his 
sudden  effort  to  keep  them  back. 

"Perhaps  you  have  been  asking  these  Turks  to  oblige  you 
in  some  way,"  said  du  Tillet,  "cut-throats  of  commerce  that 
they  are,  who  have  played  many  a  mean  trick ;  they  will  make 
a  corner  in  indigo,  for  instance ;  they  lower  rice,  forcing  hold- 
ers to  sell  cheap,  so  that  they  can  get  the  game  into  their  own 
hands  and  control  the  market ;  they  are  inhuman  pirates,  who 
know  neither  law,  nor  faith,  nor  conscience.  You  cannot 
know  what  things  they  are  capable  of  doing.  They  will  open 
a  loan  account  with  you  if  you  have  some  promising  bit  of 
business ;  and  as  soon  as  you  have  gone  too  far  to  draw  back, 
they  will  pull  you  up  and  put  pressure  upon1  you  till  you  make 
the  whole  affair  over  to  them  for  next  to  nothing.  Pretty 
stories  they  could  tell  you  at  Havre  and  Bordeaux  and  Mar- 
seilles about  the  Kellers  !  Politics  are  a  cloak  that  cover  a  lot 
of  dirty  doings,  I  can  tell  you !  So  T  make  them  useful  with- 
out scruple.  Let  us  take  a  turn  or  two,  my  dear  Birotteau. 
— Joseph,  walk  the  horse  up  and  down,  he  is  overheated,  and 
a  thousand  crowns  is  a  big  investment  in  horse-flesh." 

He  turned  towards  the  Boulevard. 

"Now.  my  dear  master  (for  you  used  to  be  my  master),  is 
it  money  that  you  need  ?  And  they  have  asked  you  for  secur- 
15 


214  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

ity,  the  wretches !  Well,  for  my  own  part,  I  know  you ;  and  I 
can  offer  to  give  you  cash  against  your  bills.  I  have  made  my 
money  honorably,  and  with  unheard-of  toil.  I  went  in  quest 
of  fortune  to  Germany !  At  this  time  of  day,  I  may  tell  you 
this — that  I  bought  up  the  King's  debts  there  for  forty  per 
cent  of  their  value;  your  guarantee  was  very  useful  to  me 
then,  and  I  am  grateful.  If  you  want  ten  thousand  francs, 
they  are  at  your  service." 

"What !  du  Tillet,"  cried  Cesar,  "do  you  really  mean  it  ? 
Are  you  not  making  game  of  me  ?  Yes,  I  am  a  little  pressed 
for  money,  just  for  the  moment " 

"I  know;  Roguin's  affair,"  returned  du  Tillet.  "Eh!  yes. 
I  myself  have  been  let  in  there  for  ten  thousand  francs,  which 
the  old  rogue  borrowed  of  me  to  run  away  with;  but  Mme. 
Roguin  will  repay  the  money  out  of  her  claims  on  his  estate. 
I  advised  her,  poor  thing,  not  to  be  so  foolish  as  to  give  up  her 
fortune  to  pay  debts  contracted  for  a  mistress;  it  would  be 
very  well  if  she  could  pay  them  all,  but  how  is  she  to  make 
distinctions  in  favor  of  this  or  that  creditor,  to  the  prejudice 
of  others  ?  You  are  no  Roguin ;  I  know  you,"  continued  du 
Tillet;  "you  would  rather  blow  your  brains  out  than  cause 
me  to  lose  a  sou.  Here  we  are  in  the  Rue  de  la  Chaussee- 
d'Antin;  come  up  and  see  me." 

It  pleased  the  young  upstart  to  take  his  old  employer,  not 
through  the  offices,  but  by  way  of  the  private  entry,  and  to 
walk  deliberately,  so  as  to  give  him  a  full  view  of  a  handsome 
and  luxuriously  furnished  dining-room,  adorned  with  pict- 
ures bought  in  Germany;  through  two  drawing-rooms,  more 
splendid  and  elegant  than  any  rooms  that  Birotteau  had  yet 
seen  save  in  the  Due  de  Lenoncourt's  house.  The  good  citi- 
zen was  dazzled  by  the  gilding,  the  works  of  art,  the  costly 
kuickknacks,  precious  vases,  and  countless  little  details.  All 
the  glories  of  Constance's  rooms  paled  before  this  display, 
and  knowing,  as  he  did,  the  cost  of  his  own  extravagance — 
"Whore  can  he  have  found  all  these  millions?"  said  he  to 
himself. 

Then  they  entered  a  bedroom,  which  as  much  surpassed  his 


RISE  AND   FALL   OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  215 

wife's  as  the  mansion  of  a  great  singer  at  the  Opera  sur- 
passes the  third-floor  dwelling  of  some  supernumerary.  The 
ceiling  was  covered  with  violet  satin  relieved  with  silken  folds 
of  white,  and  the  white  fur  of  an  ermine  rug  heside  the  bed 
brought  out  in  contrast  all  the  violet  tints  of  a  carpet  from 
the  Levant.  The  furniture  and  the  accessories  were  novel  in 
form,  and  exhibited  the  very  refinement  of  extravagance. 
Birotteau  stopped  in  front  of  an  exquisite  timepiece,  with  a 
Cupid  and  Psyche  upon  it,  a  replica  of  one  which  had  just 
been  made  for  a  celebrated  banker.  At  length  master  and 
assistant  reached  a  cabinet,  the  dainty  sanctum  of  a  fashion- 
able dandy,  redolent  rather  of  love  than  of  finance.  It  was 
Mme.  Roguin,  doubtless,  who,  in  her  gratitude  for  the  care 
and  thought  given  to  her  fortune,  had  bestowed,  by  way  of  a 
thank-offering,  the  paper-cutter  of  wrought  gold,  the  carved 
malachite  paper-weights,  and  all  the  costly  gewgaws  of  un- 
bridled luxury.  The  carpet,  one  of  the  richest  products  of 
the  Belgian  loom,  was  as  great  a  surprise  to  the  eyes  as  its 
soft,  thick  pile  to  the  tread.  Du  Tillet  drew  a  chair  to  the 
fire  for  the  poor  dazzled  and  bewildered  perfumer. 

"Will  you  breakfast  with  me?"  He  rang  the  bell;  it  was 
answered  by  a  servant,  who  was  better  dressed  than  the  vis- 
itor. 

"Ask  M.  Legras  to  come  up,  and  then  tell  Joseph  to  re- 
turn, you  will  find  him  at  the  door  of  Keller's  bank;  and  you 
can  go  to  Adolphe  Keller's  house,  and  say  that  instead  of 
seeing  him  now,  I  shall  wait  till  he  goes  on  'Change.  Send 
up  breakfast,  and  be  quick  about  it." 

This  talk  dazed  the  perfumer. 

"So  he,  clu  Tillet,  makes  that  formidable  Adolphe  Keller 
come  to  him  at  his  whistle,  as  if  he  were  a  dog !" 

A  hop-o'-my-thumb  of  a  page  came  in  and  spread  a  table 
so  slender,  that  it  had  escaped  Birotteau's  notice,  setting 
thereon  a  Strasbourg  pie,  a  bottle  of  Bordeaux  wine,  and 
various  luxuries  which  did  not  appear  on  Birotteau's  table 
twice  in  a  quarter,  on  high  days  and  holidays.  Du  Tillet  was 
enjoying  himself.  His  feeling  of  hatred  for  the  one  man  who 


216  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR   BIROTTEAU 

had  a  right  to  despise  him  diffused  itself  like  a  warm  glow 
through  his  veins,  till  the  sight  of  Birotteau  stirred  in  the 
depths  of  his  nature  the  same  sensations  that  the  spectacle  of 
a  sheep  struggling  for  its  life  against  a  tiger  might  give.  A 
generous  thought  flashed  across  him;  he  asked  himself 
whether  he  had  not  carried  his  vengeance  far  enough;  he 
hesitated  between  the  counsels  of  a  newly-awakened  pity  and 
those  of  a  hate  grown  drowsy. 

"Commercially  speaking,  I  can  annihilate  the  man,"  he 
thought;  "I  have  power  of  life  and  death  over  him,  over  his 
wife,  who  kept  me  on  the  rack,  and  his  daughter,  whose  hand 
once  seemed  to  me  to  grasp  a  whole  fortune.  I  have  his 
money  as  it  is,  so  let  us  be  content  to  let  the  poor  simpleton 
swim  to  the  end  of  his  tether,  which  I  shall  hold." 

But  honest  folk  are  wanting  in  tact;  they  do  what  seems 
good  to  them  without  calculating  its  effect  on  others,  because 
they  themselves  are  straightforward,  and  have  no  after- 
thoughts. So  Birotteau  filled  up  the  measure  of  his  own  mis- 
fortune; he  irritated  the  tiger;  all  unwittingly  he  sent  a  shaft 
home,  and  made  an  implacable  enemy  of  him  at  a  word,  by  his 
praise,  by  giving  expression  to  his  honest  thoughts,  by  the 
sheer  light-heartedness  which  is  the  gift  of  a  blameless  con- 
science. The  cashier  came  in;  and  du  Tillet  said,  looking 
towards  Cesar,  "M.  Legras,  bring  me  ten  thousand  francs  in 
cash,  and  a  bill  for  the  amount  payable  to  my  order  in  ninety 
days  by  this  gentleman,  who  is  M.  Birotteau,  as  you  know." 

Du  Tillet  waited  on  his  guest,  and  poured  out  a  glass  of 
Bordeaux  wine  for  him;  and  Birotteau,  who  thought  himself 
saved,  laughed  convulsively,  fingered  his  watch-chain,  and  did 
not  touch  the  food  until  his  ex-assistant  said,  "You  do  not 
eat."  In  this  way  he  laid  bare  the  depths  of  the  gulf  into 
which  du  Tillet's  hand  had  plunged  him,  while  the  hand 
which  had  drawn  him  out  was  still  stretched  over  him,  and 
might  yet  plunge  him  back  again.  When  the  cashier  returned, 
and  the  bill  had  been  accepted,  and  Cesar  felt  the  ten  bank- 
notes in  his  pocket,  he  could  no  longer  contain  his  joy.  But  a 
moment  ago  the  news  that  he  could  not  meet  his  engagements 


BISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  RIROTTEAU  217 

seemed  to  be  about  to  be  published  abroad  through  his  Quar- 
ter, the  Bank  must  know  it,  he  must  confess  that  he  was 
ruined  to  his  wife;  now  everything  was  safe !  The  joy  of  his 
deliverance  was  as  keen  as  the  torture  of  impending  bank- 
ruptcy had  been.  Tears  filled  the  poor  man's  eyes  in  spite  of 
himself. 

"What  can  be  the  matter,  my  dear  master?"  asked  du  Til- 
let.  "Would  you  not  do  to-morrow  for  me  what  I  am  doing 
to-day  for  you?  Isn't  is  as  simple  as  saying  good-day?" 

"Du  Tillet,"  said  the  worthy  man,  with  solemn  emphasis, 
as  he  rose  and  took  his  ex-assistant  by  the  hand,  "I  restore  you 
to  your  old  place  in  my  esteem." 

"What!  had  I  forfeited  it?"  asked  du  Tillet;  and,  for  all 
his  prosperity,  he  felt  this  rude  home-thrust,  and  his  color 
rose. 

"Forfeited  .  .  .  not  exactly  that,"  said  Birotteau, 
thunderstruck  by  his  folly;  "people  talked  about  you  and 
Mme.  Roguin.  The  devil !  another  man's  wife  .  .  ." 

"You  are  beating  about  the  bush,  old  boy,"  thought  du  Til- 
let,  in  an  old  phrase  learned  in  his  earlier  days. 

And  even  as  that  thought  crossed  his  mind,  he  returned 
to  his  old  design.  He  would  lay  this  virtue  low,  he  would 
trample  it  under  foot;  all  Paris  should  point  the  finger  of 
scorn  at  the  honest  and  honorable  man  who  had  caught  him, 
du  Tillet,  with  his  hand  in  the  till.  Every  hatred  of  every 
kind,  political  or  private,  between  woman  and  woman,  or 
between  man  and  man,  dates  from  some  similar  detection. 
There  is  no  cause  for  hate  in  compromised  interests,  in  a 
wound,  nor  even  in  a  box  on  the  ear;  such  injuries  as  these 
are  not  irreparable.  But  to  be  found  out  in  some  base  piece 
of  iniquity,  to  be  caught  in  the  act !  .  .  .  The  duel  that 
ensues  between  the  criminal  and  the  discoverer  of  the  crime 
cannot  but  be  to  the  death. 

"Oh !  Mme.  Roguin,"  said  du  Tillet  laughingly,  "but  isn't 
that  rather  a  feather  in  a  young  man's  cap?  I  understand 
you,  my  dear  master,  they  must  have  told  you  that  she  lent  me 
money.  Well,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  I  who  have  re-established 


218  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  RIROTTEATJ 

her  finances,  which  were  curiously  involved  in  her  husband's 
affairs.  My  fortune  has  been  honestly  made,  as  I  have  just 
told  you.  I  had  nothing,  as  you  know.  Young  men  some- 
times find  themselves  in  terrible  straits,  and  in  dire  need  one 
may  strain  a  point ;  but  if,  like  the  Eepublic,  one  has  made  a 
forced  loan  now  and  again,  why,  one  returns  it  afterwards, 
and  is  as  honest  as  France  herself." 

"Just  so,"  said  Cesar.  "My  boy — God — Isn't  it  Voltaire 
who  says: 

"  He  made  of  repentance  the  virtue  of  mortals?" 

"So  long  as 'one  does  not  take  his  neighbor's  money  in  a 
base  and  cowardly  way,"  du  Tillet  continued,  smarting  once 
more  under  this  application  of  verse ;  "as  if  you,  for  instance, 
were  to  fail  before  the  three  months  are  out,  and  it  would  be 
all  up  with  my  ten  thousand  francs " 

"I  fail?"  cried  Birotteau  (he  had  taken  three  glasses  of 
wine,  and  happiness  had  gone  to  his  head).  "My  opinions  of 
bankruptcy  are  well  known.  A  failure  is  commercial  death. 
I  should  die." 

"Long  life  to  you!"  said  du  Tillet. 

"To  your  prosperity !"  returned  the  perfumer.  "Why  do 
you  not  come  to  me  for  your  perfumery  ?" 

"Upon  my  word,"  said  du  Tillet,  "I  confess  that  I  am 
afraid  to  meet  Mme.  Cesar,  she  always  made  an  impression 
upon  me ;  and  if  you  were  not  my  master,  faith,  I " 

"Oh !  you  are  not  the  first  who  has  thought  her  handsome, 
and  wanted  her,  but  she  loves  me  !  Well,  du  Tillet,  my  friend, 
do  not  do  things  by  halves." 

"What!" 

Birotteau  explained  the  affair  of  the  building-land,  and 
du  Tillet  opened  his  eyes,  complimented  Cesar  upon  his  acu- 
men and  foresight,  and  spoke  highly  of  the  prospects. 

"Oh,  well,  I  am  much  pleased  to  have  your  approbation; 
you  are  supposed  to  have  one  of  the  longest  heads  in  the  bank- 
ing line,  du  Tillet !  You  can  negotiate  a  loan  from  the  Bank 
of  France  for  me  until  the  Cephalic  Oil  has  made  its  way." 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  219 

"I  can  send  you  to  the  firm  of  Nucingen,"  answered  du 
Tillet,  inwardly  vowing  that  his  victim  should  dance  the  whole 
mazy  round  of  bankruptcy.  He  sat  down  to  his  desk  to  write 
the  following  letter  to  the  Baron  de  Nucingen: 

"My  DEAR  BARON, — The  hearer  of  this  letter  is  M.  Cesar 
Birotteau,  deputy-mayor  of  the  second  arrondissement,  and 
one  of  the  best  known  manufacturing  perfumers  in  Paris.  He 
desires  to  be  put  in  communication  with  you;  you  need  not 
hesitate  to  do  anything  that  he  asks  of  you,  and  by  obliging 
him  you  oblige  your  friend, 

"F.  DU  TILLET." 

Du  Tillet  put  no  dot  over  the  i  in  his  name.  Among  his 
business  associates  this  clerical  error  was  a  sign  which  they  all 
understood,  and  it  was  always  made  of  set  purpose ;  it  annulled 
the  heartiest  recommendations,  the  warmest  praise  and  in- 
stance in  the  body  of  the  letter.  On  receiving  such  a  note  as 
this,  where  the  very  exclamation-marks  breathed  entreaty,  in 
which  du  Tillet,  figuratively  speaking,  went  down  on  his 
knees,  his  associates  knew  that  the  writer  had  been  unable  to 
refuse  the  letter  which  was  to  be  regarded  as  null  and  void. 
At  sight  of  that  undotted  i,  the  receiver  of  the  letter  forthwith 
dismissed  the  applicant  with  empty  compliments  and  vain 
promises.  Not  a  few  men  of  considerable  reputation  in  the 
world  are  put  off  like  children  by  this  trick;  for  men  of  bus- 
iness, bankers,  bill-discounters,  and  advocates  have  one  and 
all  two  methods  of  signing  their  names;  one  is  a  dead  letter, 
the  other  living.  The  shrewdest  are  deceived  by  it.  You 
must  have  felt  the  double  effect  of  a  cold  communication  and 
a  warm  one  to  discover  the  stratagem. 

"You  are  saving  me,  du  Tillet,"  said  Cesar,  as  he  read  the 
present  specimen. 

"Oh  dear  me,"  said  du  Tillet,  "just  ask  Nucingen  for  the 
monej.  and  when  he  has  read  my  letter  he  will  let  you  have 
all  that  you  want.  Unluckily,  my  own  capital  is  locked  up 
at  present,  or  I  would  not  send  you  to  the  prince  of  bankers, 


220  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

for  the  Kellers  are  dwarfs  compared  with  Nucingen.  He  is  a 
second  Law.  With  my  bill  of  exchange,  you  will  he  ready  for 
the  loth,  and  after  that  we  will  see.  Nucingen  and  I  are  the 
best  friends  in  the  world;  he  would  not  disoblige  me  for  a 
million." 

"It  is  as  good  as  a  guarantee,"  said  Birotteau  to  himself, 
and  as  he  went  away  his  heart  thrilled  with  gratitude  for  du 
Tillet.  "Ah,  well,"  he  thought,  "a  good  deed  never  loses  its 
reward,"  and  he  fell  incontinently  to  moralizing.  Yet  there 
was  one  bitter  drop  in  his  cup  of  happiness.  He  had,  it  is 
true,  prevented  his  wife  from  looking  into  the  ledgers  for  sev- 
eral days.  Celestin  must  undertake  the  bookkeeping  in  addi- 
tion to  his  work,  with  some  help  from  his  master;  he  could 
have  wished  his  wife  and  daughter  to  remain  upstairs  in  pos- 
session of  the  beautiful  rooms  which  he  had  arranged  and 
furnished  for  them;  but  when  the  first  little  glow  of  enjoy- 
ment was  over,  Mme.  Cesar  would  have  died  sooner  than  re- 
nounce the  personal  supervision  of  the  details  of  the  busi- 
ness, "the  handle  of  the  frying-pan,"  to  use  her  own  expres- 
sion. 

Birotteau  was  at  his  wits'  end;  he  had  done  everything  that 
he  could  think  of  to  conceal  the  symptoms  of  his  embarrass- 
ment from  her  eyes.  Constance  had  strongly  disapproved  of 
sending  in  the  accounts;  she  had  scolded  the  assistants,  and 
asked  Celestin  if  he  meant  to  ruin  the  house,  believing  that 
the  idea  was  Celestin's  own.  And  Celestin  meekly  bore  the 
blame  by  Birotteau's  orders.  In  the  assistant's  opinion,  Mme. 
Cesar  governed  the  perfumer;  and  though  it  is  possible  to 
deceive  the  public,  those  of  the  household  always  know  who  is 
the  real  power  in  it.  The  confession  was  bound  to  come,  and 
that  soon,  for  du  Tillet's  loan  would  appear  in  the  books,  and 
must  be  accounted  for. 

As  Birotteau  came  in  at  the  door  he  saw,  not  without  a 
shudder,  that  Constance  was  at  her  post,  going  through  the 
amounts  due  to  be  paid,  and  doubtless  balancing  the  hooks. 

"How  will  you  pay  these  to-morrow?"  she  asked  in  his 
ear,  when  he  took  his  place  beside  her. 


RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  221 

"With  money,"  he  replied,  drawing  the  banknotes  from 
his  pocket,  with  a  sign  to  Celestin  to  take  them. 

"But  where  do  those  notes  come  from?" 

"I  will  tell  you  the  whole  story  to-night. — Celestin,  enter 
in  the  bill-book  a  bill  for  ten  thousand  francs  due  at  the  end 
of  March,  to  order  of  du  Tillet." 

"Du  Tillet !"  echoed  Constance,  terror-stricken. 

"I  am  just  going  to  Popinot,"  said  Cesar.  "It  is  too  bad 
of  me ;  I  have  not  been  round  to  see  him  yet.  Is  his  oil  sell- 
ing?" 

"The  three  hundred  bottles  which  he  brought  are  all  sold 
out." 

"Birotteau,  do  not  go  out  again ;  I  have  something  to  say 
to  you,"  said  Constance.  She  caught  her  husband's  arm,  and 
drew  him  to  her  room  in  a  hurry,  which,  under  any  other 
circumstances,  would  have  been  ludicrous. — "Du  Tillet !"  she 
exclaimed,  when  the  husband  and  wife  were  together,  and 
she  had  made  sure  that  there  was  no  one  but  Cesarine  pres- 
ent ;  "Du  Tillet  robbed  us  of  three  thousand  francs !  And 
you  are  doing  business  with  du  Tillet !  A  monster  who — 
who  tried  to  seduce  me,"  she  said  in  his  ear. 

"A  bit  of  boyish  folly,"  said  Birotteau,  suddenly  trans- 
formed into  a  free  thinker. 

"Listen  to  me,  Birotteau;  you  are  falling  out  of  your  old 
ways ;  you  never  go  to  the  factory  now.  There  is  something,  I 
can  feel  it.  Tell  me  about  it ;  I  want  to  know  everything." 

"Well,  then,"  said  Birotteau,  "we  have  nearly  been  ruined ; 
we  were  ruined,  in  fact,  this  very  morning,  but  everything 
is  set  straight  again,"  and  he  told  the  dreadful  story  of  the 
past  two  weeks. 

"So  that  was  the  cause  of  your  illness !"  exclaimed  Con- 
stance. 

"Yes,  mamma,"  cried  Cesarine.  "Father  has  been  very 
brave,  I  am  sure.  If  I  were  loved  as  he  loves-  you,  I  would 
not  wish  more.  He  thought  of  nothing  but  your  trouble." 

"My  dream  has  come  true,"  said  the  poor  wife,  and  pale, 
haggard,  and  terror-stricken,  she  sank  down  upon  the  sofa 


222  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

by  the  fireside.  "I  foresaw  all  this.  I  told  you  so  that  fatal 
night,  in  the  old  room  which  you  have  pulled  down ;  we  shall 
have  nothing  left  but  our  eyes  to  cry  over  our  losses.  Poor 
Cesarine,  I " 

"Come,  now;  so  that  is  what  you  say !"  cried  Birotteau.  "I 
stand  in  need  of  courage,  and  are  you  damping  it !" 

"Forgive  me,  dear,"  said  Constance,  grasping  Cesar's  hand 
in  hers,  with  a  tender  pressure  that  went  to  the  poor  man's 
heart.  "I  was  wrong;  the  misfortune  has  befallen  us,  I  will 
be  dumb,  resigned,  and  strong  to  bear  it.  No,  Cesar,  you  shall 
never  hear  a  complaint  from  me." 

She  sprang  into  Cesar's  arms,  and  said,  while  her  tears  fell 
fast,  "Take  courage,  dear.  I  should  have  courage  enough  for 
two,  if  it  were  needed." 

"There  is  the  Oil,  dear  wife ;  the  Oil  will  save  us." 

"May  God  protect  us !"  cried  Constance. 

"Will  not  Anselme  come  to  father's  assistance?"  asked 
Cesarine. 

"I  will  go  to  him  now,"  exclaimed  Cesar,  his  wife's  heart- 
breaking tone  had  been  too  much  for  his  feelings;  it  seemed 
that  he  did  not  know  her  yet,  after  nineteen  years  of  married 
life.  "Do  not  be  afraid,  Constance;  there  is  no  fear  now. 
Here,  read  M.  du  Tillet's  letter  to  M.  de  Nucingen ;  he  is  sure 
to  lend  us  the  money.  Between  then  and  now  I  shall  have 
gained  my  lawsuit.  Besides,"  he  added  (a  lying  hope  to  fit 
the  circumstances),  "there  is  your  uncle  Pillerault.  Courage 
is  all  that  is  wanted." 

"If  that  were  all !"  said  Constance,  smiling. 

Birotteau,  with  the  great  weight  taken  off  his  mind,  walked 
like  a  man  set  free  from  prison;  but  within  himself  he  felt 
the  indefinable  exhaustion  consequent  on  mental  exertion 
which  has  made  heavy  demands  upon  the  nervous  system, 
and  required  more  than  the  daily  allowance  of  will-power; 
he  was  conscious  of  the  deficit  when  a  man  has  drawn,  as  it 
were,  on  the  capital  of  his  vitality.  Birotteau  was  growing 
old  already. 

Popinot's  shop  in  the  Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants  had  under- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  223 

gone  great  changes  in  the  last  two  months.  It  had  been  re- 
painted. The  rows  of  bottles  ensconced  in  the  pigeon-hole 
shelves,  touched  up  with  paint,  rejoiced  the  eyes  of  every 
merchant  who  knows  the  signs  of  prosperity.  The  floor  of  the 
shop  was  covered  with  packing-paper.  The  warehouse  con- 
tained certain  casks  of  oil,  for  which  the  devoted  Gaudissart 
had  procured  an  agency  for  Popinot.  The  books  were  kept 
upstairs  in  the  counting-house.  An  old  servant  had  been  in- 
stalled as  housekeeper  to  Popinot  and  his  three  assistants. 

Popinot  himself,  penned  in  a  cash-desk  in  the-  corner  of 
the  shop  screened  off  by  a  glass  partition,  was  usually  arrayed 
in  a  green  baize  apron  and  a  pair  of  green-cloth  over-sleeves, 
when  he  was  not  buried,  as  at  this  moment,  in  a  pile  of  pa- 
pers. The  post  had  just  come  in,  and  Popinot,  with  a  pen 
behind  his  ear,  was  taking  in  handfuls  of  business  letters  and 
orders,  when  at  the  words,  "Well,  my  boy?"  he  raised  his 
head,  saw  his  late  employer,  locked  his  cash-desk,  and  came 
forward  joyously.  The  tip  of  the  young  man's  nose  was  red, 
for  there  was  no  fire  in  the  shop,  and  the  door  stood  open. 

"I  began  to  fear  that  you  were  never  coining  to  see  me," 
he  answered  respectfully. 

The  assistants  hurried  in,  eager  to  see  the  great  man  of 
the  perfumery  trade,  their  own  master's  partner,  the  deputy- 
mayor  who  wore  the  red  ribbon.  Cesar  was  flattered  by  this 
mute  homage,  and  he  who  had  felt  so  small  in  the  Kellers' 
bank  must  needs  imitate  the  Kellers.  He  stroked  his  chin, 
raised  himself  on  tiptoe  once  or  twice  with  an  air,  and  poured 
forth  his  commonplaces. 

"Well,  my  dear  fellow,  are  you  up  early  in  the  mornings  ?" 
asked  he. 

"No,  we  don't  always  go  to  bed,"  said  Popinot ;  "one  must 
succeed  by  hook  or  by  crook." 

"Well,  what  did  I  tell  you?    My  Oil  is  a  fortune." 

"Yes,  sir;  but  the  method  of  selling  it  counts  for  some- 
thing; I  have  given  your  diamond  a  worthy  setting." 

"As  a  matter  of  fact,"  said  the  perfumer,  "how  are  we  get- 
ting on  ?  Have  any  profits  been  made  ?" 


224  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR   BIROTTEAU 

"At  the  end  of  a  month !"  cried  Popinot.  "Did  you  expect 
it?  My  friend  Gaudissart  has  not  been  gone  much  more  than 
three  weeks.  He  took  a  post-chaise  without  telling  me  about 
it.  Oh  !  he  has  thrown  himself  into  this.  We  shall  owe  a  good 
deal  to  my  uncle !  The  newspapers  will  cost  us  twelve  thou- 
sand francs,"  he  added  in  Birotteau's  ear. 

"The  newspapers     .     .     . !"  cried  the  deputy-mayor. 

"Have  you  not  seen  them?" 

"No." 

"Then  you  know  nothing  of  this,"  said  Popinot.  "Twenty 
thousand  francs  in  placards,  frames,  and  prints !  .  .  .  A 
hundred  thousand  bottles  paid  for !  .  .  .  Oh !  it  is 
nothing  but  sacrifice  at  this  moment.  We  are  bringing  out 
the  Oil  on  a  large  scale.  If  you  had  stepped  over  to  the  Fau- 
bourg, where  I  have  often  been  at  work  all  night,  you  would 
have  seen  a  little  contrivance  of  mine  for  cracking  the  nuts, 
which  is  not  to  be  sneezed  at.  For  my  own  part,  during  the 
last  five  days  I  have  made  three  thousand  francs  in  commis- 
sion on  the  druggists'  oils." 

"What  a  good  head !"  said  Birotteau,  laying  his  hand  on 
little  Popinot's  hair,  and  stroking  it  as  if  the  young  man  had 
been  a  little  child,  "I  foresaw  how  it  would  be." 

Several  people  came  into  the  shop. 

"Good-bye  till  Sunday ;  we  are  going  to  dine  then  with  your 
aunt,  Mme.  Ragon,"  said  Birotteau,  and  he  left  Popinot  to 
his  own  affairs.  Evidently  the  roast  which  he  had  scented 
was  not  yet  ready  to  carve. — "How  extraordinary  it  is !  An 
assistant  becomes  a  merchant  in  twenty-four  hours,"  he 
thought,  and  Birotteau  was  as  much  taken  aback  by  Popinot's 
prosperity  and  self-possession  as  by  du  Tillet's  luxurious 
rooms.  "Here  is  Anselme  drawing  himself  up  a  bit  when  I 
put  my  hand  on  his  head,  as  if  he  were  a  Francois  Keller 
already." 

It  did  not  occur  to  Birotteau  that  the  assistants  were  look- 
ing on,  and  that  the  head  of  an  establishment  must  preserve 
his  dignity  ;n  his  own  house.  Here,  as  in  du  Tillet's  case 
the  good  man  had  made  a  blunder  in  the  kindness  of  his 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAO  225 

heart,  and  the  real  feeling  expressed  in  that  homely  familiar 
way  would  have  mortified  any  one  but  Anselme. 

The  Sunday  dinner-party  at  the  Ragons'  house  was  destined 
to  be  the  last  festivity  in  the  nineteen  years  of  Cesar's  mar- 
ried life,  the  life  which  had  been  so  completely  happy.  The 
Ragons  lived  on  the  second  floor  of  a  quaint  and  rather 
stately  old  house  in  the  Rue  du  Petit-Bourbon-Saint-Sulpice. 
Over  the  paneled  walls  of  their  rooms  danced  eighteenth  cen- 
tury shepherdesses  in  hooped  petticoats,  amid  browsing 
eighteenth  century  sheep;  and  the  old  people  themselves  be- 
longed to  the  bourgeoisie  of  that  bygone  eighteenth  century, 
with  its  solemn  gravity,  its  •quaint  habits  and  customs,  its 
respectful  attitude  to  the  noblesse,  its  loyal  devotion  to 
Church  and  King. 

The  timepieces,  the  linen,  the  plates  and  dishes,  all  the  fur- 
niture in  fact  had  such  an  old-world  air,  that  by  very  reason 
of  its  antiquity  it  seemed  new.  The  sitting-room,  hung  with 
brocatelle  damask  curtains,  contained  a  collection  of  "duch- 
esse"  chairs  and  what-nots;  and  from  the  wall  a  superb 
Popinot,  Mine.  Ragon's  father,  the  alderman  of  Sancerre, 
painted  by  Latour,  smiled  down  upon  the  room  like  a  parvenu 
in  all  his  glory.  Mme.  Ragon  at  home  was  incomplete  with- 
out her  tiny  King  Charles,  who  reposed  with  marvelous  effect 
on  her  hard  little  rococo  sofa,  a  piece  of  furniture  which  cer- 
tainly had  never  played  the  part  of  Crebillon's  sofa. 

Among  the  Ragons'  many  virtues,  the  possession  of  old 
wines  arrived  at  perfect  maturity  was  by  no  means  the  least 
endearing;  to  say  nothing  of  certain  liqueurs  of  Mme.  An- 
foux's,  brought  from  the  West  Indies  by  the  lovely  Mme.  Ra- 
gon's admirers,  sufficiently  dogged  to  love  on  without  hope  (so 
it  was  said).  Wherefore  the  Ragons'  little  dinners  were  highly 
•appreciated.  Jeannette,  the  old  cook,  served  the  two  old  folk 
with  a  blind  devotion ;  for  them  she  would  have  stolen  fruit 
to  make  preserves;  and  so  far  from  investing  her  money  in 
the  savings-bank,  she  prudently  put  it  in  the  lottery,  hoping 
one  day  to  carry  home  the  great  prize  to  her  master  and  mis- 
tress. In  spite  of  her  sixty  years,  Jeannette,  on  Sundays 


226  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR   BIROTTEAU 

when  they  had  company,  superintended  the  dishes  in  the 
kitchen,  and  waited  at  table  with  a  deft  quickness  which 
would  have  given  hints  to  Mile.  Contat  as  Suzanne  in  the 
Marriage  of  Figaro. 

This  time  the  guests  were  ten  in  number — the  elder  Po- 
pinot,  Uncle  Pillerault,  Anselme,  Cesar  and  his  wife  and 
daughter,  the  three  Matifats,  and  the  Abbe  Loraux.  Mine. 
Matifat,  first  introduced  arrayed  for  the  dance  in  her  turban, 
DOW  wore  a  gown  of  blue  velvet,  thick  cotton  stockings,  kid 
slippers,  green-fringed  chamois  leather  gloves,  and  a  hat 
lined  with  pink,  and  adorned  with  blossoming  auriculas. 

Every  one  had  arrived  by  five*  o'clock.  The  Ragons  used  to 
beg  their  guests  to  be  punctual;  and  when  the  good  folk 
themselves  were  asked  out  to  dinner,  their  friends  were  care- 
ful to  dine  at  the  same  hour,  for  at  the  age  of  seventy  the 
digestion  does  not  take  kindly  to  the  new-fangled  times  and 
seasons  ordained  by  fashionable  society. 

Cesarine  knew  that  Mme.  Eagon  would  seat  Anselme  beside 
her;  all  women,  even  devotees,  or  the  feeblest  feminine  intel- 
lects, understand  each  other  in  the  matter  of  a  love  affair. 
The  toilette  of  the  perfumer's  daughter  was  designed  to  turn 
young  Popinot's  head.  Constance,  who  had  given  up,  not 
without  a  pang,  the  idea  of  the  notary,  who  for  her  was  an 
heir-presumptive  to  a  throne,  had  helped  Cesarine  to  dress, 
certain  bitter  reflections  mingling  with  her  thoughts  the 
while.  Foreseeing  the  future,  she  lowered  the  modest  gauze 
kerchief  somewhat  on  Cesarine's  shoulders,  so  as  to  display 
rather  more  of  their  outline,  as  well  as  the  throat  on  which 
the  young  girl's  head  was  set  with  striking  grace.  The  bodice 
a  la  Grecque,  four  or  five  folds,  crossing  from  left  to  right, 
gave  short  glimpses  of  delicately  rounded  contours  beneath ; 
and  the  leaden-gray  merino  gown,  with  its  flounces  trimmed* 
with  green  ornaments,  clearly  defined  a  shape  which  had 
never  seemed  so  slender  and  so  lissome.  Gold  filagree  ear- 
rings hung  from  her  ears.  Her  hair,  dressed  high  a  la  Chi- 
noise,  was  drawn  back  from  her  face,  so  that  the  delicate  fresh- 
ness of  its  surface  and  the  dim  tracery  of  the  veins  which 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  RIROTTEAU  227 

suffused  the  white  velvet  with  the  purest  glow  of  life,  was  ap- 
parent at  a  glance.  Indeed,  Cesarine  was  so  coquettishly 
lovely,  that  Mme.  Matifat  could  not  help  saying  so,  without 
perceiving  that  the  mother  and  daughter  had  felt  the  neces- 
sity of  bewitching  young  Popinot. 

Neither  Birotteau,  nor  his  wife,  nor  Mme.  Matifat,  nor  any 
one  else,  broke  in  upon  the  delicious  talk  between  the  two 
young  people;  love  glowed  within  them  as  they  spoke  with 
lowered  voices  in  the  draughty  window-seat,  where  the  cold 
made  a  miniature  northeaster.  Moreover,  the  conversation 
of  their  seniors  grew  animated  when  the  elder  Popinot  let 
something  drop  concerning  Eoguin's  flight,  saying  that  this 
was  the  second  notary-defaulter,  and  that  hitherto  such  a 
thing  had  been  unknown.  Mme.  Ragon  had  touched  her 
brother's  foot  at  the  mention  of  Roguin,  Pillerault  had  spoken 
aloud  to  cover  the  judge's  remark,  and  both  looked  signifi- 
cantly from  him  to  Mme.  Birotteau. 

"I  know  all,"  Constance  said,  and  in  her  gentle  voice  there 
was  a  note  of  pain. 

"Oh,  well  then,"  said  Mme.  Matifat,  addressing  herself 
to  Birotteau,  who  humbly  bent  his  head,  "how  much  of  your 
money  did  he  run  away  with?  To  listen  to  the  gossip,  you 
might  be  ruined." 

"He  had  two  hundred  thousand  francs  of  mine.  As  for  the 
forty  thousand  which  he  pretended  to  borrow  for  me  from 
one  of  his  clients  whose  money  he  had  squandered,  we  are 
going  to  law  about  it." 

"You  will  see  that  settled  this  coming  week,"  said  the  elder 
Popinot.  "I  thought  that  you  would  not  mind  my  explaining 
your  position  to  M.  le  President;  he  has  ordered  Eoguin's 
papers  to  be  brought  into  the  Cliambre  de  Conseil;  on  exami- 
nation it  will  be  discovered  when  the  lender's  capital  was  em- 
bezzled, and  Derville's  allegations  can  be  proved  or  disproved. 
Derville  is  pleading  in  person,  to  save  expense  to  you." 

"Shall  we  gain  the  day?"  asked  Mine.  Birotteau. 

"I  do  not  know,"  Popinot  answered.  "Although  I  belong 
to  the  Chamber  before  which  the  case  will  come,  I  shall  re- 


228  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

frain  from  deliberating  upon  it,  even  if  I  should  be  called 
upon  to  do  so." 

"But  can  there  be  any  doubt  about  such  a  straightforward 
case?"  asked  Pilleranlt.  "Ought  not  the  deed  to  state  that 
the  money  was  actually  paid  down,  and  must  not  the  notaries 
declare  that  they  have  seen  it  handed  over?  Roguin  would  go 
to  the  galleys  if  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  justice." 

"In  my  opinion,"  the  judge  answered,  "the  lender  should 
look  to  Roguin's  caution-money  and  the  amount  paid  for 
the  practice  for  his  remedy;  but  sometimes,  in  still  simpler 
cases  than  this,  the  Councillors  at  the  Court-Royal  have  been 
divided  six  against  six." 

"What  is  this,  mademoiselle;  has  M.  Roguin  run  away?" 
asked  Popinot,  overhearing  at  last  what  was  being  said.  "M. 
Cesar  said  nothing  about  it  to  me — to  me  who  would  give  my 
life  for  him  .  .  ." 

Cesarine  felt  that  the  whole  family  was  included  in  that 
"for  him";  for  if  the  girl's  inexperience  had  not  understood 
the  tone,  she  could  not  mistake  the  look  that  wrapped  her 
in  a  rosy  flame. 

"I  was  sure  of  it;  I  told  him  so,  but  he  hid  it  all  from 
mother,  and  told  his  secret  to  no  one  but  me." 

"You  spoke  to  him  of  me  in  this  matter,"  said  Popinot; 
"you  read  my  heart,  but  do  you  read  all  that  is  there?" 

"Perhaps." 

"Oh !  I  am  very  happy,"  said  Popinot.  "If  you  will  re- 
move all  my  fears,  in  a  year's  time  I  shall  be  so  rich  that  your 
father  will  not  receive  me  so  badly  when  I  shall  speak  to  him 
then  of  our  marriage.  Five  hours  of  sleep  shall  be  enough 
for  me  now  of  a  night  .  .  ." 

"Do  not  make  yourself  ill,"  said  Cesarine,  and  no  words 
can  reproduce  the  tones  of  her  voice  as  she  gave  Popinot  a 
glance  wherein  all  her  thoughts  might  be  read. 

"Wife,"  said  Cesar,  as  they  rose  from  table,  "I  think  those 
young  people  are  in  love." 

"Oh,  well,  so  much  the  better,"  said  Constance  gravely :  "my 
daughter  will  be  the  wife  of  a  man  who  has  a  head  on  his 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  229 

shoulders  and  plenty  of  energy.  Brains  are  the  best  endow- 
ment in  a  marriage." 

She  hurried  away  into  Mme.  Ragon's  room.  During  din- 
ner, Cesar  had  let  fall  several  remarks  which  had  drawn  a 
smile  from  Pillerault  and  the  judge,  so  plainly  did  they  ex- 
hibit the  speaker's  ignorance;  and  it  was  borne  in  upon  the 
unfortunate  woman  how  little  fitted  her  husband  was  to  strug- 
gle with  misfortune.  Constance's  heart  was  heavy  with  un- 
shed tears.  Instinctively  she  mistrusted  du  Tillet,  for  all 
mothers  understand  timeo  Danaos  et  dona  ferentes  without 
learning  Latin.  She  wept,  and  her  daughter  and  Mme. 
Eagon,  with  their  arms  about  her,  could  not  learn  the  cause 
of  her  trouble. 

"It  is  the  nerves,"  said  she. 

The  rest  of  the  evening  was  spent  over  the  card-table  by  the 
old  people,  and  the  younger  ones  pla^^ed  the  blithe  childish 
games  styled  "innocent  amusements,"  because  they  cover  the 
innocent  mischief  of  bourgeois  lovers.  The  Matifats  joined 
the  young  people. 

"Cesar,"  said  Constance,  as  they  went  home  again,  "go  to 
M.  le  Baron  de  Nucingen  some  time  about  the  8th,  so  as  to 
be  sure  some  days  beforehand  that  you  can  meet  your  engage- 
ments on  the  15th.  If  there  should  be  any  hitch  in  your  ar- 
rangements, would  you  raise  a  loan  one  day  to  pay  your  debts 
between  one  day  and  the  next  ?" 

"I  will  go,  wife,"  Cesar  answered,  and  he  grasped  her  hand 
and  Cesarine's  in  his  as  he  added,  "My  darlings,  I  have  given 
you  bitter  New  Year's  gifts !"  And  in  the  darkness  inside  the 
cab  the  two  women,  who  could  not  see  the  poor  perfumer,  felt 
hot  tears  falling  on  their  hands. 

"Hope,  dear,"  said  Constance. 

"Everything  will  go  well,  papa ;  M.  Popinot  told  me  that 
he  would  give  his  life  for  you." 

"For  me — and  for  my  family;  that  is  it,  is  it  not?"  an- 
swered Cesar,  trying  to  speak  gaily. 

Cesarine  pressed  her  father's  hand  in  a  way  which  told 

him  that  Anselme  was  her  betrothed. 
16 


230  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

Two  hundred  cards  arrived  for  Birotteau  on  New  Year's 
Day,  and  the  two  following  days.  This  influx  of  tokens  of 
favor  and  of  false  friendship  is  a  painful  thing  for  people  who 
are  being  swept  away  by  the  current  of  misfortune.  Three 
times  Cesar  presented  himself  at  the  Baron  de  Nucingen's 
hotel,  and  each  time  in  vain.  The  New  Year's  festivities  suffi- 
ciently excused  the  banker's  absence.  But  on  the  last  visit 
Birotteau  went  as  far  as  the  banker's  private  office,  and 
learned  from  a  German,  the  head  clerk,  that  M.  de  Nucingen 
had  only  returned  from  a  ball  given  by  the  Kellers  at  five 
o'clock  that  morning,  and  that  he  would  not  be  visible  until 
half-past  nine.  Birotteau  chatted  with  this  man  for  nearly 
half  an  hour,  and  contrived  to  interest  the  German  in  his  af- 
fairs. So,  during  the  da}',  this  cabinet  minister  of  the  house 
of  Nucingen  wrote  to  tell  Cesar  that  the  Baron  would  see  him 
at  twelve  o'clock  the  following  morning,  January  the  3d. 
Although  every  hour  brought  its  drop  of  bitterness,  that  day 
went  by  with  dreadful  swiftness.  The  perfumer  took  a  cab 
and  drove  to  the  hotel ;  the  courtyard  was  already  blocked  with 
carriages,  and  the  poor  honest  man's  heart  was  oppressed  by 
the  splendors  of  that  celebrated  house. 

"Yet  he  has  failed  twice,"  he  said  to  himself,  as  he  went 
up  the  handsome  staircase,  with  flowers  on  either  side,  and 
through  the  luxuriously  furnished  rooms  by  which  the  Baron- 
ess, Delphine  de  Nucingen,  had  made  a  name  for  herself. 
The  Baroneps  strove  to  rival  the  most  splendid  houses  in  the 
Faubourg  Saint-Germain — the  houses  of  a  circle  into  which 
as  yet  she  had  no  right  of  entry. 

The  Baron  and  his  wife  were  at  breakfast.  In  spite  of  the 
number  of  those  who  were  waiting  in  his  offices  for  him,  he 
said  that  he  would  see  du  Tillet's  friend?  at  any  hour.  Birot- 
teau trembled  with  hope  at  the  change  which  the  Baron's  mes- 
sage produced  on  the  lackey's  insolent  face. 

"Bardon  me,  my  tear,"  said  the  Baron,  addressing  his  wife, 
as  he  rose  to  his  feet  and  bowed  slightly  to  Birotteau,  "dees 
shentleman  ees  ein  goot  Royaleest,  and  de  indimate  frient  of 
du  Dillet.  Meinnesir  Pirodot  is  teputy-mayor  of  de  Second 


RISE   AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  231 

Arrontussement,  and  gifs  palls  of  Asiatic  magnificence;  you 
vill  make,  no  doubt,  his  agquaintance  mit  Measure." 

"I  should  be  delighted  to  take  lessons  of  Mme.  Birotteau, 

for  Ferdinand "  ("Come,"  thought  the  perfumer,  "she 

calls  him  Ferdinand,  plump  and  plain") — "Ferdinand  spoke 
of  the  ball  to  us  with  an  admiration  which  says  the  more,  be- 
cause Ferdinand  is  very  critical ;  everything  must  have  been 
perfect.  Shall  you  soon  give  another  ?"  asked  Mme.  de  Nucin- 
gen,  with  a  most  amiable  expression. 

"Madame,  poor  folk  like  us  seldom  amuse  ourselves," 
answered  the  perfumer,  doubtful  whether  the  Baroness  was 
laughing  at  him,  or  if  her  words  were  simply  an  empty  com- 
pliment. 

"Meinnesir  Crintod  suberindended  de  alderations  in  your 
house,"  said  the  Baron. 

"Oh  !  Grindot !  is  he  that  nice  young  architect  who  has  just 
come  back  from  Borne  ?"  asked  Delphine  de  Nucingen.  "I  am 
quite  wild  about  him ;  he  is  making  lovely  sketches  for  my 
album." 

No  conspirator  in  the  hands  of  the  executioner  in  the  tor- 
ture chamber  of  the  Venetian  Kepublic  could  have  felt  less 
at  his  ease  in  the  boots  than  Birotteau  in  his  ordinary  clothes 
at  that  moment.  Every  word  had  for  him  an  ironical  sound. 

"Ve  too  gif  liddle  palls  here,"  the  Baron  continued,  giving 
the  visitor  a  searching  glance.  "Eferypody  does  it,  you  see !" 

"Will  M.  Birotteau  join  us  at  breakfast  ?"  asked  Delphine, 
and  indicated  the  luxuriously-furnished  table. 

"I  am  here  on  business,  Mme.  la  Baronne,  and " 

"Yes !"  said  the  Baron,  "matame,  vill  you  bermit  us  to 
talk  pizness?" 

Delphine  made  a  little  gesture  of  assent.  "Are  you  about 
to  buy  some  perfumery?"  she  asked  of  the  Baron,  who 
shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  turned  in  despair  to  Cesar. 

"Du  Dillet  take  de  greatest  inderest  in  you,"  said  he. 

"At  last  we  are  coming  to  the  point,"  thought  the  hapless 
merchant. 

"Mit  his  ledder,  your  gretid  mit  my  house  is  only  limited 
py  de  pounds  of  my  own  fortune  .  .  ." 


232  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

The  life-giving  draught  which  the  angel  bore  to  Hagar  in 
the  wilderness  must  surely  have  been  like  the  dew  which  these 
outlandish  words  effused  through  Birotteau's  veins.  The 
cunning  Baron  clung  of  set  purpose  to  the  horrible  accent 
of  the  German  Jew,  who  flatters  himself  that  he  has  mastered 
an  alien  tongue;  for  this  system  led  to  misapprehensions 
highly  useful  to  him  in  the  way  of  business. 

"And  you  shall  have  ein  gurrent  aggount,  dat  is  how  we 
vill  do  it/'  remarked  the  good,  the  great,  and  venerable  finan- 
cier, with  Alsatian  geniality. 

Birotteau's  doubts  were  all  laid  to  rest ;  he  had  had  experi- 
ence of  business,  and  he  knew  that  a  man  never  goes  into  de- 
tails unless  he  is  disposed  to  oblige  you  and  to  carry  out  a 
plan. 

"I  neet  not  say  to  you  that  the  Pank  demands  dree  zigna- 
tures  off  eferypody,  gif  de  amount  is  large  or  small.  So  you 
shall  make  all  your  pills  to  de  order  off  our  friend  du  Dillet, 
who  vill  send  dem  de  same  day  to  de  Pank  mit  my  zignature, 
and  py  four  o'glock  you  shall  have  de  amount  of  de  pills  dat 
you  haf  accept  in  de  morning,  and  at  Pank  rate.  I  do  not 
vant  gommission  nor  discount — nor  nossing;  for  I  shall  haf 
de  Measure  of  peing  agreeable  to  you.  .  .  .  But  I  make 
one  gondition !"  he  added,  touching  his  nose  with  the  fore- 
finger of  his  left  hand,  and  putting  an  indescribable  cunning 
into  the  gesture. 

"It  is  granted  before  you  ask  it,  M.  le  Baron,"  said  Birot- 
teau,  imagining  that  the  banker  meant  to  stipulate  for  a  share 
in  the  profits. 

"Ein  gondition  to  vich  I  addach  de  greatest  price,  because  I 
should  like  Montame  de  Nichinguenne  to  take,  as  she  has  said, 
some  lessons  of  Montame  Pirodot." 

"M.  le  Baron,  do  not  laugh  at  me,  I  beg." 

"Meinnesir  Pirodot,"  said  the  financier  seriously,  "it  is  an 
agreement ;  you  are  to  infite  us  to  your  next  pall.  My  wife  is 
chealous ;  she  would  like  to  see  your  house,  of  vich  eferypody 
says  such  great  dings." 

"M.  le  Baron!" 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTBAU  233 

"Oh !  if  you  refuse  me,  no  loan  aggount !  You  are  in  great 
favor.  Yes !  I  know  dat  de  Brefect  of  de  Seine  was  go  to 
you." 

"M.  le  Baron!" 

"You  had  La  Pillartiere,  ein  shentleman-in-ordinary  to  de 
King;  and  de  goot  Fenteheine,  for  you  were  wounded — at 
Sainte " 

"On  the  13th  of  Vendemiaire,  M.  le  Baron." 

"You  had  Meinnesir  de  Lassebette,  Meinnesir  Fauqueleine 
of  de  Agademie " 

"M.  le  Baron!" 

"Eh !  der  teufel,  do  not  be  so  modest,  Meester  Teputy- 
Mayor ;  I  haf  heard  dat  de  King  said  dat  your  pall " 

"The  King  ?"  asked  Birotteau,  destined  to  learn  no  more, 
for  at  this  moment  a  young  man  came  into  the  room;  the 
sound  of  his  footsteps,  heard  at  a  distance,  had  brought  a 
bright  color  into  Delphine  de  Nucingen's  fair  face. 

"Goot-tay,  my  tear  de  Marsay,"  said  the  Baron.  "Take 
my  blace ;  dere  are  a  lot  of  beoples  in  my  office,  dey  say.  Who 
knows  why  ?  De  Mines  off  Wortschinne  are  baying  two  hun- 
derd  ber  cent !  Yes.  I  have  receifed  de  aggounts.  You  haf  a 
hunderd  tousand  francs  more  of  ingom  dis  year,  Montame  de 
Nichinguenne ;  you  could  buy  girdles  and  kew-kaws  to  make 
yourself  pretty,  as  if  you  neeted  dem !" 

"Good  heavens !"  exclaimed  Birotteau.  "The  Eagons  have 
sold  their  shares !" 

"Who  may  these  gentlemen  be?"  asked  the  young  dandy 
with  a  smile. 

"Dere!"  said  Kucingen,  who  had  gone  as  far  as  the 
door  already,  "it  looks  to  me  as  if  dose  bersons.  .  .  . 
Te  Marsay,  dis  is  Meinnesir  Pirodot,  your  berfumer,  who 
gifs  palls  mit  Asiatic  magnificence,  and  has  been  degoraded 
py  de  King " 

De  Marsay,  taking  up  his  eyeglass,  remarked,  "Ah !  to  be 
sure.  I  thought  that  the  face  was  familiar.  Then  are  you 
about  to  perfume  your  affairs  with  some  efficacious  oil,  to 
Make  them  run  smoothly?" 


234  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Ach!  veil,  dose  Rakkons  had  an  aggount  mit  me,"  the 
Baron  went  on.  "I  put  dem  in  de  vay  of  ein  fortune,  and 
dey  could  not  vait  one  more  day  for  it." 

"M.  le  Baron !"  cried  Birotteau. 

The  worthy  perfumer  found  himself  very  much  in  the  dark 
about  his  affairs,  and  fled  after  the  banker  without  taking 
leave  of  the  Baroness  or  of  de  Marsay.  M.  de  Nucingen  was 
on  the  lowest  step  of  the  stairs,  but  even  as  he  reached  the 
door  of  his  office,  Birotteau  was  beside  him.  As  he  turned  the 
handle,  he  saw  the  despairing  gesture  of  the  poor  creature, 
for  whom  the  gulf  was  yawning,  and  said : 

"Eh!  it  is  understood,  is  it  not?  See  du  Billet,  and  ar- 
ranche  it  all  mit  him." 

It  occurred  to  Birotteau  that  de  Marsay  might  have  gome 
influence  with  the  Baron;  he  darted  upstairs  with  the  speed 
of  a  swallow,  and  slipped  into  the  dining-room  where,  by 
rights,  the  Baroness  and  de  Marsay  should  have  been,  for 
he  had  left  Delphinc  waiting  for  her  coffee  and  cream.  The 
coffee  indeed  was  now  waiting,  but  the  Baroness  and  the 
young  dandy  had  vanished;  the  servant  looked  amused  at 
Birotteau's  astonishment,  and  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to 
go  more  leisurely  downstairs  again.  From  the  Xucingens' 
hotel  he  went  at  once  to  du  Tillet,  only  to  hear  that  he  was  at 
Mme.  Eoguin's  house  in  the  country.  He  took  a  cab,  and 
paid  an  extra  fare  to  be  driven  to  Nogent-sur-Marne  as 
quickly  as  if  he  had  traveled  post.  But  at  Xogcnt-sur- 
Marne  the  porter  toid  him  that  Monsieur  and  Madame  had  set 
out  for  Paris,  and  Birotteau  returned  quite  tired  out. 

When  he  told  his  wife  and  daughter  the  story  of  his  ex- 
cursion, he  was  amazed  to  receive  the  sweetest  consolation 
and  assurances  that  all  would  go  well  from  Constance,  who 
had  always  taken  all  the  little  ups  and  downs  of  business  as 
occasions  on  which  to  utter  her  boding  cries. 

At  seven  o'clock  the  next  morning,  Birotteau  took  up  his 
position  before  du  Tillet's  door  in  the  dim  light.  He  begged 
the  porter  to  put  him  into  communication  with  du  Tillet's 
man,  and,  by  dint  of  slipping  ten  francs  into  the  porter's 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  285 

hands,  obtained  the  favor  of  an  interview  with  du  Tillet's 
man ;  of  him  he  asked  to  give  him  an  interview  with  du  Tillet 
as  soon  as  du  Tillet  should  be  visible,  and  to  that  end  a  couple 
of  gold  pieces  found  their  way  into  the  possession  of  du, 
Tillet' s  man.  By  way  of  these  little  sacrifices  and  great  hu- 
miliations, common  to  courtiers  and  petitioners,  he  attained 
his  end.  At  half-past  eight,  when  his  ex-assistant  had  slipped 
,on  a  dressing-gown  and  shaken  off  the  confused  ideas  of  a  mnn 
awakened  from  sleep,  had  yawned,  stretched  himself,  and 
asked  pardon  of  his  old  master,  Birotteau  found  himself  face 
to  face  with  the  tiger  thirsting  for  revenge,  the  man  whom 
he  was  fain  to  consider  as  his  one  friend  in  the  world. 

"Do  not  mind  me,"  said  Birotteau,  replying  to  the  apology. 

"What  do  you  want,  my  good  Cesar  ?"  asked  du  Tillet ;  and 
Cesar,  not  without  terrible  palpitations,  gave  the  Baron  de 
Nucingen's  answer  and  demands  to  an  inattentive  listener, 
who  looked  about  for  the  bellows,  and  scolded  his  man- 
servant for  taking  so  long  over  lighting  the  fire. 

Cesar  did  not  notice  at  first  that  if  the  master  was  not 
heedful,  the  man  was  interested;  but  seeing  this  at  last,  he 
grew  confused  and  broke  off,  to  begin  again,  spurred  on  by 
a  "Go  on,  go  on ;  I  am  listening,"  from  the  abstracted  banker. 

The  good  man's  shirt  was  soaked  with  perspiration,  which 
turned  icy  cold  when  du  Tillet  looked  full  and  steadily  at 
him,  and  he  could  see  those  eyes  of  silver  streaked  with  a  few 
gold  threads;  there  was  a  diabolical  light  in  them  which 
pierced  him  to  the  heart. 

"My  dear  master,  the  Bank  refused  your  paper,  passed  on 
to  Gigonnet  without  guarantee  by  the  firm  of  Claparon;  is 
that  my  fault  ?  What !  you  have  been  a  judge  at  the  Consular 
Tribunal,  how  could  you  make  such  blunders?  I  am,  before 
all  things,  a  banker.  I  will  give  you  my  money,  but  I  could 
(not  expose  my  signature  to  a  refusal  from  the  Bank.  I  live 
by  credit.  So  do  we  all.  Do  you  want  money  ?" 

"Can  you  let  me  have  all  that  I  need  in  cash?" 

"That  depends  upon  the  amount  to  V*>  paid.  How  much 
do  you  want  ?" 


236  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Thirty  thousand  francs." 

"Plenty  of  chimney-pots  tumbling  about  my  ears!"  ex- 
claimed du  Tillet,  and  he  burst  into  a  laugh. 

The  perfumer,  misled  by  the  splendor  of  du  Tillet's  sur- 
roundings, chose  to  regard  that  laugh  as  a  sign  that  the  sum 
was  a  mere  trifle.  He  breathed  again.  Du  Tillet  rang  the 
bell. 

"Tell  the  cashier  to  come  up." 

"He  is  not  here  yet,  sir,"  the  servant  answered. 

"Those  rogues  are  laughing  at  me !  It  is  half-past  eight ; 
they  ought  to  have  done  a  million  francs'  worth  of  business 
by  now." 

Five  minutes  later,  M.  Legras  came  upstairs. 

"How  much  have  we  in  the  safe?" 

"Only  twenty  thousand  francs.  Your  orders  were  to  buy 
thirty  thousand  livres  per  annum  in  rentes,  at  present  price, 
payable  on  the  15th." 

"That  is  right;  I  am  still  asleep." 

The  cashier  gave  Birotteau  a  sly  glance,  and  went. 

"If  truth  were  banished  from  the  earth,  she  would  leave 
her  last  word  with  a  cashier,"  said  du  Tillet.  "But  have  you 
not  an  interest  in  little  Popinot's  business,  now  that  he  has 
just  set  up  for  himself?"  he  added,  after  a  horrible  pause, 
in  which  the  sweat  gathered  in  drops  on  Birotteau's  fore- 
head. 

"Yes,"  said  Cesar  innocently.  "Do  you  think  you  could 
discount  his  signature  for  a  fair  amount  ?" 

"Bring  me  fifty  thousand  francs'  worth  of  his  acceptances, 
and  I  will  get  them  negotiated  for  you  at  a  reasonable  rate 
by  one  Gobseck;  very  easy  to  do  business  with  when  he  has 
plenty  of  capital  on  his  hands,  and  he  has  a  good  deal  just 
now." 

Birotteau  went  home  again  heartbroken.  He  did  not  see 
that  bankers  and  bill-discounters  were  sending  him  backwards 
and  forwards  in  a  game  of  battledore  and  shuttlecock;  but 
Constance  guessed  even  then  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
obtain  a  loan  of  any  sort.  If  three  bankers  had  already  re- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  237 

fused  credit  to  a  man  as  well  known  as  the  deputy-mayor, 
every  one  would  hear  of  it,  and  the  Bank  of  France  was  no 
longer  to  be  thought  of. 

"Try  to  renew"  (this  was  Constance's  advice).  "Go  to 
your  co-associate,  M.  Claparon,  to  every  one,  in  fact,  whose 
bills  fall  due  on  the  15th,  and  ask  them  to  renew.  There  will 
be  time  enough  then  to  go  to  bill-discounters  with  Popinot's 
bills." 

"To-morrow  will  be  the  13th !"  exclaimed  Birotteau,  worn 
out  with  anxiety. 

He  was  "endowed  with  a  sanguine  temperament,"  to  quote 
his  own  prospectus ;  a  temperament  upon  which  the  wear  and 
tear  of  emotion  and  of  thought  tells  so  enormously,  that  sleep 
is  imperatively  needed  to  repair  the  waste.  Cesarine  brought 
her  father  into  the  drawing-room,  and  played  Rousseau's 
Dream,  that -charming  composition  of  Herold's,  while  Con- 
stance was  sewing  by  her  husband's  side.  The  poor  man  lay 
back  on  the  ottoman  couch.  Every  time  his  eyes  rested  on 
his  wife  he  saw  a  sweet  smile  on  her  lips,  and  so  he  fell 
asleep. 

"Poor  man,"  said  Constance.  "What  torture  is  in  store 
for  him !  .  .  .  If  only  he  can  endure  it !" 

"Oh,  mamma,  what  is  it?"  asked  Cesarine,  seeing  her 
mother  in  tears. 

"I  see  bankruptcy  ahead,  darling.  If  your  father  is  obliged 
to  file  his  schedule,  there  must  be  no  asking  for  pity  of  any 
one.  You  must  be  prepared  to  be  an  ordinary  shop-girl,  my 
dear.  If  I  see  you  doing  your  part  bravely,  I  shall  have 
strength  to  begin  life  again.  I  know  your  father;  he  will 
not  keep  back  one  farthing;  I  shall  give  up  my  claims,  all 
that  we  have  will  be  sold.  Take  your  clothes  and  trinkets  to- 
morrow to  Uncle  Pillerault;  you  are  not  bound  to  lose  any- 
thing, my  child." 

At  these  words,  spoken  with  such  devout  sincerity,  Cesar- 
ine's  terror  knew  no  bounds.  She  thought  of  going  to  An- 
selme,  but  a  feeling  of  delicacy  withheld  her. 

The  next  morning  found  Birotteau  in  the  Rue  de  Provence 


238  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

at  nine  o'clock.  He  had  fallen  a  victim  to  fresh  anxieties? 
of  a  totally  different  kind.  To  borrow  money  is  not  neces- 
sarily a*  complicated  process  in  business;  it  is  a  matter  of 
daily  occurrence,  for  capital  must  always  be  found  wher- 
ever a  new  enterprise  is  started;  but  to  ask  a  man  to  renew 
a  bill  is  in  commercial  circles  what  the  Police1  Court 
is  to  the  Court  of  Assize;  it  is  a  first  step  to  bankruptcy, 
even  as  a  misdemeanor  is  half-way  to  a  crime.  The  secret 
of  your  weakness  and  your  embarrassment  passes  out  of  your 
own  keeping.  A  merchant  delivers  himself  up,  bound  hand 
and  foot,  to  another  merchant,  and  charity  is  not  a  virtue 
much  practised  on  the  Stock  Exchange. 

The  perfumer,  who  hitherto  had  walked  the  streets  of 
Paris  with  bright  confident  eyes,  now  cast  down  by  doubts, 
hesitated  to  go  to  Clapafon ;  he  was  beginning  to  understand 
that  with  bankers  the  heart  is  merely  a  portion  of  the  in- 
ternal economy.  Claparon  had  seemed  to  him  so  brutal  in  his 
coarse  hilarity,  and  he  had  felt  so  much  vulgarity  in  the  man, 
that  he  shrank  from  approaching  this  creditor. 
.  "He  is  nearer  the  people,  perhaps  he  will  have  more  soul !" 
This  was  the  first  word  of  accusation  which  the  anguish  of 
his  position  wrung  from  him. 

Cesar  glanced  up  at  the  windows,  and  at  the  green  cur- 
tains yellowed  by  the  sun;  then  he  drew  the  last  of  his  stock 
of  courage  up  from  the  depths  of  his  soul,  and  climbed  the 
stairs  that  led  to  a  shabby  mezzanine  floor.  He  read  the  word 
Office,  engraven  in  black  letters  on  an  oval  brass-plate  upon 
the  door,  and  knocked.  No  one  answered,  so  he  went  in. 

The  whole  place  was  something  more  than  humble;  it 
savored  of  dire  poverty,  avarice,  or  neglect.  No  clerk  showed 
his  face  behind  a  barrier  of  unpainted  deal,  surmounted  at 
elbow  height  by  a  brass  wire  lattice,  an  arrangement  which 
screened  off  an  inner  space  occupied  by  tables  and  desics 
of  blackened  wood.  Scattered  about  the  deserted  offices  lay 
inkstands,  in  which  mold  was  growing,  quill-pens  touzled 
like  a  street  urchin's  head,  twisted  up  into  suns  with  rays; 
the  rooms  were  littered  with  cardboard  cases,  papers,  and 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  239 

circulars,  useless  no  doubt.  The  floor  of  the  lobby  was  as 
worn,  as  damp,  and  gritty  as  the  floor  of  a  lodging-house 
parlor.  Through  a  door  on  which  the  word  Counting-house 
was  inscribed,  the  visitor  entered  a  second  room,  where  every- 
thing was  in  keeping  with  the  sinister  waggery  displayed  in 
the  first.  In  one  corner  stood  a  large  cage  of  oak  with  a  grill 
of  copper-wire,  and  a  cashier's  sliding  window.  An  enormous 
iron  letter-box  had  doubtless  been  abandoned  to  the  rats  for 
a  playground.  The  open  door  of  this  cage  gave  a  view  of 
yet  another  of  these  whimsical  offices,  and  of  a  shabby  and 
worm-eaten  green  chair,  a  mass  of  horsehair  escaping  through 
a  hole  underneath  this  piece  of  furniture  in  countless  cork- 
screw curls  that  called  its  owner's  wig  to  mind.  Evidently 
this  room  had  been  the  drawing-room  of  the  house  before  it 
had  been  converted  into  offices,  but  the  only  attempt  at  or- 
namental furniture  was  a  round  table  covered  with  a  green 
cloth,  and  some  old  chairs  covered  with  black  leather  and 
adorned  with  gilt  nail-heads  which  stood  about  it.  The 
chimney-piece  had  some  pretensions  to  elegance,  the  hearth- 
stone was  unblackened,  and  there  were  no  visible  signs  that 
a  fire  had  been  lighted  there.  The  pier-glass  above  it,  tar- 
nished' with  fly-spots,  had  a  mean  look,  so  had  a  mahogany 
clock-case  bought  at  the  sale  of  some  departed  notary's  of- 
fice furniture,  a  dreary  object  which  enhanced  the  depressing 
effect  of  the  pair  of  empty  candle-sticks  and  the  all-pervading 
sticky  grime.  The  dinginess  of  the  paper  on  the  walls,  drab 
with  a  rose-colored  border,  spoke  plainly  of  the  habitual 
presence  of  smokers  and  absence  of  ventilation.  The  whole 
stale-looking  room  resembled  nothing  so  much  as  a  news- 
paper editor's  office.  Birotteau,  afraid  of  intruding  on 
the  banker's  privacy,  gave  three  sharp  taps  on  the  door  op- 
posite the  one  by  which  he  had  entered. 

"Come  in !"  cried  Claparon,  and  the  sound  of  his  voice 
evidently  came  from  a  room  beyond.  The  perfumer  could 
hear  a  good  fire  crackling  on  the  hearth,  but  the  banker  was 
not  there.  This  apartment  did  duty,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
for  a  private  office.  Frangois  Keller's  elegantly  furnished 


240  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR   BIROTTEAU 

sanctum  differed  from  the  grotesque  neglect  of  this  sham 
capitalist's  surroundings  as  widely  as  Versailles  differs  from 
the  wigwam  of  a  Huron  chief;  and  Birotteau,  who  had  beheld 
the  glories  of  the  banking  world,  was  about  to  be  introduced 
to  its  blackguardism. 

In  a  sort  of  oblong  den,  contrived  behind  the  private  of- 
fice, where  the  whole  of  the  furniture,  scarcely  elegant  in  its 
prime,  had  been  battered,  broken,  covered  with  grease,  slit  to 
rags,  soiled  and  spoiled  by  the  slovenly  habits  of  the  occupier, 
reclined  Claparon,  who,  at  sight  of  Birotteau,  flung  on  a 
filthy  dressing-gown,  laid  down  his  pipe,  and  drew  the  bed- 
curtains  with  a  haste  that  seemed  suspicious  even  to  the  in- 
nocent perfumer. 

"Take  a  seat,  sir/'  said  du  Tillet's  banker  puppet. 

Claparon  without  his  wig,  his  head  tied  up  in  a  bandana 
handkerchief  all  awry,  was  to  Birotteau's  thinking  the  more 
repulsive  in  that  his  loose  dressing-gown  gave  glimpses  of  a 
nondescript  knitted  woolen  garment,  once  white,  but  now  a 
dingy  bfown,  from  indefinitely  prolonged  wear. 

"Will  you  breakfast  with  me?"  asked  Claparon,  bethinking 
himself  of  the  ball,  and  prompted  partly  by  a  wish  to  turn 
the  tables  on  his  host,  partly  by  anxiety  to  put  Birotteau  off 
the  scent.  And,  in  point  of  fact,  a  round  table,  hastily 
cleared  of  papers,  was  suspiciously  suggestive ;  for  it  displayed 
a  pate,  oysters,  white  wine,  and  a  dish  of  vulgar  kidneys, 
sautes  au  vin  de  Champagne,  cooling  in  their  gravy,  while  an 
omelette  with  truffles  was  browning  before  the  sea-coal  fire. 
The  table  was  set  for  two  persons;  two  table-napkins,  soiled 
at  supper  on  the  previous  evening,  would  have  enlightened 
the  purest  innocence.  Claparon,  in  the  character  of  a  man 
who  has  a  belief  in  his  own  adroitness,  insisted  in  spite  of 
Birotteau's  refusals. 

"I  should  by  rights  have  had  somebody  to  breakfast,  but 
that  somebody  has  not  kept  the  appointment,"  cried  the  cun- 
ning commercial  traveler,  speaking  loud,  so  that  the  words 
might  reach  the  ears  of  an  auditor  hiding  under  the  blankets. 

"I  have  come  on  business  pure  and  simple,  sir,"  said  Birot- 
teau, "  and  I  shall  not  detain  you  long." 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  241 

"I  am  overwhelmed  with  business,"  returned  Claparon, 
pointing  to  a  cylinder  desk  and  to  the  tables,  which  were 
heaped  up  with  papers,  "not  a  poor  little  minute  may  I  have 
to  myself.  I  never  see  people  except  on  Saturdays;  but  for 
you,  my  dear  sir,  I  am  always  at  home.  I  have  no  time  left 
nowadays  for  love-affairs  or  lounging  about;  I  am  losing 
the  business  instinct,  which  takes  intervals  of  carefully-timed 
idleness,  if  it  is  to  keep  its  freshness.  Nobody  sees  me  busy 
doing  nothing  in  the  boulevards.  Pshaw !  business  bores  me, 
I  don't  care  to  hear  any  more  about  business  at  present;  I 
have  money  enough,  and  I  shall  never  have  pleasure  enough. 
My  word,  I  have  a  mind  to  turn  tourist  and  see  Italy.  Ah ! 
beloved  Italy !  fair  even  amid  her  adversity,  adorable  land, 
where,  doubtless,  I  shall  find  some  magnificent,  indolent 
Italian  beauty;  I  have  always  admired  Italian  women !  Have 
you  ever  had  an  Italian  mistress?  No?  Oh,  well,  come  to 
Italy  with  me.  We  will  see  Venice,  the  city  of  the  Doges, 
fallen,  more's  the  pity,  into  the  hands  of  those  philistines 
the  Austrians,  who  know  nothing  of  art.  Pooh !  let  us  leave 
business,  and  canals,  and  loans,  and  governments  in  peace. 
I  am  a  prince  when  my  pockets  are  well  lined.  Let  us  travel, 
by  Jove!" 

"Just  one  word,  sir,  and  I  will  go,"  said  Birotteau.  "You 
passed  my  bills  on  to  M.  Bidault." 

"Gigonnet,  you  mean;  nice  little  fellow,  Gigonnet;  a  man 
as  easy-going  as  a — as  a  slip-knot." 

"Yes,"  said  Cesar.  "I  should  be  glad — and  in  this  matter 
I  am  relying  on  your  integrity  and  honor — (Claparon  bowed) 
— I  should  be  glad  if  I  could  renew " 

"Impossible,"  said  the  banker  roundly — "impossible.  I 
am  not  the  only  man  in  the  affair.  We  are  all  in  council, 
'tis  a  regular  Chamber;  but  that  we  are  all  on  good  terms 
among  ourselves,  like  rashers  in  a  pan.  Oh,  we  deliberate, 
that  we  do !  The  building  land  by  the  Madeleine  is  nothing; 
we  are  doing  other  things  elsewhere.  Eh !  my  good  sir,  if  we 
were  not  busy  in  the  Champs-filysees,  near  the  new  Ex- 
change which  has  just  been  finished,  in  the  Quartier  Saint- 


242  RISE  AIs7D  FALL  OF  CESAR  RIROTTEAU 

Lazare  and  about  the  Tivoli,  we  should  not  be  vinancicrs,  as 
old  Nucingen  says.  So  what  is  the  Madeleine  ?  A  little  speck 
of  a  business.  Prrr !  we  do  not  dabble,  my  good  sir,"  he  said, 
tapping  Birotteau's  chest,  and  giving  him  a  hug.  "There, 
come  and  have  your  breakfast,  and  we  will  have  a  talk," 
Claparon  continued,  by  way  of  softening  his  refusal. 

"By  all  means,"  said  Birotteau. — "So  much  the  worse  for 
the  other,"  thought  he.  He  would  wait  till  the  wine  went  to 
Claparon's  head,  and  find  out  then  who  his  partners  really 
were  in  this  affair,  which  began  to  have  a  very  shady  look. 
."That  is  right! — Victoire!"  shouted  the  banker,  and  at 
the  call  appeared  a  genuine  Leonarda,  tricked  out  like  a  fish- 
wife. 

"Tell  the  clerks  that  I  cannot  see  anybody,  not  even  Nu- 
cingen, Keller,  Gigonnet,  and  the  rest  of  them !" 

"There  is  no  one  here  but  M.  Lempereur." 

"He  can  receive  the  fashionables,"  said  Claparon,'  "and 
the  small  fry  need  not  go  beyond  the  public  office.  They 
can  be  told  that  I  am  meditating  how  to  get  a  pull — a1  a 
bottle  of  champagne." 

To  make  an  old  commercial  traveler  tipsy  is  to  achieve 
the  impossible.  Cesar  had  mistaken  his  boon  companion's 
symptoms,  and  thought  his  boisterous  vulgarity  was  due  to 
intoxication,  when  he  tried  to  shrive  him. 

"There  is  that  rascal  Roguin  still  in  it  with  you,"  said  Birot- 
teau; "ought  you  not  to  write  and  tell  him  to  help  out  a 
friend  whom  he  has  left  in  the  lurch,  a  friend  with  whom  he 
dined  every  Sunday,  and  whom  he  has  known  for  twenty 
years?" 

"Roguin?  A  fool;  we  have  his  share.  Don't  be  down- 
hearted, my  good  friend,  it  will  be  all  right.  Pay  on  the  15th. 
and  that  done,  we  shall  see !  I  say,  Ve  shall  see' — (a  glass  of 
wine  !) — but  the  capital  is  no  concern  of  mine  whatever.  Oh  ! 
if  you  should  not  pay  at  all,  I  should  not  give  you  black  looks; 
my  share  in  the  affair  is  limited  to  a  percentage  on  the  pur- 
chase-money, and  something  down  on  the  completion  of 
the  contract,  in  consideration  of  which  *  brought  round  the 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  243 

vendors.  .  .  .  Do  you  understand?  Your  associates  are 
good  men,  so  I  am  not  afraid,  my  dear  sir.  Business  is  so 
divided  up  nowadays.  Every  business  requires  the  co-opera- 
tion of  so  many  specialists !  Do  you  join  the  rest  of  us  ? 
Then  do  not  dabble  in  combs  and  pomade  pots — a  paltry  way 
of  doing  business.;  fleece  the  public,  and  go  in  for  the  specu- 
lation." 

"A  speculation?"  asked  the  perfumer;  "what  sort  of  busi- 
ness is  it  ?" 

"It  is  commerce  in  the  abstract,"  replied  Claparon,  "an 
affair  which  will  only  come  to  light  in  ten  years'  time  at  the 
bidding  of  the  great  Nucingen,  the  Napoleon  of  finance,  a 
scheme  by  which  a  man  embraces  sum-totals,  and  skims  the 
cream  of  profits  yet  to  be  made;  a  gigantic  conception,  a 
method  of  marking  expectations  like  timber  for  annual  fell- 
ing; it  is  a  new  cabal,  in  short.  There  are  but  ten  or  twelve  of 
us  as  yet,  long-headed  men,  all  initiated  into  the  cabalistic  se- 
crets of  these  magnificent  combinations." 

Cesar  opened  his  eyes  and  ears,  trying  to  comprehend  these 
mixed  metaphors. 

"Listen  to  me,"  Claparon  continued,  after  a  pause;  "such 
strokes  as  these  need  capable  men.  Now,  there  is  the  man 
who  has  ideas,  but  has  not  a  penny,  like  all  men  with  ideas. 
That  sort  of  man  spends  and  is  spent,  and  cares  for  noth- 
ing. Imagine  a  pig  roaming  about  a  wood  for  truffles,  and 
a  knowing  fellow  on  his  tracks;  that  is  the  man  with  the 
money,  who  waits  till  he  hears  a  grunt  over  a  find.  When 
the  man  with  the  ideas  has  hit  upon  a  good  notion,  the  man 
with  the  money  taps  him  on  the  shoulder  with  a  'What  is 
this?  You  are  putting  yourself  in  the  furnace-mouth,  my 
good  friend;  your  back  is  not  strong  enough  to  carry  this; 
here  are  a  thousand  francs  for  you,  and  let  me  put  this  affair 
in  working  order.'  Good !  Then  the  banker  summons  the 
manufacturers — 'Set  to  work,  my  friends !  Out  with  your 
prospectuses!  Blarney  to  the  death!'  Out  come  the  hunt- 
ing-horns, and  they  pipe  up  with  'A  hundred  thousand  francs 
for  five  sous!' — or  five  sous  for  a  hundred  thousand  francs, 


244  RISE  AND  FALL  OF   CESAR   BIROTTEAU 

gold-mines,  coal-mines;  all  the  flourishes  and  alarums  of 
commerce,  in  short.  Art  and  science  are  paid  to  give  their 
opinion,  the  affair  is  paraded  about,  the  public  rushes  into  it, 
and  receives  paper  for  its  money,  and  our  takings  are  in  our 
hands.  The  pig  is  safe  in  his  sty  with  his  potatoes,  and 
the  rest  of  them  are  wallowing  in  bills  of  exchange.  That  is 
how  it  is  done,  my  dear  sir.  Go  in  for  speculation.  What  do 
you  want  to  be?  A  pig  or  a  gull,  a  clown  or  a  millionaire? 
Think  it  over.  I  have  summed  up  the  modern  theory  of 
loans  for  you.  Come  to  see  me;  you  will  find  a  good  fellow, 
always  jolly.  French  joviality,  at  once  grave  and  gay,  does 
no  harm  in  business,  quite  the  contrary !  Men  who  can  drink 
are  made  to  understand  each  other.  Come !  another  glass  of 
champagne  ?  It  is  choice  wine,  eh  ?  It  was  sent  me  by  a  man 
at  fSpernay,  for  whom  I  have  sold  a  good  deal  of  it,  and  at 
good  prices  too  (I  used  to  be  in  the  wine  trade).  He  shows 
his  gratitude,  and  remembers  me  in  my  prosperity.  A  rare 
trait." 

Birotteau,  bewildered  by  this  flippancy  and  careless  tone 
in  a  man  whom  everybody  credited  with  such  astonishing 
profundity  and  breadth,  did  not  dare  to  question  him  any 
further.  But  in  spite  of  the  confusion  and  excitement  in- 
duced by  unwonted  potations  of  champagne,  a  name  let  fall 
by  du  Tillet  came  up  in  his  mind,  and  he  asked  for  the  ad- 
dress of  a  bill-discounter  named  Gobseck. 

"Is  that  what  you  are  after,  my  dear  sir?"  asked  Claparon. 
"Gobseck  is  a  bill-discounter  in  the  same  sense  that  the  hang- 
man is  a  doctor.  The  first  thing  that  he  says  to  you  is  'Fifty 
per  cent.'  He  belongs  to  the  school  of  Harpagon ;  he  will 
supply  you  with  canary  birds,  and  stuffed  boa-constrictors, 
with  furs  in  summer  and  nankin  in  winter.  And  whose  bills 
are  you  going  to  offer  him?  He  will  want  you  to  deposit 
your  wife,  your  daughter,  your  umbrella,  and  everything 
that  is  yours,  down  to  your  hat-box,  your  clogs  (do  you  wear 
hinged  clogs?),  poker  and  tongs,  and  the  firewood  in  your 
cellar,  before  he  will  take  your  bills  with  your  bare  name 


RISE  AND  PALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  245 

to  them !  .  .  .  Gobseck  !  Gobseck !  In  the  name  of  mis- 
fortune, who  sent  you  to  the  guillotine  of  commerce?" 

"M.  du  Tillet." " 

"Oh!  the  rogue;  just  like  him.  We  used  to  be  friends 
once  upon  a  time;  and  if  the  quarrel  has  gone  so  far  that 
we  do  not  speak  to  each  other  now,  I  have  good  reason  for 
disliking  him,  believe  me !  He  let  me  see  the  bottom  of  his 
soul  of  mud,  and  he  made  me  uncomfortable  at  that  fine  ball 
you  gave.  I  cannot  bear  him,  with  the  coxcomb  airs  he  gives 
himself,  because  he  has  the  good  graces  of  a  notaresse!  I 
could  have  marquises  myself  if  I  had  a  mind;  he  will  never 
have  my  esteem,  I  know.  Ah !  my  esteem  is  a  princess  who  will 
never  take  up  too  much  room  on  his  pillow.  I  say  though,  old 
man,  you  are  a  funny  one  to  give  us  a  ball,  and  then  come 
and  ask  us  to  renew  two  months  afterwards !  You  are  likely 
to  go  far.  Let  us  go  into  speculation  together.  You  have  a 
character ;  it  would  be  useful  to  me.  Oh  !  du  Tillet  was  born 
to  understand  Gobseck.  Du  Tillet  will  come  to  a  bad  end 
in  the  Place  de  Greve.  If,  as  they  say,  he  is  one  of  Gobseck's 
lambs,  he  will  soon  come  to  the  length  of  his  tether.  Gob- 
seck squats  in  a  corner  of  his  web  like  an  old  spider  who  has 
seen  the  world.  Sooner  or  later,  zut!  and  the  money-lender 
sucks  in  his  man  like  a  glass  of  wine.  So  much  the  better! 
Du  Tillet  played  me  a  trick — oh !  a  scurvy  trick !" 

After  an  hour  and  a  half  spent  in  listening  to  meaning- 
less prate,  Birotteau  determined  to  go,  for  the  commercial 
traveler  was  preparing  to  relate  the  adventure  of  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  people  at  Marseilles,  who  had  fallen  in  love 
with  an  actress  who  played  the  part  of  La  Belle  Arsene.  The 
Royalist  pit  hissed  the  lady. 

"Up  he  gets,"  said  Claparon,  "and  stands  bolt  upright  in 
his  box.  'Arte  qui  I'a  sibUe?'  says  he;  feu!  .  .  .  Si 
c'est  oune  femme,  je  I'amprise;  si  c'est  oune  homme,  nous 
se  verrons;  si  c'est  ni  I'un  ni  I'autte,  que  le  troun  di  Diou  le 
cure !'  .  .  .  How  do  you  think  the  adventure  ended  ?" 

"Good-day,  sir,"  said  Birotteau. 

"You  will  have  to  come  and  see  me,"  said  Claparon  at  this. 
17 


246  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Cayron's  first  bill  has  come  back  protested,  and  I  am  the  in- 
dorser;  I  have  reimbursed  the  money,  and  I  shall  send  it 
on  to  you,  for  business  is  business." 

Birotteau  felt  this  cool  affectation  of  a  readiness  to  oblige, 
as  he  had  already  felt  Keller's  hardness  and  JSTucingen's  Teu- 
tonic banter,  in  his  very  heart.  The  man's  familiarity,  his 
grotesque  confidences  made  in  the  generous  glow  of  cham- 
pagne, had  been  like  a  blight  to  the  perfumer ;  he  felt  as  if  he 
were  leaving  some  evil  haunt  in  the  world  financial. 

He  walked  downstairs;  he  found  himself  in  the  streets  and 
went,  not  knowing  whither  he  went.  He  followed  the  boule- 
vard till  he  reached  the  Rue  Saint-Denis,  then  he  bethought 
himself  of  Molineux,  and  turned  to  go  towards  the  Cour 
Batave.  He  mounted  the  same  dirty  tortuous  staircase  which 
he  had  ascended  but  lately  in  the  pride  of  his  glory.  He  re- 
membered Molineux's  peevish  meanness,  and  winced  at  the 
thought  of  asking  a  favor  of  him.  As  on  the  occasion  of  his 
previous  visit,  he  found  the  owner  of  house  property  by  the 
fireside,  but  this  time  he  had  eaten  his  breakfast.  Birotteau 
formulated  his  demand. 

"Renew  a  bill  for  twelve  hundred  francs  ?"  said  Molineux, 
with  an  incredulous  smile.  "You  do  not  mean  it,  sir.  If  you 
have  not  twelve  hundred  francs  on  the  15th  to  meet  my  bill, 
will  you  please  to  send  me  back  my  receipt  for  rent  that  has 
not  been  paid  ?  Ah !  I  should  be  angry ;  I  do  not  use  the 
slightest  ceremony  in  money  matters;  my  rents  are  my  in- 
come. If  I  acted  otherwise,  how  should  I  pay  my  way?  A 
man  in  business  will  not  disapprove  of  that  wholesome  rule. 
Money  knows  nobody;  money  has  no  ears;  money  has  no 
heart.  It  is  a  cold  winter,  and  here  is  firewood  dearer  again. 
If  you  do  not  pay  on  the  15th,  you  will  receive  a  little  sum- 
mons by  noon  on  the  16th.  Pshaw!  old  Mitral,  who  serve? 
your  processes,  acts  for  me  too;  he  will  send  you  your  sum- 
mons in  an  envelope,  with  due  regard  for  your  high  posi- 
tion." 

"A  writ  has  never  been  served  on  me,  sir,"  said  Birot- 
teau. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  QESAR  BIROTTEAU  247 

"Everything  must  have  a  beginning/7  retorted  Molineux. 

The  perfumer  was  taken  aback  by  the  little  old  man's  frank 
ferocity ;  the  knell  of  credit  rang  in  his  ears :  and  every  fresh 
stroke  awoke  memories  of  his  own  sayings  as  to  bankruptcies, 
prompted  by  his  remorseless  jurisprudence.  Those  opinions 
of  his  seemed  to  be  traced  in  letters  of  fire  on  the  soft  sub- 
stance of  his  brain. 

"By  the  by,"  Molineux  was  saying,  "you  forget  to  write 
'For  value  received  in  rent'  across  your  bills ;  that  might  give 
me  a  preferential  claim/' 

"My  position  forbids  me  to  do  anything  to  the  prejudice 
of  my  creditors,"  said  Birotteau,  dazed  by  that  glimpse  into 
the  gulf  before  him. 

"Good,  sir,  very  good.  I  thought  that  I  had  nothing  left  to 
learn  in  my  dealings  with  messieurs  my  tenants.  You  have 
taught  me  never  to  take  bills  in  payment.  Oh!  I  will  take 
the  thing  into  Court,  for  your  answer  as  good  as  tells  me 
that  you  will  not  meet  your  engagements.  The  case  touches 
every  landlord  in  Paris." 

Birotteau  went  out,  sick  of  life.  Feeble  and  tender  natures 
lose  heart  at  the  first  rebuff,  just  as  a  first  success  puts  cour- 
age into  them.  Cesar's  only  hope  now  lay  in  little  Popinot's 
devotion;  his  thoughts  naturally  turned  to  him  as  he  passed 
the  Marche  des  Innocents. 

"Poor  boy !  who  would  have  told  me  this  when  I  started 
him  six  weeks  ago  at  the  Tuileries." 

It  was  nearly  four  o'clock,  the  time  when  the  magistrates 
leave  the  Palais.  As  it  fell  out,  the  elder  Popinot  had  gone 
to  see  his  nephew.  The  examining  magistrate,  who  in  moral 
questions  had  a  kind  of  second-sight  which  laid  bare  the 
secret  motives  of  others,  who  discerned  the  underlying 
significance  of  the  most  commonplace  actions  of  daily  life, 
the  germs  of  crime,  the  roots  of  a  misdemeanor,  was  watch- 
ing Birotteau,  though  Birotteau  did  not  suspect  it.  Birot- 
teau seemed  to  be  put  out  by  finding  the  uncle  with  the 
nephew ;  the  perfumer's  manner  was  constrained,  he  was  pre- 
occupied and  thoughtful.  Little  Popinot,  busy  as  usual  with 


248  RISE  AND  PALL  QF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

his  pen  behind  his  ear,  always  fell  flat,  figuratively  speaking, 
before  Cesarine's  father.  Cesar's  meaningless  remarks  to  his 
partner,  to  the  judge's  thinking,  were  merely  screens,  some 
important  demand  was  about  to  be  made.  Instead  of  leaving 
the  shop,  therefore,  the  shrewd  man  of  law  stayed  with  his 
nephew,  for  he  thought  that  Cesar  would  try  to  get  rid  of 
him  by  making  a  move  himself.  And  so  it  was.  When  Birot- 
teau  had  gone,  the  judge  followed,  but  he  noticed  Cesar 
lounging  along  the  Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants  in  the  direction 
of  the  Rue  Aubry-le-Boucher.  This  infinitely  small  matter 
bred  suspicion  in  the  mind  of  Popinot  -the  elder;  he  mis- 
trusted Cesar's  intentions,  went  along  the  Rue  des  Lombards, 
watched  the  perfumer  go  back  to  Anselme's  shop,  and 
promptly  repaired  thither. 

"My  dear  Popinot,"  Cesar  had  begun,  "I  have  come  to  aek 
you  to  do  me  a  service/' 

"What  is  there  to  be  done?"  asked  Popinot,  with  generous 
eagerness. 

"Ah !  you  give  me  life !"  cried  the  good  man,  rejoicing 
in  this  warmth  from  the  heart  that  sent  a  glow  through  him 
after  those  twenty-five  days  of  glacial  cold.  "It  is  this,  to 
allow  me  to  draw  a  bill  on  you  on  account  of  my  share  of 
the  profits;  we  will  settle  between  ourselves." 

Popinot  looked  steadily  at  Cesar;  Cesar  lowered  his  eyes. 
Just  at  that  moment  the  magistrate  reappeared. 

"My  boy — Oh !  I  beg  your  pardon,  M.  Birotteau — my  boy, 
I  forgot  to  say  .  .  ."  and  with  the  imperative  gesture 
learned  in  the  exercise  of  his  profession,  the  elder  Popinot 
drew  his  nephew  out  into  the  street,  and  marched  him,  bare- 
headed and  in  shirt-sleeves  as  he  was,  in  the  direction  of  the 
Rue  des  Lombards. 

"Your  old  master  will  very  likely  find  himself  in  such 
straits,  that  he  may  be  forced  to  file  his  schedule,  nephew. 
Before  a  man  comes  to  that,  a  man  who,  may  be,  has  a  record 
of  forty  years  of  upright  dealing,  nay  the  very  best  of  men, 
in  his  anxiety  to  save  his  honor,  will  behave 'like  the  most 
frantic  gambler.  Men  in  that  predicament  will  do  anything. 


RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  249 

They  will  sell  their  wives  and  traffic  in  their  daughters ;  they 
will  bring  their  best  friends  into  the  scrape,  and  pawn  prop- 
erty which  is  not  theirs;  they  will  go  to  the  gaming-table, 
turn  actors — nay,  liars;  they  will  shed  tears  at  need.  In 
short,  I  have  known  them  do  the  most  extraordinary  things. 
You  yourself  know  how  good-natured  Eoguin  was,  a  man 
who  looked  as  though  butter  would  not  melt  in  his  mouth. 
I  do  not  press  these  conclusions  home  in  M.  Birotteau's  case; 
I  believe  that  he  is  honest;  but  if  he  should  ask  you  to  do 
anything  at  all  irregular,  no  matter  what  it  is;  if  he  should 
want  you,  for  instance,  to  accept  accommodation  bills,  and 
so  start  you  in  a  system  which,  to  my  way  of  thinking,  is  the 
beginning  of  all  sorts  of  rascality  (for  it  is  counterfeit  paper- 
money),  promise  me  that  you  will  sign  nothing  without  first 
consulting  me.  You  must  remember  that  if  you  love  his 
daughter,  even  for  your  own  sake  and  hers,  you  must  not 
spoil  your  future.  If  M.  Birotteau  must  come  to  grief,  what 
is  the  use  of  going  with  him  ?  What  is  it  but  cutting  your- 
selves off  from  all  chance  of  escape  through  your  business, 
which  will  be  his  refuge?" 

"Thank  you,  uncle;  a  word  to  the  wise  is  sufficient,"  said 
Anselme;  his  uncle's  words  explained  that  heartrending  cry 
from  his  master. 

The  merchant  who  dealt  in  druggists'  oils  and  sundries 
looked  thoughtful  as  he  entered  his  dark  shop.  Birotteau 
saw  the  change. 

"Will  you  honor  me  by  coming  up  to  my  room?  we  can 
talk  more  at  our  ease  there  than  here.  The  assistants,  busy 
as  they  are,  might  overhear  us/' 

Birotteau  followed  Popinot,  a  victim  to  such  cruel  suspense 
as  the  condemned  man  knows,  while  he  waits  for  a  reprieve 
or  the  rejection  of  his  appeal. 

"My  dear  benefactor,"  Anselme  began,  "you  do  not  doubt 
my  devotion;  it  is  blind.  Permit  me  to  ask  but  one  thing, 
will  this  sum  of  money  save  you  once  and  for  all  ?  Or  will 
it  merely  put  off  some  catastrophe?  in  which  case,  what  is 
the  use  of  carrying  me  with  you?  You  want  bills  at  ninety 


250  RISE  AND  FALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

days.  Very  well,  but  I  am  sure  that  I  myself  shall  not  be  able 
to  meet  them  in  three  months'  time." 

Birotteau,  white  and  grave,  rose  to  his  feet,  and  looked  into 
Popinot's  face. 

Popinot,  in  alarm,  cried,  "I  will  do  it  if  you  wish  it." 

"Ungrateful  boy!"  cried  the  perfumer,  gathering  all  his 
strength  to  hurl  at  Anselme  the  words  which  should  brand 
him  as  infamous. 

Birotteau  walked  to  the  door  and  went.  Popinot,  recover- 
ing from  the  sensation  which  the  terrible  words  had  produced 
in  him,  darted  downstairs  and  rushed  into  the  street,  but  saw 
no  sign  of  the  perfumer.  The  dreadful  words  of  doom  rang 
in  the  ears  of  Cesarine's  lover,  poor  Cesar's  face  of  anguish 
was  always  before  his  eyes;  he  lived,  indeed,  like  Hamlet, 
haunted  by  a  ghastly  spectre. 

Birotteau  staggered  along  the  streets  like  a  drunken  man. 
He  found  himself  at  last  on  the  Q.uai,  and  followed  its  course 
to  Sevres,  where  he  spent  the  night  in  an  inn,  stupefied  with 
sorrow ;  and  his  frightened  wife  dared  not  make  any  inquiries 
for  him.  Under  such  circumstances,  it  is  fatal  to  give  the 
alarm  rashly.  Constance  wisely  immolated  her  anxiety  to  her 
husband's  business  reputation;  she  sat  up  all  night  for  him, 
mingling  prayers  with  her  fears.  Was  Cesar  dead  ?  Had  he 
left  Paris  in  the  pursuit  of  some  last  hope?  When  morning 
came,  she  behaved  as  though  she  knew  the  cause  of  his  ab- 
sence; but  when  at  five  o'clock  Cesar  had  not  returned,  she 
sent  word  to  her  uncle  and  begged  him  to  go  to  the  Morgue. 
All  through  that  day  the  brave  woman  sat  at  her  desk,  her 
daughter  doing  her  embroidery  by  her  side,  and,  neither  sad 
nor  smiling,  both  confronted  the  public  with  quiet  faces. 

When  Pillerault  came,  he  brought  Cesar  with  him ;  he  had 
met  his  niece's  husband  after  'Change  in  the  Palais  Eoyal, 
hesitating  to  enter  a  gaming-house.  That  day  was  the  14th. 

Cesar  could  eat  nothing  at  dinner.  His  stomach,  too  vio- 
lently contracted,  rejected  food;  it  was  a  miserable  meal; 
but  it  was  not  so  bad  as  the  evening  that  came  after  it.  For 
the  hundredth  time,  the  merchant  experienced  one  of  the 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  251 

hideous  alternations  of  despair  and  hope  which  wear  out  weak 
natures,  when  the  soul  passes  through  the  whole  scale  of  sensa- 
tions, from  the  highest  pitch  of  joy  to  the  lowest  depths  of 
despair.  Derville,  the  consulting  barrister,  rushed  into  the 
splendid  drawing-room.  Mme.  Cesar  had  done  everything 
in  her  power  to  keep  her  poor  husband  there;  he  had  wanted 
to  sleep  in  the  attic,  "so  as  not  to  see  the  monuments  of  my 
folly,"  he  said. 

"We  have  gained  the  day,"  cried  Derville. 

At  these  words  the  lines  in  Cesar's  face  were  smoothed  out, 
but  his  joy  alarmed  Pillerault  and  Derville.  The  two  fright- 
ened women  went  away  to  cry  in  Cesarine's  room. 

"Now  I  can  borrow  on  the  property !"  exclaimed  the  per- 
fumer. 

"It  would  not  be  wise  to  do  so,"  said  Derville ;  "they  have 
given  notice  of  appeal,  the  Court-Eoyal  may  reverse  the  de- 
cision, but  we  shall  know  in  a  month's  time." 

"A  month !" 

Cesar  sank  into  a  lethargy,  from  which  no  one  attempted 
to  rouse  him.  This  species  of  intermittent  catalepsy,  during 
which  the  body  lives  and  suffers  while  the  action  of  the  mind 
is  suspended,  this  fortuitous  respite  from  mental  anguish, 
was  regarded  as  a  godsend  by  Constance,  Cesarine,  Pillerault, 
and  Derville — and  they  were  right.  In  this  way  Birotteau 
was  able  to  recover  from  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  night's 
emotions.  He  lay  in  a  low  chair  by  the  fireside ;  over  against 
him  sat  his  wife,  who  watched  him  closely,  with  a  sweet  smile 
on  her  lips — one  of  those  smiles  which  prove  that  women  are 
nearer  to  the  angels  than  men,  in  that  they  can  blend  in- 
finite tenderness  with  the  most  sincere  compassion,  a  secret 
known  only  to  the  angels  whose  presence  is  revealed  to  us  in 
the  dreams  providentially  scattered  at  long  intervals  in  the 
course  of  human  life.  Cesarine,  sitting  on  a  footstool  at  her 
mother's  feet,  now  and  again  bent  her  head  over  her  father's 
hands  and  brushed  them  lightly  with  her  hair,  as  if  by  this 
caress  she  would  fain  communicate  through  the  sense  of 
touch  the  thoughts  which  at  such  a  time  are  importunate 
when  rendered  by  articulate  speech. 


252  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

Pillerault,  that  philosopher  prepared  for  every  emergency, 
sat  in  his  armchair,  like  the  statue  of  the  Chancellor  of  the 
Hopital  in  the  peristyle  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  wear- 
ing the  same  look  of  intelligence  which  is  stamped  on  the 
features  of  an  Egyptian  sphinx,  and  talked  in  a  low  voice  with 
Derville.  Constance  had  recommended  that  the  lawyer,  whose 
discretion  was  above  suspicion,  should  be  consulted.  With 
the  schedule  already  drafted  in  her  mind,  she  laid  the  situa- 
tion before  Derville;  and  after  an  hour's  consultation  or 
thereabouts,  held  in  the  presence  of  the  dozing  performer, 
Derville  looked  at  Pillerault  and  shook  his  head. 

"Madame,"  said  he,  with  the  pitiless  coolness  of  a  man 
of  business,  "you  must  file  your  petition.  Suppose  that  by 
some  means  or  other  you  should  contrive  to  meet  your  bills 
to-morrow,  you  must  eventually  pay  at  least  three  thousand 
francs  before  you  can  borrow  on  the  whole  of  your  landed 
property.  To  your  liabilities,  amounting  to  five  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  francs,  you  oppose  assets  consisting  of  a  very 
valuable  and  very  promising  piece  of  property  which  cannot 
be  realized — you  must  give  up  in  a  given  time,  and  it  is  bet- 
ter, in  my  opinion,  to  jump  from  the  window  than  to  roll 
down  the  stairs." 

"I  am  of  that  opinion,  too,  my  child,"  said  Pillerault. 

Mme.  Cesar  and  Pillerault  both  went  to  the  door  with  Der- 
ville. 

"Poor  father !"  said  Cesarine,  rising  softly  to  put  a  kiss  on 
Cesar's  forehead. — "Then  could  Anselme  do  nothing?"  she 
asked,  when  her  mother  and  uncle  came  in  again. 

"The  ungrateful  boy !"  cried  Cesar.  The  name  had 
touched  the  one  sensitive  spot  in  his  memory,  like  the  string 
of  a  piano  resonant  to  the  stroke  of  the  hammer. 

Little  Popinot,  meanwhile,  since  those  words  had  been 
hurled  at  him  like  an  anathema,  had  not  had  a  moment's 
peace  or  a  wink  of  sleep.  The  hapless  youth  called  down 
maledictions  on  his  uncle,  and  went  in  search  of  him.  To 
induce  experience  and  legal  acumen  to  capitulate,  young 
Popinot  poured  forth  all  a  lover's  eloquence,  hoping  to  work 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  253 

on  the  feelings  of  a  judge,  but  his  words  slid  over  the  man  of 
law  like  water  over  oilcloth. 

"Commercial  usage,"  pleaded  Anselme,  "permits  a  sleeping 
partner  to  draw  to  a  certain  extent  upon  his  co-associate  on 
account  of  profits ;  and  in  our  partnership  we  ought  to  put  it 
in  practice.  After  looking  into  my  business  all  round,  I  feel 
sure  that  I  am  good  to  pay  forty  thousand  francs  in  three 
months'  time.  M.  Cesar's  honesty  permits  me  to  feel  confi- 
dent that  he  will  use  the  forty  thousand  francs  to  meet  his 
bills.  So,  if  he  fails,  the  creditors  will  have  no  reason  to 
complain  of  this  action  on  our  part.  And  besides,  uncle,  I 
would  rather  lose  forty  thousand  francs  than  give  up  Cesar- 
ine.  At  this  moment,  while  I  am  speaking,  she  will  have 
heard  of  my  refusal,  and  I  shall  be  lowered  in  her  eyes.  I 
said  that  I  would  give  my  life  for  my  benefactor !  I  am  in  the 
case  of  the  young  sailor  who  must  go  to  the  bottom  with  his 
captain,  or  the  soldier  who  is  bound  to  perish  with  his  gen- 
eral." 

"A  good  heart  and  a  bad  man  of  business ;  you  will  not  be 
lowered  in  my  eyes,"  said  the  judge,  grasping  his  nephew's 
hand.  "I  have  thought  a  good  deal  about  this,"  he  continued; 
"I  know  that  you  love  Cesarine  to  distraction;  I  think  that 
you  can  obey  the  laws  of  your  heart  without  breaking  the 
laws  of  commerce.", 

"Oh !  uncle,  if  you  have  found  out  a  way,  you  will  save  my 
honor." 

"Lend  Birotteau  fifty  thousand  francs  on  his  proprietary 
interest  in  your  Oil;  it  has  become,  as  it  were,  a  piece  of 
property ;  I  will  draw  up  the  document  for  you." 

Anselme  embraced  his  uncle,  went  home,  made  out  bills 
for  fifty  thousand  francs,  and  ran  all  the  way  from  the  Rue 
des  Cinq-Diamants  to  the  Place  Vendome;  so  that  at  the 
very  moment  when  Cesarine,  her  mother,  and  Pillerault  were 
gazing  at  the  perfumer,  amazed  by  the  sepulchral  tone  in 
which  the  words  "Ungrateful  boy  !"  were  uttered  in  answer  to 
the  girl's  question,  the  drawing-room  door  opened,  and  Popi- 
not  appeared. 


254  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"My  dearly  beloved  master,"  he  said,  wiping  the  perspira- 
tion from  his  forehead,  "here  is  the  thing  for  which  you  asked 
me." 

He  held  out  the  bills. 

"Yes.  I  have  thought  carefully  over  my  position;  I  shall 
meet  them,  never  fear !  Save  your  honor !" 

"I  was  quite  sure  of  him,"  cried  Cesarine,  grasping  Popi- 
not's  hand  convulsively. 

Mme.  Cesar  embraced  Popinot.  The  perfumer  rose  out 
of  his  chair,  like  the  righteous  at  the  sound  of  the  last  trump ; 
he  too  was  issuing  from  a  tomb.  Then  with  frenzied  eager- 
ness he  clutched  the  fifty  stamped  papers. 

"One  moment!"  cried  the  stern  Uncle  Pillerault,  snatch- 
ing up  Popinot's  bills.  "One  moment !" 

The  four  persons  composing  this  family  group — Cesar  and 
his  wife,  Cesarine  and  Popinot — bewildered  by  their  uncle's 
interposition,  and  by  the  tone  in  which  he  spoke,  looked  on  in 
terror  while  he  tore  the  bills  to  pieces  and  flung  them  into  the 
fire,  where  they  blazed  up  before  any  one  of  them  could  stop 
him. 

"Uncle  I" 

"Uncle!" 

"Uncle!" 

"Sir!" 

There  were  four  voices,  and  four  hearts  in  one,  a  formi- 
dable unanimity.  Uncle  Pillerault  put  an  arm  round  little 
Popinot,  held  him  tightly  to  his  heart,  and  put  a  kiss  on  his 
forehead. 

"You  deserve  to  be  adored  by  any  one  who  has  a  heart  at 
all,"  said  he.  "If  you  loved  my  daughter,  and  she  had  a 
million,  and  you  had  nothing  but  that"  (he  pointed  to  the 
blackened  scraps  of  paper),  "you  should  marry  her  in  a  fort- 
night if  she  loved  you.  Your  master,"  indicating  Cesar,  "is 
mad. — Now,  nephew,"  Pillerault  began  gravely,  addressing 
the  perfumer,  "no  more  illusions !  Business  must  be  car- 
ried on  with  hard  coin,  and  not  with  sentiments.  This  is 
sublime,  but  it  is  useless.  I  ha.ve  been  on  'Change  for  a  cou- 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  255 

pie  of  hours.  No  one  will  give  you  credit  for  two  farthings ; 
everybody  is  talking  about  your  disaster;  everybody  knows 
that  you  could  not  get  renewals,  that  you  went  to  more  than 
one  banker,  and  that  they  would  have  nothing  to  say  to  you, 
and  all  your  other  follies;  it  is  known  that  you  climbed  six 
pair  of  stairs  to  ask  the  landlord  who  chatters  like  a  jackdaw 
to  renew  a  bill  for  twelve  hundred  francs;  everybody  says 
that  you  gave  a  ball  to  hide  your  embarrassment.  .  .  . 
They  will  say  directly  that  you  had  no  money  deposited  with 
Eoguin.  Roguin  is  a  blind,  according  to  your  enemies.  One 
of  my  friends,  commissioned  to  report  everything,  has  brought 
confirmation  of  my  suspicions.  Every  one  expects  that*you 
will  try  to  put  Popinot's  bills  on  the  market;  in  fact,  you 
set  him  up  on  purpose  to  tide  you  over  your  difficulties.  In 
short,  all  the  gossip  and  slander  usually  set  in  motion  by  any 
man  who  tries  to  mount  a  step  in  the  social  scale  is  going 
the  round  of  business  circles  at  this  moment.  You  would 
spend  a  week  in  hawking  Popinot's  bills  from  place  to  place, 
you  would  meet  with  humiliating  refusals,  and  nobody  would 
have  anything  to  do  with  them.  There  is  nothing  to  show 
how  many  of  them  you  are  issuing,  and  people  look  to  see 
you  sacrificing  this  poor  boy  to  save  yourself.  You  would 
ruin  Popinot's  credit  in  pure  waste.  Do  you  know  how  much 
the  most  sanguine  bill-discounter  would  give  you  for  your 
fifty  thousand  francs?  Twenty  thousand;  twenty  thousand, 
do  you  understand  ?  There  are  times  in  business  when  you 
must  contrive  to  hold  out  for  three  days  without  food,  as  if 
you  had  the  indigestion,  and  the  fourth  brings  admission  to 
the  pantry  of  credit.  You  cannot  hold  out  for  the  three  days, 
and  therein  lies  the  whole  position.  Take  heart,  my  poor 
nephew,  you  must  file  your  schedule.  Here  is  Popinot,  and 
here  am  I ;  as  soon  as  your  assistants  have  gone  to  bed  we  will 
set  to  work  to  spare  you  the  misery  of  it." 
."Uncle!  .  .  ."  cried  the  perfumer,  clasping  his  hands. 
"Cesar,  do  you  really  mean  to  arrive  at  a  fraudulent  bank- 
ruptcy with  assets  nil?  Your  interest  in  Popinot's  business 
saves  your  honor." 


256  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

This  last  fatal  light  thrown  on  his  position  made  it  clear 
to  Cesar ;  he  saw  the  full  extent  of  the  hideous  truth ;  he  sank 
down  into  his  low  chair,  and  then  on  to  his  knees;  his  mind 
wandered,  he  became  a  child  again.  His  wife  thought  the 
shock  had  killed  him,  and  knelt  to  raise  him,  but  she  clung 
close  to  him  when  she  saw  him  clasp  his  hands  and  raise  his 
eyes;  and  in  spite  of  the  presence  of  his  uncle,  his  daiigh- 
ter,  and  Popinot,  he  began  with  remorseful  resignation  to  re- 
peat the  sublime  prayer  of  the  Church  on  earth: 

"Our  Father  which  art  in  Heaven,  Hallowed  be  Thy  name. 
Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done  in  earth,  as  it  is  in 
Hea»ven.  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread.  And  forgive  us 
our  trespasses,  as  we  forgive  them  that  trespass  against  us. 
And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil. 
Amen." 

Tears  filled  Pillerault's  stoical  eyes,  and  Cesarine  stood, 
white  and  rigid  as  marble,  with  her  tear-stained  face  hid- 
den on  Anselme's  shoulder.  Then  the  old  merchant  took  the 
young  man's  arm,  "Let  us  go  downstairs,"  he  said. 

At  half-past  eleven  they  left  Cesar  in  the  care  of  his  wife 
and  daughter.  Just  at  that  moment  Celestin,  who  had  looked 
after  the  business  during  this  storm, came  upstairs  and  opened 
the  drawing-room  door.  Cesarine  heard  his  footsteps,  and 
hurried  forward  to  place  herself  so  as  to  screen  the  prostrate 
master  of  the  house. 

"Among  this  evening's  letters,"  he  said,  "there  was  one 
from  Tours,  the  direction  was  not  clear,  it  has  been  delayed. 
I  thought  it  might  be  from  the  master's  brother,  so  I  did 
not  open  it." 

"Father,"  cried  Cesarine,  "there  is  a  letter  from  uncle  at 
Tours." 

.   "Ah !  I  am  saved !"  exclaimed  Cesar.     "My  brother !  my 
brother !"  and  he  kissed  the  letter,  which  ran  thus : 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  257 

Francois  Birotteau  to  Cesar  Birotteau. 

TOURS,  nth. 

"My  BELOVED  BROTHER, — Your  letter  has  given  me  the 
keenest  distress;  and  so  when  I  had  read  it,  I  offered  up  to 
God  on  your  behalf  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  praying 
Him,  by  the  blood  shed  for  us  by  our  Divine  Redeemer,  to 
look  mercifully  upon  you  in  your  affliction.  And  now  that  I 
have  put  up  my  prayer  pro  meo  fratre  Ccesare,  my  eyes  are 
filled  with  tears  to  think  that  by  misfortune  I  am  separated 
from  you  at  a  time  when  you  must  need  the  support  of  a 
brother's  affection.  But  then  I  bethought  me  that  the  worthy 
and  venerated  M.  Pillerault  will  doubtless  fill  my  place.  My 
dear  Cesar,  in  the  midst  of  your  troubles,  do  not  forget  that 
this  life  of  ours  is  a  life  of  trial  and  a  transition  state;  that 
one  day  we  shall  be  rewarded  if  we  have  suffered  for  the  holy 
name  of  God,  for  His  holy  Church,  for  putting  in  practice 
the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  or  for  leading  a  virtuous  life; 
if  it  were  not  so,  the  things  of  this  present  world  would  be 
unintelligible.  I  repeat  these  words,  though  I  know  how  good 
and  pious  you  are,  because  it  may  happen  to  those  who,  like 
you,  are  tossed  by  the  tempests  of  this  world,  and  launched 
upon  the  perilous  seas  of  human  concerns,  to  be  led  to  blas- 
pheme in  their  distresses,  distracted  as  they  are  by  pain.  Do 
not  curse  the  men  who  will  wound  you,  nor  God,  who  mingles 
bitterness  with  your  life  at  His  will.  Look  not  on  the  earth, 
but  rather  keep  your  eyes  lifted  to  Heaven;  thence  comes 
comfort  for  the  weak,  the  riches  of  the  poor  are  there,  and 
the  fears  of  the  rich  .  .  ." 

"Oh,  Birotteau,"  interrupted  his  wife,  "just  miss  that  out, 
and  see  if  he  is  sending  us  anything." 

"We  will  often  read  it  over,"  said  her  husband,  drying 
his  eyes.  He  opened  the  letter,  and  a  draft  on  the  Treasury 
fell  out.  "I  was  quite  sure  of  him,  poor  brother,"  said  Bi- 
rotteau, picking  up  the  draft. 

"...     I  went  to  see  Mme.  de  Listomere,"  he  continued, 
reading  in  a  voice  choked  with  tears,  "and  without  giving  a 


258  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

reason  for  my  request,  I  begged  her  to  lend  me  all  that  she 
could  spare,  so  as  to  swell  the  amount  of  my  savings.  Her 
generosity  enables  me  to  make  up  the  sum  of  a  thousand 
francs,  which  I  send  you  in  the  form  of  a  draft  by  the  Re- 
ceiver-General of  Tours  upon  the  Treasury." 

"A  handsome  advance !"  said  Constance,  looking  at  Ce- 
sarine. 

"By  retrenching  some  superfluities  in  my  way  of  living, 
I  shall  be  able  to  repay  Mme.  de  Listomere  the  money  I  have 
borrowed«of  her  in  three  years'  time ;  so  do  not  trouble  about 
it,  my  dear  Cesar.  I  am  sending  you  all  that  I  have  in  the 
world,  with  the  wish  that  the  sum  may  assist  you  to  bring 
your  difficulties  to  a  happy  termination;  doubtless  they  are 
but  momentary.  I  know  your  delicacy,  and  wish  to  antici- 
pate your  scruples.  Do  not  dream  of  paying  any  interest  on 
the  amount,  nor  of  returning  it  in  the  day  of  prosperity, 
which  will  dawn  for  you  before  Jong,  if  God  deigns  to  grant 
the  petitions  which  I  make  daily  for  you.  After  your  last 
letter,  received  two  years  ago,  I  thought  that  you  were  rich, 
and  that  I  might  give  my  savings  to  the  poor;  but  now  all 
that  I  have  belongs  to  you.  When  you  have  weathered  this 
passing  squall,  keep  the  money  for  my  niece  Cesarine,  so 
that  when  she  is  established  in  life  she  may  spend  it  on  some 
trifle  which  will  remind  her  of  an  old  uncle,  whose  hands 
are  always  raised  to  Heaven  to  implore  God's  blessing  upon 
her,  and  for  all  those  who  shall  be  dear  to  her.  Bear  in  mind, 
in  fact,  dear  Cesar,  that  J  am  a  poor  priest,  living  by  the 
grace  <f  God,  as  the  wild-birds  live  in  the  fields,  walking 
quietly  in  my  own  path,  striving  to  keep  the  commandments 
•of  oui  divine  Saviour,  and  consequently  needing  but  little. 
So  do  not  have  the  least  hesitation  in  your  difficult  position, 
and  think  of  me  as  one  who  loves  you  tenderly.  Our  excel- 
lent Abbe  Chapeloud  (to  whom  I  have  not  said  a  word  about 
your  strait)  knows  that  I  am  writing  to  you,  and  wishes  me 
to  send  the  most  kindly  messages  to  all  your  family,  with 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  259 

wishes  for  your  continued  prosperity.  May  God  vouchsafe 
to  preserve  you  and  your  wife  and  daughter  in  good  health ; 
and  I  pray  for  patience  to  you  all,  and  courage  in  the  day  of 
adversity.  "FRANCOIS  BIROTTEAU. 

"Priest  of  the  Cathedral  Church  of  Tours,  and  Vicar  of  the 
Parish  Church  of  Saint-Gatien." 

"A  thousand  francs !"  cried  Mme.  Birotteau,  in  vehement 
anger. 

"Lock  it  up,"  Cesar  said  gravely;  "it  is  all  he  has.  Be- 
sides, it  belongs  to  our  Cesarine,  and  should  enable  us  to  live 
without  asking  anything  of  our  creditors." 

"And  then  they  will  believe  that  you  have  taken  away  large 
sums." 

"I  shall  show  them  his  letter." 

"They  will  say  that  it  is  a  fraud." 

"Oil!  mon  Dieu!  mon  Dieu!"  cried  Cesar,  appalled  at  this; 
"I  have  often  thought  that  very  thing  of  poor  folk  who,  no 
doubt,  were  just  in  my  position." 

Mother  and  daughter  were  both  too  anxious  about  Cesar 
to  leave  him,  and  they  sewed  on  by  his  side.  There  was  a 
deep  silence.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  drawing- 
room  door  was  softly  opened,  and  Popinot  beckoned  to  Mme. 
Cesar  to  come  downstairs.  At  the  sight  of  his  niece,  Uncle 
Pillerault  took  off  his  spectacles. 

"There  is  hope  yet,  my  child,"  he  said ;  "all  is  not  over ;  but 
your  husband  could  not  stand  the  strain  of  the  ups  and  downs 
of  this  business,  so  Popinot  and  I  will  try  to  arrange  it.  Do 
not  leave  the  shop  to-morrow,  and  take  down  the  names  of  all 
the  holders  of  the  bills ;  we  have  all  the  day  till  four  o'clock. 
This  is  my  idea.  There  is  nothing  to  fear  from  M.  Ragon 
or  from  me.  Suppose  now  that  Roguin  had  paid  over  to  the 
vendors  the  hundred  thousand  francs  you  deposited  with  him 
— in  that  case,  you  would  no  more  have  them  than  you  have 
them  to-day.  You  have  to  meet  bills  to  the  amount  of  a  hun- 
dred and  forty  thousand  francs,  payable  to  Claparon's  order; 


260  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

you  must  pay  them  anyhow,  so  it  is  not  Roguin's  bankruptcy 
which  is  ruining  you.  Now,  to  meet  your  liabilities,  I  see 
forty  thousand  francs  to  be  borrowed  sooner  or  later  on  your 
factory,  and  sixty  thousand  francs  in  Popinot's  bills.  So 
you  may  struggle  through;  for  once  through,  you  can  raise 
money  on  that  building-land  by  the  Madeleine.  If  your  prin- 
cipal creditor  agrees  to  help  you,  I  shall  not  consider  my  for- 
tune ;  I  will  sell  my  rentes;  I  shall  be  without  bread ;  Popinot 
will  be  between  life  and  death ;  and,  as  for  you,  you  will  be  at 
the  mercy  of  the  smallest  events.  But  the  Oil  will  give  a 
good  return,  no  doubt.  Popinot  and  I  have  been  consulting 
together;  we  will  support  you  in  this  struggle.  Oh,  I  will 
eat  my  dry  bread  gaily,  if  success  dawns  on  the  horizon.  But 
everything  depends  on  Gigonnet  and  on  Claparon  and  his 
associates.  We  are  going  to  see  Gigonnet  between  seven  and 
eight,  Popinot  and  I,  and  then  we  shall  know  what  to  make  of 
their  intentions." 

Constance,  carried  away  by  her  feelings,  put  her  arms  about 
her  uncle,  and  could  not  speak  for  tears  and  sobs.  Neither 
Popinot  nor  Pillerault  could  know  that  Bidault,  alias  Gigon- 
net, and  Claparon  were  but  two  of  du  Tillefs  doubles,  and 
that  du  Tillet  had  set  his  heart  upon  reading  this  terrible 
paragraph  in  the  Gazette: 

"Decree  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce.  M.  Cesar  Birot- 
teau,  wholesale  perfumer,  of  397  Rue  Saint-Honore,  Paris, 
declared  a  bankrupt,  date  provisionally  fixed,  16th  of  Jan- 
uary 1819.  Registrar:  M.  Gobenheim-Keller.  Agent:  M. 
Molineux." 

Anselme  and  Pillerault  studied  Cesar's  affairs  till  day- 
light came,  and  at  eight  o'clock  that  morning  the  two  heroic 
comrades,  the  old  veteran  and  the  subaltern  of  yesterday, 
neither  of  whom  was  destined  to  experience  on  his  own  ac- 
count, the  dreadful  agony  of  mind  endured  by  those  who  go  up 
and  down  the  stairs  of  Bidault,  otherwise  Gigonnet,  betook 
themselves  without  a  word  to  the  Rue  Grenetat.  It  was  a 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  201 

painful  time  for  both  of  them.  More  than  once  Pillerault 
passed  his  hand  over  his  forehead. 

In  the  Hue  Grenetat  multifarious  small  trades  are  carried 
on  in  every  overcrowded  house.  Every  building  has  a  repul- 
sive aspect.  The  hideousness  of  these  houses  has  a  distinct 
quality  of  its  own,  in  which  the  mean  squalor  of  a  poor  in- 
dustrial neighborhood  predominates. 

Old  Gigonnet  inhabited  the  third  floor  in  one  of  these 
houses.  All  the  windows,  with  their  dirty  square  panes  of 
glass,  were  secured  to  the  frames  by  pivots,  and  tilted  to  ad- 
mit the  air;  you  walked  straight  up  the  staircase  from  the 
street,  and  the  porter  lived  in  the  box  on  the  mezzanine  floor 
lighted  from  the  staircase.  Every  one  in  the  house,  except 
Gigonnet,  plied  some  handicraft;  workmen  came  and  went 
all  day  long.  Every  step  on  the  stairs,  where  filth  was  allowed 
to  accumulate,  was  plastered  over  with  a  coating  of  mud, 
hard  or  soft,  according  to  the  state  of  the  weather.  Each 
landing  on  this  fetid  stair  displayed  the  name  of  some  crafts- 
man painted  in  gilt  letters  on  a  sheet  of  iron,  which,  was 
painted  red  and  varnished,  and  some  sample  of  the  man's 
achievements  in  his  trade.  The  doors,  for  the  most  part,  stood 
ajar,  affording  glimpses  of  grotesque  combinations  of  indus- 
try and  domestic  life ;  the  sounds  which  issued  thence, 
snatches  of  song,  yells,  whistlings,  and  uncouth  growls  re- 
called the  noises  heard  at  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  towards 
four  o'clock.  The  smartest  braces  for  the  trade  in  the  article 
Paris  were  being  made  in  a  loathsome  den  on  the  first  floor;  on 
the  second,  among  heaps  of  the  most  unsavory  litter,  the 
manufacture  of  the  daintiest  cardboard  boxes,  displayed  at 
the  New  Year  in  shop  windows,  was  carried  on.  Gigonnet, 
who  was  worth  eighteen  hundred  thousand  francs,  lived  and 
died  on  the  third  floor  in  this  house.  Nothing  would  induce 
him  to  leave  it,  although  his  niece,  Mme.  Saillard,  offered  him 
rooms  in  a  mansion  in  the  Place  Royale. 

"Courage!"  said  Pillerault,  as  he  jerked  the  cord  of  the 
lever  bell-pull  that  hung  by  Gigonnet's  neat  gray-painted 

door. 

18 


262 

Gigonnet  himself  opened  it,  and  the  perfumer's  two  cham- 
pions in  the  lists  of  bankruptcy  went  through  a  formal,  chilly- 
looking  room,  with  curtainless  windows,  and  entered  a  second, 
where  all  three  seated  themselves. 

The  bill-discounter  took  up  his  position  before  a  grate  full 
of  ashes,  in  which  the  wood  maintained  a  stubborn  resistance 
to' the  flames.  The  sight  of  his  green  cardboard  cases,  and 
the  monastic  austerity  of  the  office,  windy  as  a  cave,  sent  a 
cold  chill  through  Popinot.  His  dazed  eyes  wandered  over 
the  pattern  of  the  cheap  wall-paper — tricolor  flowers  on  a 
bluish  background — which  had  been  hung  some  five-and- 
twenty  years  back ;  and  turned  from  that  depressing  sight  to 
the  ornaments  on  the  chimney-piece,  a  lyre-shaped  clock  and 
oval  vases,  blue  Sevres  ware,  handsomely  mounted  in  gilt 
copper.  This  bit  of  flotsam,  recovered  by  Gigonnet  from  the 
wreck  of  Versailles,  when  the  palace  was  sacked  by  the  popu- 
lace, came  from  a  queen's  boudoir,  but  the  magnificent-look- 
ing ornaments  were  flanked  by  a  couple  of  wrought-iron 
candlesticks  of  the  commonest  description,  a  harsh  contrast 
which  continually  reminded  the  beholder  of  the  manner  in 
which  their  owner  had  come  by  those  royal  splendors. 

"I  know  that  you  cannot  come  on  your  own  account,"  said 
Gigonnet,  "but  for  the  great  Birotteau.  Well,  what  is  it, 
my  friends  ?" 

"I  know  that  you  have  nothing  to  learn,  so  we  will  be 
brief,"  said  Pillerault.  "Have  you  his  bills  payable  to  Cla- 
paron  ?" 

"Yes." 

"Will  you  exchange  the  first  fifty  thousand  francs  that  will 
fall  due  for  bills  accepted  by  M.  Popinot  here,  less  the  dis- 
count, of  course?" 

Gigonnet  lifted  the  terrible  green  cap,  which  seemed  to 
have  been  born  with  him,  and  displayed  a  bald  butter-colored 
pate,  then  with  a  Voltairean  grin : 

"You  want  to  pay  me  in  oil  for  hair,"  he  remarked,  "and 
what  should  I  do  with  it  ?" 

"When  you  joke  it  is  time  for  us  to  take  ourselves  off," 
said  Pillerault. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  263 

"You  speak  like  the  sensible  man  that  you  are/'  said  Qi- 
gonnet,  with  a  flattering  smile. 

"Very  well,  and  how  if  I  back  M.  Popinot's  bills?"  asked 
Pillerault,  making  a  final  effort. 

"You  are  as  good  as  gold  ingots,  M.  Pillerault;  but  I  have 
no  use  for  gold  ingots,  all  that  I  want  is  current  coin." 

Pillerault  and  Popinot  took  their  leave  and  went.  Even 
at  the  foot  of  the  staircase  Popinot's  knees  still  shook  under 
him. 

"Is  he  a  man?"  he  asked  of  Pillerault. 

"People  say  so,"  answered  the  older  man.  "Keep  this  little 
interview  always  in  mind,  Anselme !  You  have  seen  what 
money-lending  is,  stripped  of  its  masquerade  and  palaver. 
Some  unforeseen  event  turns  the  screw  upon  us,  and  we  are 
the  grapes,  and  bill-discounters  the  barrels.  This  specula- 
tion in  building-land  is  a  good  piece  of  business  no  doubt; 
Gigonnet,  or  somebody  behind  him,  has  a  mind  to  cut  Ce- 
sar's throat  and  to  step  into  his  shoes.  That  is  all ;  there  is  no 
help  for  it  now.  And  this  is  what  comes  of  borrowing  money ; 
never  resort  to  it." 

It  had  been  a  dreadful  morning  for  Mme.  Birotteau.  For 
the  first  time  she  had  taken  the  addresses  of  those  who  came 
for  money,  and  had  sent  away  the  Bank  collector  without 
paying  him ;  yet  the  brave  woman  was  glad  to  spare  her  hus- 
band these  humiliations.  Towards  eleven  o'clock  she  saw 
Pillerault  and  Anselme  returning;  she  had  been  expecting 
them  with  ever-increasing  anxiety,  and  now  she  read  her  doom 
in  their  faces.  There  was  no  help  for  it,  the  schedule  must  be 
filed. 

"He  will  die  of  grief,"  said  the  poor  wife. 

"I  could  wish  that  he  might,"  said  Pillerault  gravely ;  "but 
he  is  so  devout,  that  as  things  stand  his  director  the  Abbe 
Loraux  alone  can  save  him." 

Pillerault,  Popinot,  and  Constance  remained  below,  while 
one  of  the  assistants  went  for  the  Abbe  Loraux.  The  Abbe 
should  prepare  Birotteau  for  the  schedule  which  Celestin  was 
copying  out  fair  for  his  master's  signature.  The  assistants 


264  RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

were  in  despair;  they  loved  their  employer.  At  four  o'clock 
the  good  priest  came.  Constance  told  him  all  the  details  of 
the  calamity  which  had  befallen  them,  and  the  Abbe  went  up- 
stairs like  a  soldier  mounting  to  the  breach. 

"I  know  why  you  have  come,"  Cesar  exclaimed. 

"My  son,"  said  the  priest,  "your  sentiments  of  submission 
to  the  Divine  will  have  long  been  known  to  me,  now  you  are 
called  upon  to  put  them  in  practice.  Keep  your  eyes  fixed 
ever  upon  the  Cross,  contemplate  the  Cross  without  ceasing, 
and  think  of  the  cup  of  humiliation  of  which  the  Saviour 
of  men  was  compelled  to  drink,  think  of  the  anguish  of  His 
Passion,  and  thus  you  may  endure  the  mortifications  sent  to 
you  by  God " 

"My  brother  the  Abbe  has  already  prepared  me,"  said  Cesar, 
holding  out  the  letter,  which  he  read  over  again,  to  his  con- 
fessor. 

"You  have  a  good  brother,"  said  M.  Loraux,  "a  virtuous 
and  sweet-natured  wife,  and  a  loving  daughter,  two  real 
friends  in  your  uncle  and  dear  Anselme,  two  indulgent  cred- 
itors in  the  Ragons.  All  these  kind  hearts  will  pour  balm  into 
your  wounds  continually,  and  will  help  you  to  carry  your 
cross.  Promise  me  to  bear  yourself  with  a  martyr's  cour- 
age, and  to  take  the  blow  without  wincing." 

The  Abbe  coughed,  a  signal  to  Pillerault  in  the  next  room. 

"My  submission  is  unlimited,"  said  Cesar  calmly.  "Dis- 
grace has  come  upon  me;  I  ought  only  to  think  of  making 
reparation." 

Cesarine  and  the  priest  were  both  surprised  by  poor  Birot- 
teau's  tone  and  look.  And  yet  nothing  was  more  natural. 
Every  man  bears  a  definitely  known  misfortune  better  than 
suspense  and  constant  alternations  of  excessive  joy  at  one  mo- 
ment, followed  on  the  next  by  the  last  extremity  of  anguish. 

"I  have  been  dreaming  for  twenty-two  years,"  he  said,  "and 
to-day  I  wake  to  find  myself  staff  in  hand  again."  Cesar  had 
once  more  become  the  Tourangeau  peasant. 

At  these  words  Pillerault  held  his  nephew  tightly  in  his 
arms.  Cesar  looked  up  and  saw  his  wife  and  Celestin,  the 


RISE  AND  FALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  265 

latter  with  significant  documents  in  his  hands;  then  he 
glanced  calmly  round  the  group;  all  the  eyes  that  met  his 
were  sad  but  friendly. 

"One  moment !"  he  said,  and  unfastening  his  Cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  which  he  gave  to  the  Abbe  Loraux,  "you 
will  give  that  back  to  me  when  I  can  wear  it  without  a  blush. 
— Celestin,"  he  continued,  turning  to  his  assistant,  "send  in 
my  resignation;  I  am  no  longer  deputy-mayor.  M.  1'Abbe 
will  dictate  the  letter  to  you,  date  it  January  14th,  and  send 
Eaguet  with  it  to  M.  de  la  Billardiere." 

Celestin  and  the  Abbe  Loraux  went  downstairs.  For  nearly 
a  quarter  of  an  hour  perfect  silence  prevailed  in  Cesar's  study. 
Such  firmness  took  the  family  by  surprise.  Celestin  and  the 
Abbe  came  back  again,  and  Cesar  signed  the  letter  of  resigna- 
tion; but  when  Pillerault  laid  the  schedule  before  him,  poor 
Birotteau  could  not  repress  a  dreadful  nervous  tremor. 

"Oh,  God !  have  mercy  upon  us  I"  he  said,  as  he  signed  the 
terrible  instrument  and  handed  it  to  Celestin. 

Then  Anselme  Popinot  spoke,  and  a  gleam  of  light  crossed 
his  clouded  brow.  "Monsieur  and  madame,"  he  said,  "will 
you  grant  me  the  honor  of  mademoiselle's  hand  ?" 

This  speech  brought  tears  into  the  eyes  of  all  who  heard  it ; 
Cesar  alone  rose  to  his  feet,  took  Anselme's  hand,  and  said  in 
a  hollow  voice,  but  with  dry  eyes,  "My  boy,  you  shall  never 
marry  a  bankrupt's  daughter." 

Anselme  looked  Birotteau  steadily  in  the  face. 

"Will  you  promise,  sir,  in  the  presence  of  your  whole  fam- 
ily, to  consent  to  our  marriage,  if  mademoiselle  will  take  me 
for  her  husband,  on  the  day  when  you  shall  have  paid  all  your 
creditors  in  full?" 

There  was  a  moment's  pause.  Every  one  felt  the  influence 
of  the  emotion  recorded  in  the  perfumer's  weary  face. 

"Yes,"  he  said  at  last. 

Anselme  stretched  out  his  hand  to  Cesarine  with  an  in- 
describable gesture;  she  gave  him  hers,  and  he  kissed  it. 

"Do  you  also  consent?"  he  asked  her. 

"Yes,"  she  said. 


266  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"So  I  am  really  one  of  the  family.  I  have  a  right  to  inter- 
est myself  in  your  affairs,"  was  his  comment,  with  an  enig- 
matical look. 

Anselme  hurried  away  lest  he  should  betray  a  joy  in  too 
great  contrast  with  his  master's  trouble.  Anselme  was  not 
exactly  delighted  with  the  bankruptcy;  but  so  absolute,  so 
egoistical  is  love,  that  Cesarine  herself  in  her  inmost  heart 
felt  a  glow  of  happiness  strangely  at  variance  with  her  bitter 
distress  of  mind. 

"While  we  are  about  it,  let  us  strike  every  blow  at  once," 
said  Pillerault,  and  in  Constance's  ear. 

An  involuntary  gesture,  a  sign  not  of  assent,  but  of  sor- 
row, was  Mme.  Birotteau's  answer. 

"What  do  you  mean  to  do,  nephew  ?"  said  Pillerault,  turn- 
ing to  Cesar. 

"To  continue  the  business." 

"I  am  not  of  that  opinion,'"  said.  Pillerault.  "Go  into 
liquidation,  let  your  assets  go  to  your  creditors  in  the  shape 
of  dividend,  and  go  out  of  business  altogether.  I  have  often 
thought  what  I  should  do  if  I  were  placed  in  a  similar  posi- 
tion. (Oh !  you  must  be  prepared  for  everything!  The  mer- 
chant who  does  not  contemplate  possible  insolvency  is  like 
a  general  who  does  not  lay  his  account  with  a  defeat;  he  is 
only  half  a  merchant.)  I  myself  should  never  have  gone  on 
again.  What !  Be  compelled  to  blush  before  men  whom  I 
should  have  wronged,  to  endure  their  suspicious  looks  and  un- 
spoken reproaches?  I  can  think  of  the  guillotine — in  one 
instant  all  is  over;  but  to  carry  a  head  on  your  shoulders  to 
have  it  cut  off  daily,  is  a  kind  of  torture  from  which  I  should 
escape.  Plenty  of  men  begin  again  as  though  nothing  had 
happened ;  so  much  the  better  for  them ! — they  are  braver 
than  Claude- Joseph  Pillerault.  If  you  pay  your  way  (and 
pay  ready-money  you  must),  people  will  say  that  you  man- 
aged to  save  something  for  yourself;  and  if  you  have  not 
a  half-penny,  you  will  never  recover.  'Tis  good-evening  to 
you.  Surrender  your  assets,  let  them  sell  you  up,  and  do 
something  else." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR   BIROTTEAU  267 

"But  what?"  asked  Cesar. 

"Eh!  try  for  a  place  under  the  Government,"  said  Pille- 
rault; "you  have  influence,  have  you  not?  There  are  the 
Due  and  Duchesse  de  Lenoncourt,  Mme.  de  Mortsauf,  M.  de 
Vandenesse!  Write  to  them,  go  to  see  them,  they  will 
find  you  some  post  in  the  Household,  with  a  thousand  crowns 
or  so  hanging  to  it ;  your  wife  will  earn  as  much  again ;  your 
daughter,  .perhaps,  may  do  the  same.  The  case  is  not  des- 
perate. You  three  among  you  will  earn  something  like  ten 
thousand  francs  a  year.  In  ten  years'  time,  you  will  be  in  a 
position  to  pay  a  hundred  thousand  francs,  for  you  will  have 
no  expenses  meanwhile;  your  womankind  shall  have  fifteen 
hundred  francs  from  me ;  and,  as  for  you,  we  shall  see." 

It  was  Constance,  and  not  Cesar,  who  pondered  these  wise 
words,  and  Pillerault  went  on  'Change.  At  that  time  stock- 
brokers used  to  congregate  in  a  provisional  structure  of  planks 
and  scaffolding,  a  large  circular  room,  with  an  entrance 
in  the  Eue  Feydeau.  The  perfumer's  failure  was  already 
known,  and  had  created  a  sensation  in  high  commercial 
circles,  for  their  prevailing  politics  were  Constitutional  at 
that  time.  Birotteau  was  a  conspicuous  personage,  and  envied 
by  many.  Merchants,  on  the  other  hand,  who  leaned  towards 
Liberalism,  regarded  Birotteau's  too  celebrated  ball  as  an  au- 
dacious attempt  to  trade  on  their  sentiments,  for  the  Opposi- 
tion were  fain  to  monopolize  patriotism.  Royalists  were  al- 
lowed to  love  the  King,  but  the  love  of  their  country  was 
the  exclusive  privilege  of  the  Left,  the  Left  was  for  the  peo- 
ple; and  those  in  power  had  no  right  to  rejoice  thus  vi- 
cariously through  the  administration,  in  a  national  event 
which  the  Liberals  meant  to  exploit  for  their  own  benefit. 
For  which  reasons  the  fall  of  a  Ministerialist  in  favor  at 
Court,  of  an  incorrigible  Royalist  who  had  insulted  Liberty 
by  fighting  against  the  glorious  French  Revolution  on  Ven- 
demiaire  13th,  set  all  tongues  wagging  on  'Change,  and  was 
received  with  applause. 

Pillerault  wanted  to  know  what  was  being  said,  and  to 
study  public  opinion.  He  went  up  to  one  of  the  most  eager 


268  RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

groups;  du  Tillet,  Gobenheim-Keller,  Nucingen,  old  Guil- 
laume  and  his  son-in-law  Joseph  Lebas,  Claparon,  Gigonnec, 
Mongenod,  Camusot,  Gobseck,  Adolphe  Keller,  Palma, 
Chiffreville,  Matifat,  Grindot,  and  Lourdois  were  discussing 
the  news. 

"Well,  well,  how  careful  one  had  need  to  be !"  said  Goben- 
heim,  addressing  du  Tillet;  "my  brothers-in-law  all  but 
opened  an  account  with  Birotteau,  it  was  a  near  thing." 

"I  am  let  in  for  ten  thousand  francs  myself,"  said  du 
Tillet;  "he  came  to  me  a  fortnight  ago,  and  I  let  him  have 
the  money  on  his  bare  signature.  But  he  obliged  me  once, 
and  I  shall  lose  it  without  regret." 

"Your  nephew  is  like  the  rest,"  said  Lourdois,  addressing 
Pillerault.  "Gave  entertainments.  I  can  imagine  that  a 
rogue  might  try  to  throw  dust  in  your  eyes  to  induce  confi- 
dence; but  how  could  a  man  who  passed  for  the  cream  of 
honest  folk  descend  to  the  stale  mountebank's  trickery  that 
never  fails  to  catch  us?" 

"Like  leeches,"  commented  Gobseck. 

"Only  trust  a  man  if  he  lives  in  a  den  like  Claparon,"  said 
Gigonnet. 

"Veil,"  said  the  stout  Baron  Nucingen,  for  du  Tillet's 
benefit,  "you  haf  dried  to  blay  me  a  nice  drick,  sending 
Pirodot  to  me.  I  do  not  know,"  he  went  on,  turning  to 
Gobenheim  the  manufacturer,  "why  he  did  not  send  roundt 
to  me  for  vifty  tousend  vrancs;  I  should  haf  led  him  haf 
dem." 

"Oh !  not  you,  M.  le  Baron,"  said  Joseph  Lebas.  "You 
must  have  known  quite  well  that  the  Bank  had  refused  his 
paper;  you  were  on  the  Discount  Committee  which  declined 
it.  This  poor  man,  for  whom  I  still  feel  a  very  great  respect, 
fails  under  singular  circumstances " 

Pillerault  grasped  Joseph  Lebas'  hand. 

"It  is,  in  fact,  impossible  to  explain  how  the  thing  has 
happened,"  said  Mongenod,  "except  by  the  theory  that  there 
is  some  one  behind  Gigonnet,  some  banker  whose  intention 
it  is  to  spoil  the  Madeleine  speculation." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  269 

"The  thing  which  has  happened  to  him  always  happens  to 
people  who  go  out  of  their  own  line,"  said  Claparon,  inter- 
rupting Mongenod.  "If  he  had  brought  out  his  Cephalic 
Oil  himself,  instead  of  sending  up  the  price  of  building  lots  in 
Paris  by  rushing  into  land  speculation,  he  would  have  lost  his 
hundred  thousand  francs  through  Eoguin,  but  he  would  not 
have  gone  bankrupt.  He  will  start  afresh  under  the  name  of 
Popinot." 

"Keep  an  eye  on  Popinot,"  said  Gigonnet. 

According  to  this  crowd  of  merchants.  Roguin  was  "poor 
Eoguin";  the  perfumer  was  "that  unlucky  Birotteau."  A 
great  passion  seemed  to  excuse  the  one,  the  other  appeared 
the  more  to  blame  on  account  of  his  pretensions.  Gigonnet 
left  the  Exchange,  and  took  the  Rue  Perrin-Gasselin  on  his 
way  home  to  the  Rue  Grenetat.  He  looked  in  on  Mme. 
Madou,  the  dry  fruit  saleswoman. 

"Well,  old  lady,"  said  he,  with  his  cruel  good-humor,  '"and 
how  are  we  getting  on  in  our  way  of  business  ?" 

"Middling,"  said  Mme.  Madou  respectfully,  and  she  of- 
fered the  money-lender  her  only  armchair  with  a  friendly 
officiousness  which  she  had  never  shown  to  any  one  else  but 
the  dear  departed. 

Mother  Madou,  who  would  fell  a  carman  with  a  blow  if 
he  were  refractory  or  carried  a  joke  too  far,  who  had  not 
feared  to  assist  at  the  storming  of  the  Tuileries  on  the  10th 
of  October,  who  railed  at  her  best  customers  (for  that 
matter,  she  was  capable  of  heading  a  deputation  of  the  Dames 
de  la  Halle,  and  speaking  to  the  King  himself  without  a 
tremor) — Angelique  Madou  received  Gigonnet  with  the  ut- 
most respect.  She  was  helpless  in  his  presence;  she  winced 
under  his  hard  eyes.  It  will  be  a  long  while  yet  before  the 
executioner  ceases  to  be  a  terror  to  the  people,  and  Gigonnet 
was  the  executioner  of  the  small  traders.  The  man  who  sets 
money  in  circulation  is  more  looked  up  to  in  the  Great  Mar- 
ket than  any  other  power;  all  other  human  institutions  are  as 
nought  compared  with  him.  For  them  the  C<»mmissaire  is 
Justice  personified,  and  with  the  Commissaire  they  of  the 


270  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

Market  become  familiar.  But  the  sight  of  the  money-lender 
entrenched  behind  his  green  cardboard  cases,  of  the  usurer 
whom  they  implore  with  fear  in  their  hearts,  dries  up  the 
sources  of  wit,  parches  the  throat,  and  abashes  the  bold  eyes; 
the  people  grew. respectful  in  his  presence. 

"Have  you  come  to  ask  something  of  me  ?"  said  she. 

"A  mere  trifle;  be  prepared  to  refund  the  amount  of  Bi- 
rotteau's  bills,  the  old  man  has  gone  bankrupt,  so  all  outstand- 
ing claims  must  be  sent  in;  I  shall  send  you  in  a  statement 
to-morrow." 

The  pupils  of  Mme.  Madou's  eyes  first  contracted  like  the 
eyes  of  a  cat,  then  flames  leapt  forth  from  them. 

"0  the  beggar !  0  the  scamp !  and  he  came  here  himself 
to  tell  me  that  he  was  deputy-mayor,  piling  on  his  lies !  The 
Lord  ha'  mercy!  That's  just  the  way  with  business;  there 
is  no  trusting  mayors  nowadays ;  the  Government  cheats  us ! 
You  wait,  I  will  have  the  money  out  of  them,  I  will " 

"Eh !  everyone  comes  out  of  this  sort  of  thing  the  best  way 
he  can,  my  little  dear!"  said  Gigonnet,  lifting  one  leg  with 
the  precise  little  gesture  of  a  cat  picking  its  way  among  pud- 
dles, a  trick  to  which  he  owed  his  nickname.*  "Some  swells 
have  been  let  in  who  mean  to  get  themselves  out  of  the 
scrape " 

"Good !  good !  I  will  get  my  hazel-nuts  out. — Marie 
Jeanne!  my  clogs  and  my  lamb's-wool  shawl.  Quick!  or  I 
will  lend  you  a  clout  that  will  warm  your  cheeks." 

"That  will  make  it  hot  for  them  yonder  up  the  street," 
said  Gigonnet  to  himself,  as  he  rubbed  his  hands.  "Du  Tillet 
will  be  satisfied;  there  will  be  a  scandal  in  the  Quarter. 
What  that  poor  devil  of  a  perfumer  can  have  done  to  him,  I 
don't  know ;  for  my  own  part,  I  am  as  sorry  for  the  man  as 
for  a  dog  with  a  broken  paw.  He  isn't  a  man ;  he  has  no  fight 
in  him." 

Mme.  Madou  broke  out  like  an  insurrection  in  the  Fau- 
bourg Saint-Antoine  towards  seven  o'clock  that  evening,  ana 
swept  to  the  luckless  Birotteau's  door,  which  she  opened  with 
unnecessary  violence,  for  her  walk  had  had  an  exciting  effect. 

•Gigonuet,  from  Gigotter,  to  kick  the  legs  about 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  271 

"Brood  of  vermin,  I  must  have  my  money,  I  want  my 
money !  You  give  me  my  money  1  or  I  will  have  sachets  and 
satin  gimcracks  and  fans  till  I  have  the  worth  of  my  two  thou- 
sand francs!  A  mayor  rohbing  the  people!  Did  any  one 
ever  see  the  like !  If  you  don't  pay  me,  I  will  send  him  to 
jail;  I  will  go  for  the  public  prosecutor;  I  will  put  the  whole 
posse  of  them  on  his  tracks !  I  do  not  stir  from  here  without 
my  money,  in  fact." 

She  looked  as  if  she  would  open  the  glass  door  of  a  cup- 
board in  which  expensive  goods  were  kept. 

"The  Madou  is  helping  herself,"  said  Celestin,  speaking 
in  a  low  voice  to  his  neighbor.  The  lady  overheard  the  re- 
mark, for  during  a  paroxysm  of  rage  the  senses  are  either 
deadened,  or  preternaturally  alert,  according  to  the  tem- 
perament. She  bestowed  on  Celestin  the  most  vigorous  box 
on  the  ear  ever  given  and  received  in  a  perfumer's  shop. 

"Learn  to  respect  women,  my  cherub,"  quoth  she,  "and  not 
to  bedraggle  the  names  of  the  people  you  rob." 

Mme.  Birotteau  came  forward  from  the  back  shop.  Her 
husband  by  chance  was  also  there;  in  spite  of  Pillerault,  he 
chose  to  remain,  carrying  his  humility  and  obedience  to  the 
law  so  far  as  to  be  ready  to  submit  to  be  put  in  prison.  "Ma- 
dame," said  Constance,  "for  Heaven's  sako,  do  not  bring  a 
crowd  together  in  the  street." 

"Eh !  let  them  come  in,"  cried  the  saleswoman ;  "I  will  tell 
them  about  it ;  it  will  make  them  laugh !  Yes,  my  goods 
and  the  francs  I  made  by  the  sweat  of  my  brow  go  for  you  to 
give  balls.  You  go  dressed  like  a  Queen  of  France,  forsooth, 
and  fleece  poor  lambs  like  me  for  the  wool!  Jesus!  stolen 
goods  would  burn  my  shoulders,  I  know  !  I  have  nothing  but 
shoddy  on  my  carcase,  but  it  is  my  own !  Bandits  and 
thieves !  my  money,  or 

She  pounced  upon  a  pretty  inlaid  case  full  of  costly  per- 
fumery. 

"Leave  it  alone,  madame,"  said  Cesar,  appearing  on  the 
scene;  "nothing  here  belongs  to  me,  it  is  all  the  property  of 
my  creditors;  I  have  nothing  left  but  myself;  and  if  you 


272  KISE  AND  FALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

have  a  mind  to  seize  me  and  put  me  in  jail,  I  give  you  my 
word  of  honor"  (a  tear  overflowed  his  £yes  at  this)  "that  I 
will  wait  here  for  your  process-server,  police-officer,  and 
bailiff's  men." 

From  his  tone  and  gesture,  he  evidently  meant  to  do  as  he 
said ;  Mme.  Madou's  anger  died  down. 

"A  notary  has  absconded  with  my  money,  and  the  disasters 
which  I  cause  come  through  no  fault  of  mine,"  Cesar  went 
on ;  "but  in  time  you  shall  be  paid,  if  I  have  to  work  myself 
to  death  and  earn  the  money  by  my  hands  as  a  market 
porter." 

"Come,  you  are  a  good  man,"  said  the  market  woman.  "Ex^ 
cuse  my  speaking,  madame;  but  I  shall  have  to  fling  myself 
into  the  river,  for  Gigonnet  will  be  down  upon  me,  and  I  have 
nothing  but  bills  at  ten  months  to  give  for  your  cursed 
paper." 

"Come  round  and  see  me  to-morrow  morning/'  said  Pille- 
rault,  coming  forward;  "I  will  arrange  the  business  for  you 
at  five  per  cent  with  a  friend  of  mine." 

"Quien!  that  is  good  Father  Pillerault ! — Why,  yes,  he  is 
your  uncle,"  she  went  on,  turning  to  Constance.  "Come, 
now,  you  are  honest  folk ;  I  shall  not  lose  anything,  shall  I  ? 
— Good-bye  till  to-morrow,  old  Brutus,"  she  added,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  retired  ironmonger. 

Cesar  insisted  on  remaining  amid  the  ruins  of  his  glory, 
and  would  hear  of  no  other  course ;  he  said  that  by  so  doing 
he  could  explain  his  position  to  all  his  creditors.  In  this 
determination,  Uncle  Pillerault  upheld  Cesar  in  spite  of  the 
entreaties  of  his  niece.  Cesar  was  persuaded  to  go  upstairs, 
and  then  the  wily  old  man  hurried  to  M.  Haudry,  put  Cesar's 
case  before  him,  obtained  a  prescription  for  a  sleeping- 
draught,  had  it  made  up,  and  went  back  to  spend  the  even- 
ing in  his  nephew's  house.  With  Cesarine's  assistance,  he 
constrained  Cesar  to  drink  as  they  did;  the  narcotic  did  its 
work:  and  fourteen  hours  later  Birotteau  awoke  to  find  him- 
self in  Pillerault's  own  bedroom  in  the  Kue  des  Bourdonnais, 
a  prisoner  in  the  house  of  his  uncle,  who  slept  on  a  camp 
bedstead  put  up  in  the  sitting-room. 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  273 

When  Pillerault  had  put  Cesar  into  the  cab,  and  Constance 
had  heard  it  roll  away,  then  her  courage  failed  her.  Our 
strength  is  often  called  forth  by  the  necessity  of  sustaining 
some  one  weaker  than  ourselves ;  and  the  poor  woman,  now 
that  she  was  left  alone  with  her  daughter,  wept  as  she  would 
have  wept  for  Cesar  if  he  had  been  lying  dead. 

"Mamma,"  said  Cesarine,  seating  herself  on  her  mother's 
knee,  with  the  gracious  kitten-like  ways  that  women  only  dis-/ 
play  for  each  other,  "you  said  that  if  I  bore  my  part  bravely, 
you  would  be  able  to  face  adversity.  So  do  not  cry,  mother 
dear.  I  am  ready  to  work  in  a  shop;  I  will  forget  what  we 
have  been ;  I  will  be  a  forewoman,  as  you  were  when  you  were 
a  girl ;  you  shall  never  hear  a  regret  or  a  complaint  from  me. 
And  I  have  a  hope.  Did  you  not  hear  M.  Popinot  ?" 

"Dear  boy !  he  shall  not  be  my  son-in-law." 

"Oh !  mamma " 

"He  will  be  my  own  son." 

"There  is  this  one  good  thing  about  trouble,  it  teaches  us  to 
know  our  real  friends,"  said  Cesarine ;  and,  changing  places 
with  her  mother,  she  at  last  comforted  her,  and  soothed  the 
poor  woman's  grief. 

The  next  morning  Constance  left  a  note  for  the  Due  de 
Lenoncourt,  one  of  the  first  Gentlemen  of  the  Bedchamber. 
She  asked  for  an  interview  at  a  certain  hour.  Meanwhile, 
she  went  to  M.  de  la  Billardiere,  told  him  of  the  predicament 
in  which  Cesar  found  himself  in  consequence  of  Roguin's 
flight  from  the  country,  and  begged  the  mayor  to  give  her  his 
support  with  the  Duke,  and  to  speak  for  her,  for  she  feared 
that  she  might  express  herself  ill.  She  wanted  some  post  for 
Birotteau.  Birotteau  would  be  the  most  honest  of  cashiers, 
if  there  are  degrees  in  the  quality  of  honesty. 

"The  King  has  just  appointed  the  Comte  de  Fontaine  as 
Comptroller-General  of  the  Royal  Household ;  there  is  no  time 
to  be  lost." 

At  two  o'clock  La  Billardiere  and  Mme.  Cesar  ascended 
the  great  staircase  of  the  Hotel  de  Lenoncourt  in  the  Rue 
Saint-Dominique,  and  were  brought  into  the  presence  of 


274  RISE  AND  FALL  OF   CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

one  of  the  nobles  highest  in  the  King's  favor,  in  so  far  as 
Louis  XVIII.  could  be  said  to  have  preferences.  The  gracious 
reception  accorded  to  her  by  a  great  noble,  one  of  the  little 
group  who  formed  a  connecting  link  between  the  eighteenth- 
century  noblesse  and  those  of  the  nineteenth,  put  hope  into 
Mme.  Cesar.  The  perfumer's  wife  was  great  and  simple  in 
her  sorrow;  sorrow  ennobles  the  most  commonplace  natures, 
for  it  has  a  grandeur  of  its  own,  but  only  those  who  are  true 
and  sincere  can  take  its  polish.  Constance  was  essentially 
sincere.  It  was  a  question  of  prompt  application  to  the  King. 
,  In  the  midst  of  the  discussion,  M.  de  Vandenesse  was  an- 
nounced. 

"Here  is  your  deliverer,"  exclaimed  the  Duke. 

Mme.  Birotteau  was  not  unknown  to  the  young  man,  who 
had  been  once  or  twice  to  the  perfumer's  shop  for  those  trifles 
which  are  often  of  as  much  importance  as  great  things.  The 
Duke  explained  La  Billardiere's  views;  and  when  Vandenesse 
learned  the  disasters,  he  went  immediately  with  La  Billardiere 
to  see  the  Comte  de  Fontaine  on  behalf  of  the  Marquise 
d'Uxelles'  godson.  Mme.  Birotteau  was  asked  to  await  the 
result. 

M.  le  Comte  de  Fontaine,  like  La  Billardiere,  was  one  of 
the  provincial  noblesse,  the  almost  unknown  heroes  of  La 
Vendee.  Birotteau  was  no  stranger  to  him,  for  he  had  seen 
the  perfumer  at  the  Queen  of  Roses  in  former  days.  At  that 
time,  those  who  had  shed  their  blood  for  the  Royalist  cause 
enjoyed  privileges,  which  the  King  kept  secret  for  fear  of 
hurting  Liberal  susceptibilities,  and  M.  de  Fontaine,  one  of 
the  King's  favorites,  was  supposed  to  be  in  the  confidence 
of  Louis  XVIII.  Not  only  did  this  influential  person 
definitely  promise  to  obtain  a  post  for  the  perfumer,  but  he 
went  to  the  Due  de  Lenoncourt,  then  in  attendance,  to  ask 
him  for  a  moment's  speech  with  the  King  that  evening,  and 
to  entreat  for  La  Billardiere  an  audience  with  Monsieur 
the  King's  brother,  who  had  a  particular  regard  for  the  old 
Vendean. 

That  very  evening  M.  le  Comte  de  Fontaine  came  from 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  275 

the  Tuileries  to  inform  Mme.  Birotteau  that  as  soon  as  her 
husband  had  received  his  discharge,  he  would  be  appointed 
to  a  post  worth  two  thousand  five  hundred  francs  per  annum 
in  the  Sinking  Fund  Department,  all  places  in  the  Household 
being  at  that  time  filled  with  noble  supernumeraries  to  whom 
the  Boyalist  family  were  bound. 

This  success  was  but  a  part  of  the  task  undertaken  by  Mme. 
Birotteau.  The  poor  woman  went  to  Joseph  Lebas  at  the 
sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket  in  the  Hue  Saint-Denis.  On  the 
way  thither  she  met  Mme.  Koguin  in  her  showy  carriage, 
doubtless  on  a  shopping  expedition.  Their  eyes  met,  and  the 
visible  confusion  on  the  beautiful  face  of  the  notary's  wife, 
at  this  meeting  with  the  woman  who  had  been  brought  to 
ruin,  gave  Constance  courage. 

"Never  will  I  drive  in  a  carriage  paid  for  with  other  peo- 
ple's money,"  said  she  to  herself. 

Welcomed  by  Joseph  Lebas,  she  asked  him  to  look  for  a 
situation  for  her  daughter  in  some  respectable  house  of  busi- 
ness. Lebas  made  no  promises,  but  a  week  later  it  was  ar- 
ranged that  Cesarine  should  be  placed  in  a  branch  of  one  of 
the  largest  drapery  establishments  in  Paris,  which  had  just 
been  opened  in  the  Quartier  des  Italiens.  She  was  to  live  in 
the  house,  and  to  take  charge  of  the  shop  and  counting-house, 
with  a  salary  of  three  thousand  francs.  She  would  represent 
the  master  and  mistress,  and  the  forewoman  was  to  act  under 
her  orders. 

As  for  Mme.  Cesar  herself,  she  went  on  the  same  day  to 
ask  Popinot  to  allow  her  to  take  charge  of  the  books,  the 
correspondence,  and  the  household.  Popinot  knew  well  that 
this  was  the  one  commercial  house  in  which  the  perfumer's 
wife  might  take  a  subordinate  position  and  still  receive  the 
respect  due  to  her.  The  noble-hearted  boy  installed  her  in 
his  house,  gave  her  a  salary  of  three  thousand  francs,  ar- 
ranged to  give  his  own  room  to  her,  and  went  up  into  the 
attic.  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  the  beautiful  woman,  after 
one  short  month  spent  amid  novel  splendors,  was  compelled 
to  take  up  her  abode  in  the  poor  room  where  Gaudissart,  An- 
selme,  and  Finot  had  inaugurated  the  Cephalic  Oil. 


276  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

The  Tribunal  of  Commerce  had  appointed  Molineux  as 
agent,  and  he  came  to  take  formal  possession  of  Cesar's  prop- 
erty. Constance,  with  Celestin's  help,  went  through  the  in- 
ventory with  him ;  and  then  mother  and  daughter  went  to  stay 
with  Pillerault.  They  went  out  on  foot,  and  simply  dressed, 
and  without  turning  their  heads,  and  this  was  their  leave- 
taking  of  the  house  in  which  they  had  spent  the  third  part 
of  a  lifetime.  Silently  they  walked  to  the  Eue  des  Bourdon- 
nais,  and  dined  with  Cesar,  for  the  first  time  since  their  sepa- 
ration. It  was  a  melancholy  dinner.  They  had  each  had  time 
to  think  over  the  position,  to  weigh  the  burden  laid  upon  them, 
to  estimate  their  courage.  All  three  were  like  sailors,  pre- 
pared to  face  the  coming  tempest  without  blinking  the  dan- 
ger. Birotteau  took  heart  again  when  he  heard  that  great 
personages  had  interested  themselves  for  him  and  provided 
for  his  future ;  but  he  broke  down  when  he  heard  of  the  ar- 
rangement which  had  been  made  for  his  daughter.  Then 
hearing  how  bravely  his  wife  had  begun  to  work  again,  he 
held  out  his  hand  to  her. 

Tears  filled  Pillerault's  eyes  for  the  last  time  in  his  life  at 
the  sight  of  this  pathetic  picture  of  the  father,  mother,  and 
daughter  united  in  one  embrace;  while  Birotteau,  the  most 
helpless  and  downcast  of  the  three,  held  up  his  hand  and 
cried,  "We  must  hope  !" 

"To  save  expense,  you  must  live  here  with  me;  you  shall 
have  my  room,  and  share  my  bread.  For  a  long  time  past  I 
have  been  tired  of  living  alone ;  you  will  take  the  place  of  that 
poor  boy  I  lost.  And  it  will  only  be  a  step  from  here  to  your 
office  in  the  Rue  d'Oratoire." 

"Merciful  God  !"  cried  Birotteau.  "There  is  a  star  to  guide 
me  when  the  storm  is  at  its  height." 

By  resignation  to  his  fate,  the  victim  of  a  misfortune  con- 
sumes his  misfortune.  Birotteau  could  fall  no  further;  he 
had  accepted  the  position;  he  became  strong  again. 

In  France  when  a  merchant  has  filed  his  petition,  the  only 
thing  he  need  trouble  himself  to  do  is  to  retreat  to  some  oasis 
at  home  or  abroad  where  he  may  passively  exist  like  the  child 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  277 

that  he  is  in  the  eye  of  the  law;  theoretically  he  is  a  minor, 
and  incapable  of  acting  in  any  capacity  as  a  citizen.*  Prac- 
tically, however,  he  is  by  no  means  a  nullity.  He  does  not, 
indeed,  show  his  face  until  he  receives  a  "certificate  of  im- 
munity from  arrest"  (which  no  registrar  nor  creditor  has 
been  known  to  refuse),  for  if  he  is  found  at  large  without 
it  he  is  liable  to  be  put  in  prison;  but  once  provided  with  his 
safe  conduct,  his  flag  of  truce,  he  can  take  a  stroll  through 
the  enemy's  camp,  not  from  idle  curiosity,  but  to  counteract 
and  thwart  the  evil  intentions  of  the  law  with  regard  to  bank- 
rupts. 

A  prodigious  development  of  perverse  ingenuity  is  the 
direct  result  of  any  law  which  touches  private  interests.  The 
one  thought  of  a  bankrupt,  as  of  everybody  else  who  finds  his 
purposes  crossed  in  any  way  by  the  law  of  the  land,  is  how  to 
evade  it.  The  period  of  civil  death,  during  which  time  a 
bankrupt  must  be  considered  as  a  kind  of  commercial  chrysa- 
lis, lasts  for  three  months  or  thereabouts,  the  interval  re- 
quired for  the  formalities  which  must  be  gone  through  be- 
fore creditors  and  debtor  sign  a  treaty  of  peace,  otherwise 
known  as  a  concordat,  a  word  which  indicates  sufficiently 
clearly  that  concord  reigns  after  the  storm  raised  by  the  clash- 
ing of  various  interests  which  run  counter  to  one  another. 

Directly  the  schedule  is  deposited,  the  Tribunal  of  Com- 
merce appoints  a  registrar  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  the 
throng  of  unascertained  creditors  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other  to  protect  the  bankrupt  from  the  vexatious  importuni- 
ties and  inroads  of  infuriated  creditors,  a  double  part  which 
presents  magnificent  possibilities  if  registrars  had  but  time 
to  develop  them.  The  registrar  authorizes  an  agent  by  pro- 
curation, to  take  formal  possession  of  the  bankrupt's  prop- 
erty, bills,  and  effects,  and  the  agent  checks  the  statement  of 
assets  in  the  schedule ;  lastly,  the  clerk  of  the  court  convenes 
a  meeting  of  creditors,  by  tuck  of  drum,  that  is  to  say,  by  ad- 

*In  France  a  bankrupt  loses  his  civil  and  political  status  ;  he  recovers  the  right  of 
administering  his  own  affairs  after  his  discharge;  but  the  disabilities  are  only  re- 
moved by  Rehabilitation.    This  is  an  order  granted  by  the  Court  when  it  is  proved 
that  tae  bankruot  has  paid  debts  and  costs  in  full. 
19 


278  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

vertisements  in  the  newspapers.  The  creditors,  genuine  or 
otherwise,  are  called  upon  to  assemble  and  agree  among  them- 
selves to  appoint  provisional  trustees,  who  shall  replace  the 
agent,  step  into  the  bankrupt's  shoes,  and,  by  a  legal  fiction, 
become  indeed  the  bankrupt  himself.  These  have  power  to 
realize  everything,  to  make  compromises,  or  to  sell  outright ; 
in  short,  to  wind  up  the  whole  business  for  the  benefit  of  the 
creditors,  provided  that  the  bankrupt  makes  no  opposition. 
As  a  rule,  in  Paris  the  bankruptcy  is  not  carried  beyond  the 
stage  of  the  provisional  trustees,  and  for  the  following  rea- 
sons: 

The  nomination  of  trustees  is  a  proceeding  calculated  to 
stir  up  more  angry  feeling  than  any  other  resolution  which 
can  be  passed  by  an  assembly  of  men,  deluded,  baffled,  be- 
fooled, ensnared,  bamboozled,  robbed,  cheated,  and  thirsting 
for  vengeance;  and  albeit,  as  a  general  thing,  the  creditor 
is  cheated,  robbed,  bamboozled,  ensnared,  befooled,  baffled, 
and  deluded,  in  Paris  no  commercial  crisis,  no  feeling,  however 
high,  can  last  for  three  mortal  months.  Nothing  in  commerce 
but  a  bill  of  exchange  is  capable  of  starting  up  clamorous 
for  payment  at  the  expiration  of  ninety  days.  Before  the 
three  months  are  out,  all  the  creditors,  exhausted  by  the  wear 
and  tear,  and  worn  out  by  the  marches  and  counter-marches 
of  the  liquidation,  sleep  soundly  by  the  side  of  their  excel- 
lent little  wives.  These  facts  may  enable  those  who  are  not 
Frenchmen  to  understand  how  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  ap- 
pointment of  provisional  trustees  is  usually  final;  out  of  a 
thousand  provisional  trustees,  there  are  not  five  who  are  ap- 
pointed to  carry  the  thing  further.  The  reasons  of  the  swift 
abjuration  of  commercial  enmity  which  has  its  source  in  a 
failure  may  be  imagined ;  but  for  those  who  have  not  the  good 
fortune  to  be  merchants,  some  explanation  of  the  drama 
known  as  a  bankruptcy  is  necessary  if  they  are  to  comprehend 
how  it  constitutes  the  most  monstrous  legal  farce  in  Paris,  and 
understand  the  ordinary  rule  to  which  Cesar's  case  was  to  be 
so  marked  an  exception. 

A  failure  in  business  is  a  thrilling  drama  in  three  distinct 


RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  279 

acts.  Act  the  first  may  be  called  The  Agent ;  act  the  second, 
The  Trustees;  and  act  the  third,  The  Concordat,  or  payment 
of  composition.  The  spectacle  is  twofold,  as  is  the  case  with 
plays  performed  on  the  stage;  for  there  is  the  spectacular 
effect  intended  for  the  public,  and  the  more  or  less  invisible 
mechanism  by  which  the  effects  are  produced,  and  the  same 
play  if  seen  before  and  behind  the  scenes  looks  quite  different 
from  different  points  of  view.  In  the  wings  stand  the  bank- 
rupt and  his  attorney  (one  of  the  advocates  who  practise  at 
the  Tribunal  of  Commerce),  and  the  trustees  and  agent  and 
the  registrar  complete  the  list. 

Nobody  outside  Paris  knows  what  no  Parisian  can  fail  to 
know,  that  a  registrar  is  the  most  extraordinary  kind  of 
magistrate  which  the  freaks  of  civilization  have  devised.  In 
the  first  place,  he  is  a  judge  who,  at  every  moment  of  his  of- 
ficial life,  may  go  in  fear  that  his  own  measure  may  be  dealt 
to  him  again.  Paris  has  even  seen  the  President  of  her 
Tribunal  of  Commerce  compelled  to  file  his  petition ;  and  the 
ordinary  judge,  who  is  called  upon  to  act  as  a  registrar,  is  no 
venerable  merchant  retired  from  business,  whose  magistracy 
is  a  tribute  to  a  stainless  career ;  but  the  active  senior  partner 
of  some  great  house,  a  man  burdened  with  the  responsibility 
of  vast  enterprises.  It  is  a  sine  qua  non  that  a  judge  who  is 
bound  to  give  decisions  on  the  torrents  of  commercial  dis- 
putes which  pour  incessantly  upon  the  capital  shall  have  as 
much,  or  more,  business  of  his  own  than  he  can  manage. 

Thus  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce,  which  might  have  been 
a  useful  transition  stage  and  half-way  house  between  the  trad- 
ing community  and  the  regions  of  the  noblesse,  is  composed 
of  busy  merchants,  who  may  one  day  be  made  to  suffer  for 
unpopular  awards,  and  a  Birotteau  among  them  may  find  a 
du  Tillet. 

The  judge  or  registrar,  therefore,  is  of  necessity  a  person- 
age in  whose  presence  a  great  deal  is  said  to  which  perforce 
he  lends  an  ear,  thinking  the  while  .of  his  private  concerns. 
He  is  very  apt  to  leave  public  business  in  the  hands  of  the 
trustees  and  the  attorneys  who  practise  at  the  Tribunal  of 


280  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

Commerce,  unless  some  odd  and  unusual  case  turns  up ; 
instance  of  theft  under  curious  circumstances,  to  draw 
from  him  the  remark  that  either  the  creditor  or  the  debtor 
must  be  a  clever  fellow.  This  personage,  set  on  high  above 
the  scene,  like  the  portrait  of  a  king  in  an  audience-chamber, 
is  to  be  seen  of  a  morning  from  five  to  seven  o'clock  in  his 
yard,  if  he  is  a  timber  merchant;  in  his  shop,  if,  like  Birot- 
teau,  he  is  a  perfumer;  and  again,  in  the  evening  at  dessert 
after  dinner,  but  always  and  in  any  case  terribly  busy.  For 
these  reasons  this  functionary  is  usually  dumb. 

Let  us  do  justice  to  the  law ;  the  registrar's  hands  are  tied 
by  the  hasty  legislation  which  provided  for  these  matters; 
and  many  a  time  he  sanctions  frauds  which  he  is  powerless 
to  hinder,  as  will  shortly  be  seen. 

The  agent,  instead  of  being  the  creditors'  man,  may  play 
into  the  debtor's  hands.  Each  creditor  hopes  to  swell  his 
share,  and  in  some  way  to  make  better  terms  for  himself 
with  the  bankrupt,  whom  every  one  suspects  of  a  secret  hoard. 
The  agent  can  make  something  out  of  both  sides,  by  dealing 
leniently  with  the  bankrupt  on  the  one  hand,  or  on  the  other 
by  securing  something  for  the  more  influential  creditors,  and 
in  this  way  can  hold  with  the  hare  and  run  with  the  hounds. 
Not  unfrequently  a  crafty  agent  has  annulled  a  judgment  by 
buying  out  the  creditors  and  releasing  the  merchant,  who 
springs  up  again  at  a  rebound  like  an  india-rubber  ball. 

The  agent  turns  to  the  best  furnished  crib ;  he  will,  if  neces- 
sary, cover  the  largest  creditors  and  let  the  debtor  go  bare, 
or  he  will  sacrifice  the  creditors  to  the  merchant's  future,  as 
suits  him  best.  So  the  whole  drama  turns  on  the  first  act; 
and  the  agent,  like  the  attorney  of  the  Tribunal,  is  the  utility- 
man  in  a  piece  in  which  neither  will  play  unless  he  is  sure 
of  his  fees  beforehand.  In  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
cases  out  of  a  thousand,  the  agent  is  for  the  debtor. 

At  the  time  when  this  story  took  place,  it  was  the  practice 
of  attorneys  at  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce  to  go  to  the  judge 
who  was  to  act  as  registrar  and  nominate  a  man  of  their  own, 
some  one  who  knew  something  of  the  debtor's  affairs  and 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  281 

conld  manage  to  reconcile  the  interests  of  the  many  and  of  the 
one — the  honorable  trader  who  had  fallen  into  misfortune. 
Of  late  years  it  has  been  the  practice  of  shrewd  judges  to 
wait  till  this  has  been  done  so  as  to  avoid  the  nominee,  and 
to  make  an  effort  to  appoint  a  man  of  passable  integrity. 

During  this  first  act  the  creditors,  genuine  or  presumed, 
present  themselves  to  select  the  provisional  trustees,  an  ap- 
pointment which,  as  has  been  said,  is  practically  final.  In 
this  electoral  assembly  every  creditor  has  a  voice,  whether  his 
claim  is  for  fifty  sous  or  fifty  thousand  francs,  and  the  votes 
are  reckoned  by  count  and  not  by  weight.  The  names  of  the 
trustees  are  proposed  at  the  meeting,  packed  by  the  debtor 
with  sham  creditors  (the  only  ones  who  never  fail  to  put  in 
an  appearance) ;  and  from  the  names  thus  sent  in,  the  regis- 
trar, the  powerless  president,  is  bound  to  choose  those  who 
shall  act.  Naturally,  therefore,  the  registrar  takes  the 
trustees  from  the  debtor's  hands,  another  abuse  which  turns 
this  catastrophe  into  one  of  the  most  burlesque  dramas  sanc- 
tioned by  a  court  of  justice.  The  "honorable  trader  fallen 
into  misfortune"  is  master  of  the  situation,  and  proceeds  to 
carry  out  a  premeditated  robbery  with  the  law  at  his  back. 
In  Paris,  as  a  rule,  the  petty  tradesmen  are  blameless.  Before 
a  shopkeeper  files  his  schedule,  the  poor  honest  fellow  has  left 
no  stone  unturned ;  he  has  sold  his  wife's  shawl,  and  pawned 
his  spoons  and  forks ;  and  when  he  gives  in  at  last,  it  is  with 
empty  hands,  he  is  utterly  ruined,  and  has  not  even  money  to 
pay  the  attorney,  who  troubles  himself  very  little  about  his 
client. 

The  law  demands  that  the  concordat,  which  remits  a  part 
of  the  debt  and  restores  the  debtor  to  the  management  of  his 
affairs,  should  be  put  to  the  vote  and  carried  by  a  sufficient 
majority,  with  due  regard  to  the  amounts  claimed  by  the 
voters.  To  secure  the  majority  is  a  great  feat  which  demands 
the  most  skilful  diplomacy  on  the  part  of  the  debtor,  his  at- 
torney, and  the  trustees  amid  the  clash  of  conflicting  inter- 
ests. The  ordinary  commonplace  stratagem  consists  in  offer- 
ing to  such  a  body  of  the  creditors  as  will  represent  the  ma- 


282  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

jority  required  by  the  law,  a  premium  to  be  paid  over  and 
above  the  dividend  which  the  meeting  of  creditors  is  to 
consent  to  accept.  For  this  gigantic  swindle  there  is  no 
remedy.  Successive  Tribunals  of  Commerce,  familiar  with 
it  by  dint  of  practice  in  non-official  capacity,  and  grown  wise 
by  experience,  have  decided  of  late  that  all  claims  are  made 
void  where  there  is  a  suspicion  of  fraud ;  thus  it  is  to  the 
debtor's  interest  to  complain  of  the  "extortion,"  and  the 
judges  of  the  Tribunal  hope  in  this  way  to  raise  the  moral 
tone  of  proceedings  in  liquidation.  But  they  will  only  suc- 
ceed in  making  matters  worse;  creditors  will  exercise  their 
ingenuity  to  invent  still  more  rascally  devices  which  the 
judges  will  brand  as  registrars,  and  profit  by  as  merchants. 
Another  extremely  popular  expedient,  which  gave  rise  to 
the  expression  "serious  and  legitimate  creditor,"  consists  in 
creating  creditors,  much  as  du  Tillet  created  a  firm  of 
bankers.  By  introducing  a  sufficient  number  of  Claparons 
into  the  meeting,  the  debtor,  in  these  diverse  manifestations, 
receives  a  share  of  the  spoils,  and  sensibly  diminishes  the 
dividends  of  the  real  creditors.  This  plan  has  a  double  ad- 
vantage. The  debtor  obtains  resources  for  the  future,  and  at 
the  same  time  secures  the  proper  number  of  votes  represent- 
ing (to  all  appearance)  a  sufficient  proportion  of  the  claims 
upon  the  estate,  the  majority  necessary  for  his  discharge. 
These  "gay  bogus  creditors"  are  like  sham  electors  in  the 
electoral  college.  What  help  has  the  "serious  bond-fide  cred- 
itor" against  his  "gay,  bogus"  compeer  ?  He  can  rid  himself 
of  him  by  attacking  him !  Very  good.  But  if  the  "serious 
and  bond-fide"  creditor  means  to  oust  the  intruder,  he  must 
leave  his  own  business  to  take  care  of  itself,  and  he  must  em- , 
ploy  an  attorney;  and  as  the  said  attorney  makes  little  or 
nothing  out  of  the  case,  he  prefers  to  "conduct"  bankruptcies, 
and  does  not  take  a  bit  of  pettifogging  business  too  seriously. 
Then,  at  the  outset,  before  the  "gay  and  bogus"  one  can  be 
unearthed,  a  labyrinth  of  procedure  must  be  entered  upon, 
the  bankrupt's  books  must  be  gone  through  to  some  remote 
epoch,  and  application  must  be  made  to  the  Court  to  require 


RISE  AND   PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  283 

that  the  books  of  the  pretended  creditor  shall  be  likewise 
produced;  the  improbability  of  the  fiction  must  be  set  forth 
and  clearly  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  judges  of  the 
Tribunal,  and  the  serious  creditor  must  come  and  go  and 
plead  and  arouse  interest  in  the  indifferent.  This  Quixotic 
performance,  moreover,  must  be  gone  through  afresh  in  each 
separate  case;  and  each  gay  and  bogus  creditor,  if  fairly  con- 
victed of  "gaiety,"  makes  his  bow  to  the  court  with  an  "Ex- 
cuse me,  there  is  some  mistake;  I  am  very  serious  indeed.", 
All  this  is  done  without  prejudice  to  the  rights  of  the  debtor, 
who  may  appeal  and  bring  Don  Quixote  into  the  Court-Royal. 
And  in  the  meantime  Don  Quixote's  own  affairs  go  askew, 
and  he  too  may  be  compelled  to  file  his  schedule. 

Moral :  Let  the  debtor  choose  his  trustees,  verify  the  claims, 
and  arrange  the  amount  of  composition  himself. 

Given  these  conditions,  who  cannot  imagine  the  underhand 
schemes,  the  tricks  worthy  of  Sganarelle,  stratagems  that  a 
Frontin  might  have  devised,  the  lies  that  would  do  credit  to 
a  Mascarille,  the  empty  wallets  of  a  Scapin,  and  all  the  re- 
sults of  these  two  systems  ?  Any  bankruptcy  since  insolvency 
came  into  fashion  would  supply  a  writer  with  material  suffi- 
cient to  fill  the  fourteen  volumes  of  Clarissa  Harlowe.  A 
single  example  shall  suffice. 

The  illustrious  Gobseck,  the  master  at  whose  feet  the 
Palmas,  Gigonnets,  Werbrusts,  Kellers,  and  Nucingens  of 
Paris  have  sat,  once  found  himself  among  the  creditors  of 
a  bankrupt  who  had  managed  to  swindle  him,  and  whom,  on 
that  account,  he  proposed  to  handle  roughly.  Of  this  per- 
son he  received  bills  to  fall  due  after  the  discharge  for  a  sum 
which  (taken  together  with  the  dividends  received  at  the 
time)  should  pay  the  amount  owing  to  him  (Gobseck)  in  full. 
Gobseck,  in  consequence,  recommended  that  a  final  dividend 
of  twenty-five  per  cent  be  paid.  Behold  the  creditors  swindled 
for  Gobseck's  benefit !  But  the  merchant  had  signed  the  il- 
legal bills  in  the  name  of  the  insolvent  firm;  and  when  the 
time  came,  a  dividend  of  twenty-five  per  cent  was  all  that  he 
could  be  made  to  pay  upon  them,  and  Gobseck,  the  great  Gob- 


284  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

seek,  received  a  bare  fifty  per  cent.  He  always  took  off  his 
hat  with  ironical  respect  when  he  met  that  debtor. 

As  all  transactions  which  take  place  within  ten  days  before 
the  time  when  a  man  files  his  schedule  are  open  to  question, 
certain  prudent  prospective  bankrupts  are  careful  to  break 
ground  early,  and  to  approach  some  of  their  creditors,  whose 
interest  it  is,  not  less  than  their  own,  to  arrive  at  a  prompt 
settlement.  Then  the  more  astute  creditors  will  go  in  search 
of  the  simple  or  of  the  very  busy,  paint  the  failure  in  the 
darkest  colors,  and  finally  buy  up  their  claims  for  half  their 
value.  When  the  estate  is  liquidated,  these  shrewd  folk  come 
by  the  dividend  on  their  own  share,  and  make  fifty,  thirty, 
or  twenty-five  per  cent  on  the  liabilities  which  they  have  pur- 
chased, and  in  this  way  contrive  to  lose  nothing. 

After  the  failure  is  declared,  the  house  in  which  a  few  bags 
of  money  yet  remain  from  the  pillage  is  more  or  less  her- 
metically sealed.  Happy  the  merchant  who  can  effect  an  en- 
trance by  the  window,  the  roof,  the  cellar,  or  a  hole  in  the 
wall,  and  secure  a  bag  to  swell  his  share !  When  things  have 
come  to  this  pass,  this  Beresina,  where  the  cry  of  "Each  for 
himself"  has  been  raised,  it  is  hard  to  say  what  is  illegal  or 
legal,  false  or  true,  honest  or  dishonest.  A  creditor  is  thought 
a  clever  fellow  if  he  "covers  himself";  that  is  to  say,  if  he 
secures  himself  at  the  expense  of  the  rest.  All  France  once 
rang  with  discussion  of  a  prodigious  failure,  which  took  place 
in  a  certain  city  where  there  was  a  Court-Koyal ;  the  magis- 
trates therein  being  all  personally  interested  in  the  case,  ar- 
rayed their  shoulders  in  waterproof  cloaks  so  heavy,  that  the 
mantle  of  justice  was  worn  into  holes,  on  which  grounds  it 
was  necessary  to  transfer  the  affair  into  another  court.  There 
was  no  registrar,  no  agent,  no  final  judgment  possible  in  the 
bankrupt's  own  district. 

In  Paris  these  commercial  quicksands  are  so  thoroughly 
well  appreciated,  that  every  merchant,  however  much  time 
he  may  have  on  his  hands,  accepts  the  loss  as  ;ni  uninsured 
accident;  and,  unless  he  is  involved  for  some  very  large  sum. 
passes  the  matter  to  the  wrong  side  of  his  profit  and  loss  ac- 


RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  285 

count.  He  is  not  so  foolish  as  to  waste  time  over  wasted 
money;  he  prefers  to  keep  his  own  pot  boiling.  As  for  the 
little  trader,  hard  put  to  it  to  pay  his  monthly  accounts,  and 
tied  to  the  narrow  round  of  his  own  business,  tedious  law  pro- 
ceedings, involving  a  heavy  initial  outlay,  scare  him ;  he  gives 
up  the  attempt  to  see  through  the  matter,  follows  the  example 
of  the  great  merchant,  and  makes  up  his  mind  to  his  loss. 
Wholesale  merchants  do  not  file  their  schedule  in  these  days ; 
they  liquidate  by  private  arrangement;  their  creditors  take 
what  is  offered  them,  and  give  a  receipt  in  full ;  a  plan  which 
saves  publicity,  and  the  delays  of  the  law,  and  solicitors'  fees, 
and  depreciation  of  stock  consequent  on  a  sudden  realization. 
It  is  a  common  belief  that  it  pays  better  to  have  a  private 
arrangement  than  to  force  the  estate  into  bankruptcy,  so  pri- 
vate arrangements  are  more  frequent  than  failures  in  Paris. 
The  second  act  of  the  drama  is  intended  to  prove  that  a 
trustee  is  incorruptible;  that  there  is  not  the  slightest  attempt 
at  collusion  between  them  and  the  debtor.  The  audience, 
who  have  most  of  them  been  at  some  time  cast  for  the  part  of 
trustees  themselves,  know  that  a  trustee  is  another  name  for 
a  creditor  whose  claims  are  "covered."  He  listens,  and  be- 
lieves as  much  as  he  pleases,  till,  after  three  months  spent  in 
investigating  liabilities  and  assets,  the  day  comes  when  com- 
position is  offered  and  accepted.  Then  the  provisional  trus- 
tees read  a  little  report  for  the  assembled  creditors.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  general  formula : 

"GENTLEMEN, — The  total  amount  owing  to  us  was  one 
million.  We  have  dismantled  our  man  like  a  stranded  frigate. 
The  sale  of  old  iron,  timber,  and  copper  has  brought  in  three 
hundred  thousand  francs,  the  assets  therefore  amount  to 
thirty  per  cent  of  the  liabilities.  In  our  joy  at  finding  this 
sum,  when  our  debtor  might  have  left  us  a  bare  hundred  thou- 
sand francs,  we  proclaim  him  to  be  an  Aristides.  We  vote 
him  crowns  and  a  premium  by  way  of  encouragement!  We 
propose  to  leave  him  his  assets,  and  to  give  him  ten  or  a  dozen 
years  in  which  to  pay  us  the  dividend  of  fifty  per  cent,  which 


280  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

he  condescends  to  promise  us.     Here  is  the  concordat,  walk 
up  to  the  desk,  and  put  your  names  to  it !" 

At  these  words  the  happy  creditors  fall  on  each  other's 
necks  and  congratulate  one  another.  When  the  concordat 
has  been  ratified  by  the  Tribunal,  the  merchant's  assets  are 
put  at  his  disposition,  and  he  begins  business  again  as  if 
nothing  had  happened.  He  is  at  liberty  to  fail  once  more  over 
the  payment  of  the  promised  dividends — a  sort  of  great- 
grandchild of  a  failure,  which  not  seldom  appears  like  an  in- 
fant borne  by  a  mother  nine  months  after  she  has  married  her 
daughter. 

If  the  concordat  is  not  accepted,  the  creditors  forthwith 
make  a  final  appointment  of  trustees.  They  resort  to  extreme 
measures,  and  band  themselves  together  to  exploit  the  debtor's 
property  and  business;  they  lay  their  hands  on  everything 
he  has  or  may  have,  his  reversionary  rights  in  the  property 
of  father  and  mother,  uncles  and  aunts,  and  the  like.  This 
is  a  desperate  remedy  found  by  a  "union  of  the  creditors." 

If  a  man  fails  in  business,  therefore,  there  are  two  ways 
open  to  him;  by  the  first  method,  he  takes  things  into  his 
own  hands,  and  means  to  recover  himself;  in  the  second, 
having  fallen  into  the  water,  he  is  content  to  go  to  the  bottom. 
Pillerault  knew  the  difference  well.  He  was  of  Kagon's  opin- 
ion, that  it  was  as  hard  to  issue  from  the  first  experience  with 
clean  hands  as  to  emerge  from  the  second  a  wealthy  man. 
He  counseled  surrender  at  discretion,  and  betook  himself  to 
the  most  upright  attorney  on  'Change,  asking  him  to  conduct 
the  liquidation,  and  to  put  the  proceeds  at  the  disposition  of 
the  creditors.  The  law  requires  that  the  creditors  should 
make  an  allowance  for  the  support  of  the  debtor  and  his  fam- 
ily while  the  drama  is  in  progress.  Pillerault  gave  notice  to 
the  registrar  that  he  himself  would  maintain  his  niece  and 
nephew. 

Du  Tillet  had  planned  everything  with  a  view  to  prolong- 
ing the  agony  of  his  old  master's  failure,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing manner.  Time  is  so  valuable  in  Paris,  that,  though  there 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  287 

are  usually  two  trustees  appointed,  one  only  acts  in  the  case ; 
the  other  is  nominated  for  form's  sake ;  he  approves  the  pro- 
ceedings, like  the  second  notary  in  a  notarial  deed;  and  the 
active  trustee  as  often  as  not  leaves  the  work  to  the  attorney 
employed  by  the  bankrupt.  By  these  means  a  failure  of  the 
first  kind  is  conducted  so  vigorously  that  everything  is 
patched  up,  fixed,  settled,  and  arranged  during  the  minimum 
time  required  by  the  legal  procedure.  In  a  hundred  days  the 
registrar  might  repeat  the  cold-blooded  epigram  of  the  Min- 
ister who  announced  that  "Order  reigns  in  Warsaw." 

Du  Tillet  meant  to  make  an  end  of  Cesar,  commercially 
speaking.  So  the  names  of  the  trustees  appointed  through 
his  influence  had  an  ominous  sound  for  Pillerault.  M.  Bi- 
dault,  otherwise  Gigonnet,  the  principal  creditor,  was  to  do 
nothing.  Molineux,  the  fidgety  little  old  person  who  had  lost 
nothing,  was  to  do  everything.  Du  Tillet  had  thrown  this 
noble  corpse  of  a  business  to  the  little  jackal  to  worry  before 
he  devoured  it.  • 

Little  Molineux  went  home  after  the  meeting  of  creditors 
at  which  the  trustees  were  appointed,  "honored"  (so  he  put 
it)  "by  the  suffrages  of  his  fellow-citizens,"  and  as  happy 
in  the  prospect  of  domineering  over  Birotteau  as  an  urchin 
who  has  an  insect  to  torment.  The  owner  of  house-property, 
being  a  stickler  for  the  law,  bought  a  copy  of  the  Code  of 
Commerce,  and  asked  du  Tillet  to  give  him  the  benefit  of  his 
lights.  Luckily,  Joseph  Lebas,  forewarned  by  Pillerault,  had, 
at  the  outset,  obtained  a  sagacious  and  benevolent  registrar, 
and  Gobenheim-Keller  (on  whom  du  Tillet  had  fixed  his 
choice)  was  replaced  by  M.  Camusot,  an  assistant  judge,  and 
Pillerault's  landlord,  a  Liberal,  and  a  rich  silk  merchant, 
spoken  of  as  an  honorable  man. 

One  of  the  most  dreadful  scenes  in  Cesar's  life  was  his  en- 
forced conference  with  little  Molineux ;  the  creature  whom  he 
had  looked  upon  as  such  a  nullity  was  now,  by  legal  fiction, 
become  Cesar  Birotteau.  There  was  no  help  for  it;  so,  ac- 
companied by  his  uncle,  he  climbed  the  six  pair  x>f  stairs  in 
the  Cour  Batave,  reached  the  old  man's  dismal  room,  and  con- 


288  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

fronted  his  guardian,  his  quasi  judge,  the  man  who  repre- 
sented the  body  of  his  creditors. 

"What  is  the  matter  ?"  Pillerault  asked  on  the  stairs,  hear- 
ing a  groan  from  Cesar. 

"Oh!  uncle,  you  do  not  know  what  kind  of  a  man  this 
Molineux  is." 

"I  have  seen  him  at  the  Cafe  David  these  fifteen  years ;  he 
plays  a  game  of  dominoes  there  of  an  evening  now  and  then. 
That  is  why  I  came  with  you." 

Molineux  was  prodigiously  civil  to  Pillerault,  and  his  man- 
ner towards  the  bankrupt  was  contemptuously  patronizing. 
The  little  old  man  had  thought  out  his  course,  studied  his 
behavior  down  to  the  minutest  details,  and  his  ideas  were 
ready  prepared. 

"What  information  do  you  want?"  asked  Pillerault. 
"None  of  the  claims  are  disputed." 

"Oh!  the  claims  are  all  in  order,"  said  little  Molineux; 
"they  are  all  verified.  The  creditors  are  serious  and  bona- 
fide!  But  there's  the  law,  sir;  there's  the  law!  The  bank- 
'rupt's  expenditure  is  out  of  proportion  to  his  means.  It  ap- 
pears that  the  ball " 

"At  which  you  were  an  invited  guest,"  put  in  Pillerault. 

"Cost  nearly  sixty  thousand  francs!  At  any  rate,  that 
amount  was  spent  on  the  occasion,  and  the  debtor's  capital 
at  that  time  only  amounted  to  a  hundred  and  some  odd  thou- 
sand francs !  There  is  warrant  sufficient  for  bringing  the 
matter  before  a  registrar-extraordinary,  as  a  case  of  bank- 
ruptcy caused  by  serious  mismanagement." 

"Is  that  your  opinion?"  asked  Pillerault,  who  noticed  Bi- 
rotteau's  despondency  at  those  words. 

"Sir,  the  said  Birotteau  was  a  municipal  officer,  that  makes 
a  difference " 

"You  did  not  send  for  us,  I  suppose,  to  tell  us  that  the 
case  was  to  be  transferred  to  a  criminal  court,"  said  Pille- 
rault. "The  whole  Cafe  David  would  laugh  this  evening 
at  your  conduct." 

The  little  old  man  seemed  to  stand  in  some  awe  of  the 


HIS©  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  288 

opinion  of  the  Cafe  David ;  he  gave  Pillerault  a  scared  look. 
He  had  reckoned  upon  dealing  with  Birotteau  alone,  and 
had  promised  himself  that  he  would  pose  as  sovereign  lord 
and  Jupiter.  He  had  meant  to  strike  terror  into  Birotteav/s 
soul  by  the  thunderbolts  of  a  formal  indictment,  to  brandish 
the  axe  above  his  head,  to  enjoy  the  spectacle  of  his  anguish 
and  alarm,  and  then  to  relent  at  the  prayer  of  his  victim,  and 
send  him  away  with  eternal  gratitude  in  his  soul.  But  in- 
stead of  the  insect,  he  was  confronted  with  this  business-like 
old  sphinx. 

"There  is  nothing  whatever  to  laugh  at,  sir !"  said  he. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  returned  Pillerault.  "You  are  con- 
sulting M.  Claparon  prett}r  freely;  you  are  neglecting  the 
interests  of  the  other  creditors  to  obtain  a  decision  that  you 
have  preferential  claims.  Now  I,  as  a  creditor,  can  inter- 
vene. The  registrar  is  there." 

"Sir,"  said  Molineux,  "I  am  incorruptible." 

"I  know  you  are,"  said  Pillerault;  "you  are  only  getting 
yourself  out  of  the  scrape,  as  the  saying  is.  You  are  shrewd ; 
you  have  done  as  you  did  in  the  case  of  that  tenant  of 
yours " 

"Oh !  sir,  my  lawsuit  in  the  matter  of  the  Rue  Montorgueil 
is  not  decided  yet !"  cried  the  trustee,  slipping  back  into  the 
landlord  at  the  word,  just  as  the  cat  who  became  a  woman 
pounced  upon  the  mouse.  "A  new  issue,  as  they  say,  has 
been  raised.  It  is  not  a  sub-tenancy ;  he  holds  direct,  and  the 
scamp  says  now  that  as  he  paid  his  rent  a  year  in  advance, 
and  there  is  only  a  year  to  run"  (at  this  point  Pillerault  gave 
Cesar  a  glance  which  recommended  the  closest  attention  to 
what  should  follow),  "and  the  year's  rent  being  prepaid,  he 
might  clear  his  furniture  out  of  the  premises.  So  there  is  a 
new  lawsuit.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  ought  to  look  after  my 
guarantees  until  I  am  paid  in  full ;  there  may  be  repairs  which 
the  tenant  ought  to  pay  for." 

"But  you  cannot  distrain  except  for  rent,"  remarked  Pille- 
rault. 

"And  accessories !"  cried  Molineux,,  attacked  in  the  centre. 


290  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"The  article  in  the  Code  is  interpreted  by  the  light  of  deci- 
sions; there  are  precedents.  The  law,  however,  certainly 
wants  mending  in  this  respect.  At  this  moment  I  am  draft- 
ing a  petition  to  his  lordship  the  Keeper  of  the  Seals  concern- 
ing the  hiatus.  It  would  become  the  Government  to  con- 
sider the  interests  of  owners  of  property.  The  State  depends 
upon  us,  for  we  bear  the  brunt  of  the  taxes." 

"You  are  well  qualified  to  enlighten  the  Government,'"  said 
Pillerault;  "but  on  what  point  in  this  business  of  ours  can 
we  throw  any  light  for  you  ?" 

"I  want  to  know/'  said  Molineux  with  imperious  emphasis, 
"whether  M.  Birotteau  has  received  any  money  from  M. 
Popinot." 

"No,  sir,"  answered  Birotteau.  A  discussion  followed  as 
to  Birotteau's  interest  in  the  firm  of  Popinot,  in  the  course 
of  which  it  was  decided  that  Popinot  had  a  right  to  demand 
the  repayment  of  his  advances  in  full  without  putting  in  his 
claim  under  the  bankruptcy  as  one  of  Birotteau's  creditors 
for  the  half  of  the  expenses  of  starting  his  business,  which 
Birotteau  ought  to  have  paid.  Gradually,  under  Pillerault's 
handling,  Molineux  became  more  and  more  civil,  a  symptom 
which  proved  that  he  set  no  little  store  on  the  opinion  of  the 
frequenters  of  the  Cafe  David.  Before  the  interview  ended 
he  was  condoling  with  Birotteau,  and  asked  him  no  less  than 
Pillerault  to  share  his  humble  dinner.  If  the  ex-perfumer 
had  gone  by  himself,  he  would  perhaps  have  exasperated 
Molineux,  and  brought  rancor  into  the  business;  and  now, 
as  at  some  other  times,  old  Pillerault  played  the  part  of 
guardian  angel. 

One  horrible  form  of  torture  the  law  inflicts  upon  bank- 
rupts ;  they  are  bound  to  appear  in  person  with  the  provisional 
trustees  and  the  registrar  at  the  meeting  of  creditors  which 
decides  their  fate.  For  a  man  who  can  rise  above  it,  as  for 
the  merchant  who  is  seeking  his  revanche,  the  dismal  cere- 
mony is  not  very  formidable;  but  for  any  one  like  Cesar  the 
whole  thing  is  an  agony  only  paralleled  by  the  last  day  in  the 
condemned  cell.  Pillerault  did  all  in  his  power  to  make  that 
day  endurable  to  his  nephew. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  291 

Molineux's  proceedings,  sanctioned  by  the  bankrupt,  had 
been  on  this  wise.  The  lawsuit  concerning  the  mortgage  on 
the  property  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple  had  been  gained 
in  the  Court  of  Appeal.  The  trustees  decided  to  sell  the  land, 
and  Cesar  made  no  objections.  Du  Tillet,  knowing  that  the 
Government  meant  to  construct  a  canal  to  open  communica- 
tion between  Saint-Denis  and  the  Upper  Seine,  and  that  the 
canal  would  pass  through  the  Faubourg  du  Temple,  bought 
Cesar's  property  for  seventy  thousand  francs.  Cesar's 
rights  in  the  Madeleine  building-land  were  abandoned  to  M. 
Claparon,  on  condition  that  he  on  his  side  should  make  no 
demand  for  half  the  registration  fees,  which  Cesar  should 
have  paid  on  the  completion  of  the  contract ;  it  was  arranged 
that  Claparon  should  take  over  the  land  and  pay  for  it,  and 
receive  the  dividend  in  the  bankruptcy  which  was  due  to  the 
vendors. 

The  perfumer's  interest  in  the  firm  of  Popinot  &  Com- 
pany was  sold  to  the  said  Popinot  for  forty-eight  thousand 
francs.  Celestin  Crevel  bought  the  business  as  a  going  con- 
cern for  fifty-seven  thousand  francs,  together  with  the  lease 
of  the  premises,  the  stock,  the  fittings,  the  proprietary  rights 
in  the  Pate  des  Sultanes  and  Carminative  Toilet  Lotion,  a 
twelve  years'  lease  of  the  factory  and  the  plant  being  included 
in  the  sale. 

The  liquid  assets  reached  a  total  of  one  hundred  and 
ninety-five  thousand  francs,  to  which  the  trustees  added  sev- 
enty thousand  francs  from  the  liquidation  of  "that  unlucky 
fellow  Roguin."  Two  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  francs 
in  all.  The  liabilities  amounted  to  about  four  hundred  and 
forty  thousand  francs,  so  that  there  would  be  a  dividend  of 
more  than  fifty  per  cent. 

A  liquidation  is  something  like  a  chemical  process,  from 
which  the  clever  insolvent  merchant  endeavors  to  emerge  as 
a  saturated  solution.  Birotteau,  distilled  entirely  in  this 
retort,  yielded  a  result  which  infuriated  du  Tillet.  Du  Til- 
let  thought  that  there  would  be  a  dishonoring  bankruptcy, 
and  behold  a  liquidation  highly  creditable  to  his  man.  He 


292  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

cared  very  little  about  the  pecuniary  gain,  for  he  would  have 
the  building-land  by  the  Madeleine  without  opening  his 
purse ;  he  wished  to  see  the  poor  merchant  disgraced,  ruined, 
and  humbled  in  the  dust.  The  meeting  of  creditors  would 
doubtless  carry  out  the  perfumer  in  triumph  on  their  shoul- 
ders. 

As  Birotteau's  courage  returned,  his  uncle,  like  a  wise 
physician,  gradually  told  him  the  details  of  the  proceedings 
in  bankruptcy.  These  rigorous  measures  were  so  many  heavy 
blows.  A  merchant  cannot  but  feel  depressed  when  the 
things  on  which  he  has  spent  so  much  money  and  so  much 
thought  are  sold  for  so  little.  He  was  petrified  with  as- 
tonishment at  the  tidings  which  Pillerault  brought. 

"Fifty-seven  thousand  francs  for  the  Queen  of  Roses! 
Why,  the  stock  is  worth  ten  thousand  francs!  We  spent 
forty  thousand  francs  on  the  rooms,  and  the  fittings,  the 
plant,  the  moulds  and  boilers  over  at  the  factory  cost  thirty 
thousand  francs!  Why,  if  the  things  are  sold  for  half  their 
value,  there  is  the  worth  of  ten  thousand  francs  in  the  shop, 
and  the  Pate  des  Sultanes  and  the  Lotion  are  as  good  as  a 
farm !" 

Poor  ruined  Cesar's  jeremiads  did  not  alarm  Pillerault 
very  much.  The  old  merchant  took  them  much  as  a  horse 
takes  a  shower  of  rain ;  but  when  he  came  to  talk  of  the  meet- 
ing of  creditors,  Cesar's  gloomy  silence  frightened  him. 
Those  who  understand  the  weakness  and  vanity  of  human 
nature  in  every  social  sphere,  will  understand  that  for  an 
ex-judge  a  return  as  a  bankrupt  to  the  Palais  where  he  had 
sat  was  a  ghastly  form  of  torture.  He  must  receive  his  en- 
emies in  the  very  place  whe.re  he  had  been  so  often  thanked 
for  his  services;  he,  Birotteau,  whose  views  as  to  bankruptcy 
were  so  well  known  in  Paris,  he  who  had  said,  "A  man  who 
files  his  schedule  is  an  honest  man  still,  but  by  the  time  he 
comes  out  of  a  meeting  of  creditors  he  is  a  rogue."  His  uncle 
watched  for  favorable  opportunities,  and  tried  to  accustom 
him  to  the  idea  of  appearing  before  his  creditors  assembled, 
as  the  law  requires.  This  condition  was  killing  Birotteau. 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  293 

His  dumb  resignation  made  a  deep  impression  on  Pillerault, 
who,  through  the  thin  partition  wall,  used  to  hear  him  cry  at 
night.  "Never !  never !  I  will  die  sooner." 

Pillerault,  so  strong  himself  by  reason  of  his  simple  life, 
understood  weakness.  He  made  up  his  mind  to  spare  Bi- 
rotteau  the  anguish  to  which  his  nephew  might  succumb, 
the  dreadful  and  inevitable  meeting  with  his  creditors !  The 
law  is  precise,  positive,  and  unflinching  in  this  respect;  the 
debtor  who  refuses  to  appear  is  liable  on  these  grounds  alone 
to  have  his  case  transferred  out  of  the  commercial  into  the 
criminal  court.  But  if  the  law  compels  the  appearance  of 
the  debtor,  it  exercises  no  such  constraint  upon  the  creditors. 

A  meeting  of  creditors  is  a  mere  formality  except  in  cer- 
tain cases ;  when,  for  example,  a  rogue  is  to  be  ousted,  or  the 
creditors  unite  to  refuse  the  dividend  offered,  or  cannot 
agree  among  themselves  because  some  of  their  number  are 
privileged  to  the  prejudice  of  the  rest,  or  the  dividend 
offered  is  outrageously  small,  and  the  bankrupt  is  doubtful 
of  obtaining  a  majority  to  carry  the  resolution.  But  when 
the  estate  has  been  honestly  liquidated, '  or  when  a  rascally 
debtor  has  squared  everybody,  the  meeting  is  only  a  matter 
of  form.  So  Pillerault  went  round  to  the  creditors  one  after 
another,  and  asked  each  to  empower  his  attorney  to  represent 
him  on  that  occasion.  Every  creditor,  du  Tillet  excepted,  was 
sorry  for  Birotteau  now  that  he  had  been  brought  low.  All 
of  them  knew  how  he  had  behaved,  how  well  his  books  had 
been  kept,  and  how  straightforward  he  had  been  in  the  mat- 
ter. They  were  well  pleased  to  find  not  one  "gay"  creditor 
among  their  number.  Molineux,  as  agent  in  the  first  place, 
and  afterwards  as  trustee,  had  found  all  that  the  poor  man 
possessed,  down  to  the  print  of  Hero  and  Leander  which  Po- 
pinot  had  given  him.  Birotteau  had  not  taken  away  such 
small  matters  as  his  gold-buckles,  his  pin,  and  the  two 
watches,  which  even  an  honest  man  might  not  have  scrupled 
to  keep.  This  touching  obedience  to  the  law  made  a  great 
sensation  in  commercial  circles.  Birotteau's  enemies  repre- 
sented these  things  as  conclusive  signs  of  the  man's  stupidity; 
20 


294  RISE  AND   FALL  OP"  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

but  sensible  people  saw  them  in  their  true  light,  as  a  magnifi- 
cent excess  of  honesty.  In  two  months  a  change  had  been 
brought  about  in  opinion  on  'Change.  The  most  indifferent 
admitted  that  this  failure  was  one  of  the  greatest  curiosities 
of  commerce  ever  heard  of.  So  when  the  creditors  knew 
that  they  were  to  receive  sixty  per  cent,  they  agreed  to  do 
all  that  Pillerault  asked  of  them.  There  are  but  few  attor- 
neys practising  at  the  Tribunal ;  so  several  of  the  creditors  de- 
puted the  same  man  to  represent  them,  and  the  whole  formi- 
dable assemblage  was  reduced  to  three  attorneys,  Ragon,  the 
two  trustees,  and  the  registrar. 

"Cesar,  you.  can  go  without  fear  to  your  meeting  to-day; 
you  will  find  nobody  there/'  Pillerault  said  on  the  morning 
of  that  memorable  day. 

M.  Ragon  wished  to  go  with  his  debtor.  At  the  sound 
of  the  thin  elderly  voice  of  the  previous  owner  of  the  Queen 
of  Roses,  all  the  color  left  his  successor's  face ;  but  the  kind 
little  old  man  held  out  his  arms,  and  Birotteau  went  to  him 
like  a  child  to  his  father,  and  both  shed  tears.  This  indul- 
gent goodness  put  fresh  heart  into  Cesar,  and  he  followed  his 
uncle  to  the  cab. 

Punctually  at  half-past  three  they  arrived  in  the  Cloitre 
Saint-Merri,  where  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce  then  held  its 
sessions.  The  Salle  des  Faillites  was  deserted.  The  day  and 
the  hour  had  been  fixed  to  that  end  with  the  approbation  of 
the  trustees  and  the  registrar.  The  attorne}rs  were  there  on 
behalf  of  their  clients;  there  was  nothing  to  fill  Cesar's  soul 
with  dread ;  and  yet  the  poor  man  could  not  enter  M.  Camu- 
sot's  room  (which  had  once  been  his)  without  deep  emotion, 
and  he  shuddered  as  he  went  through  the  Salle  des  Faillites. 

"It  is  cold,"  said  M.  Camusot,  turning  to  Birotteau ;  "these 
gentlemen  will  not  be  sorry  to  stay  here  instead  of  being 
frozen  in  the  Salle."  (He  would  not  say  the  Salle  des  Fail- 
lites.) "Seat  yourselves,  gentlemen." 

Every  one  sat  down ;  the  registrar  put  Cesar,  still  confused, 
into  his  own  armchair.  Then  trustees  and  attorneys  signed 
their  names. 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  295 

"In  consideration  of  the  abandonment  of  your  estate,"  said 
Camusot,  again  addressing  Birotteau,  "your  creditors  unani- 
mously agree  to  forego  the  remainder  of  their  claims;  your 
concordat  is  couched  in  language  which  may  soften  your  re- 
grets ;  your  attorney  will  have  it  confirmed  by  the  Tribunal  at 
once.  So  you  are  discharged.  All  the  judges  of  the  Tribunal 
have  felt  sorry  that  you  should  be  placed  in  such  a  position, 
dear  M.  Birotteau^  without  being  surprised  by  your  cour- 
age," Camusot  went  on,  taking  Birotteau's  hands,  "and  there 
is  no  one  but  appreciates  your  integrity.  Through  your  dis- 
asters you  have  shown  yourself  worthy  of  the  position  which 
you  held  here.  I  have  been  in  business  these  twenty  years, 
and  this  is  the  second  time  that  I  have  seen  a  merchant  rise 
in  public  esteem  'after  his  failure/  '' 

Birotteau  grasped  the  registrar's  hand  and  squeezed  it. 
There  were  tears  in  his  eyes.  Camusot  asked  him  what  he 
meant  to  do,  and  Birotteau  answered  that  he  was  going  to 
work,  and  that  he  intended  to  pay  his  creditors  in  full. 

"If  you  should  be  in  want  of  a  few  thousand  francs  to  carry 
out  your  noble  design  you  will  always  find  them  if  you  come 
to  me,"  said  Camusot ;  "I  would  give  them  with  great  pleas- 
ure to  see  a  thing  not  often  seen  in  Paris." 

Pillerault,  Ragon,  and  Birotteau  left  the  Tribunal. 

"Well,  was  it  so  bad  after  all  ?"  said  Pillerault,  when  they 
stood  outside. 

"I  can  see  your  hand  in  it,  uncle,"  said  Cesar,  deeply 
touched. 

"And  now  that  you  are  on  your  feet  again,  come  and  see 
my  nephew,"  said  Ragon;  "it  is  only  a  step  to  the  Rue  des 
Cinq-Diamants." 

It  was  with  a  cruel  pang  that  Cesar  looked  up  and  saw 
Constance  sitting  at  her  desk  in  a  room  on  the  low  dark  floor 
above  the  shop ;  dark,  for  a  signboard  outside,  on  which  the 
name  "A.  Popinot"  was  painted,  cut  off  one-third  of  the  light 
from  the  window. 

"Here  is  one  of  Alexander's  lieutenants,"  said  Birotteau, 
pointing  to  the  sign  with  the  forced  mirth  of  misfortune. 


290  RISE   AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

This  constrained  gaiety,  the  naive  expression  of  Birotteau's 
old  belief  in  his  superior  talents,  made  Kagon  shudder,  de- 
spite his  seventy  years.  But  Cesar's  cheerfulness  broke  down 
when  his  wife  brought  down  letters  for  Popinot  to  sign,  and 
his  face  turned  white  in  spite' of  himself. 

"Good-evening,  dear,"  she  said,  smiling  at  him. 

"I  need  not  ask  whether  you  are  comfortable  here,"  Cesar 
said,  and  he  looked  at  Popinot. 

"I  might  be  in  my  own  son's  house,"  she  said,  and  her  hus- 
band was  struck  by  the  tender  expression  which  crossed  her 
face. 

Birotteau  embraced  Popinot,  saying,  "I  have  just  lost  for 
ever  the  right  to  call  you  my  son." 

"Let  us  hope,"  said  Popinot.  "Your  Oil  is  going  well, 
thanks  to  our  efforts  in  the  newspapers,  and  thanks  to  Gau- 
dissart,  who  has  been  all  over,  and  flooded  France  with  pla- 
cards and  prospectuses.  He  is  having  prospectuses  in  German 
printed  at  Strasbourg,  and  is  just  about  to  descend  on  Ger- 
many like  an  invasion.  We  have  orders  for  three  thousand 
gross." 

"Three  thousand  gross !"  echoed  Cesar. 

"And  I  have  bought  some  land  in  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Marceau,  not  badly;  a  factory  is  to  be  built  there.  I  shall 
keep  on  at  the  other  place  in  the  Faubourg  clu  Temple." 

"With  a  little  help,  wife,"  Birotteau  said  in  Constance's 
ear,  "we  shall  pull  through." 

From  that  memorable  day  Cesar  and  his  wife  and  daugh- 
ter understood  one  another.  Poor  clerk,  as  he  was,  he  had 
set  himself  a  task  which,  if  not  impossible,  was  gigantic ;  he 
would  pay  his  creditors  in  full !  The  three,  united  by  a  com- 
mon bond  of  fierce  independence,  grew  miserly,  and  denied 
themselves  everything ;  every  farthing  was  consecrated  to  this 
end.  Cesarine,  with  one  object  in  her  mind,  threw  herself 
into  her  work  with  a  young  girl's  devotion.  She  spent  her 
nights  in  devising  schemes  for  increasing  the  prosperity  of 
the  house ;  she  invented  designs  for  materials,  and  brought 
her  inborn  business  faculties  into  play.  Her  employers  were 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTBAU  297 

obliged  to  check  her  ardor  for  work,  and  rewarded  her  with 
presents,  hut  she  declined  the  ornaments  and  trinkets  which 
they  offered ;  it  was  money  that  she  preferred.  Every  month 
she  took  her  salary,  her  little  earnings,  to  her  Uncle  Pille- 
rault,  and  Cesar  and  Mme.  Birotteau  did  the  same.  All  three 
of  them  recognized  their  lack  of  ability,  and  shrank  from 
assuming  the  responsible  task  of  investing  their  savings.  So 
the  uncle  went  into  business  again,  and  studied  the  money 
market.  At  a  later  time  it  was  known  that  Jules  Desmarets 
and  Joseph  Lebas  had  helped  him  with  their  counsel;  both 
had  zealously  looked  for  safe  investments. 

Birotteau,  living  in  his  uncle's  house,  did  not  even  dare 
to  ask  any  questions  about  the  uses  to  which  the  family  sav- 
ings were  put.  He  went  through  the  streets  with  a  bent  head, 
shrinking  from  all  eyes,  downcast,  nervous,  blind  to  all  that 
passed.  It  vexed  him  that  he  must  wear  fine  cloth. 

"At  any  rate,  I  am  not  eating  my  creditors'  bread,"  he  said, 
with  an  angelic  glance  at  the  kind  old  man.  "Your  bread  is 
sweet"  (he  went  on),  "although  you  give  it  me  out  of  pity, 
when  I  think  that,  thanks  to  this  sacred  charity,  I  am  not 
robbing  my  creditors  of  my  earnings." 

The  merchants  who  met  the  Birotteau  of  those  days  could 
not  see  a  trace  of  the  Birotteau  whom  they  used  to  know.  Vast 
thoughts  were  awakened  in  indifferent  beholders  at  sight  of 
that  face  so  dark  with  the  blackest  misery,  of  the  man  who 
had  never  been  thoughtful  so  bowed  down  beneath  the  weight 
of  a  thought;  it  was  a  revelation  of  the  depths,  in  that  this 
being,  dwelling  on  so  ordinary  a  human  level,  could  have  had 
so  far  to  fall.  To  the  man  who  would  fain  be  wiped  out  comes 
no  extinction.  Shallow  natures  who  lack  a  conscience,  and 
are  incapable  of  much  feeling,  can  never  furnish  forth  the 
tragedy  of  man  and  fate.  Religion  alone  sets  its  peculiar 
seal  on  those  who  have  sounded  these  depths;  they  believe 
in  a  future  and  in  a  Providence;  a  certain  light  shines  in 
them,  a  look  of  holy  resignation,  blended  with  hope,  which 
touches  those  who  behold  it;  they  know  all  that  they  have 
lost,  like  the  exiled  angel  weeping  at  the  gates  of  Heaven. 


298  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEATT 

A  bankrupt  cannot  show  his  face  on  'Change;  and  Cesar, 
thrust  out  from  the  society  of  honest  men,  was  like  the  angel 
sighing  for  pardon. 

For  fourteen  months  Cesar  refused  all  amusements;  his 
mind  was  full  of  religious  thoughts,  inspired  by  his  fall.  Sure 
though  he  was  of  the  Ragons'  friendship,  it  was  impossible 
to  induce  him  to  dine  with  them;  nor  would  he  visit  the 
Lebas,  nor  the  Matifats,  the  Protez  and  Chiffrevilles,  nor 
even  M.  Vauquelin,  though  all  were  anxious  to  show  their  ad- 
miration for  Cesar's  behavior.  He  would  rather  be  alone  in 
his  own  room,  where  he  could  not  meet  the  eyes  of  any  one  to 
whom  he  owed  money;  and  the  most  cordial  kindness  on  the 
part  of  his  friends  recalled  him  to  a  sense  of  the  bitterness 
of  his  position. 

Constance  and  Cesarine  went  nowhere.  On  Sundays  and 
holidays,  the  only  times  when  they  were  free,  the  two  women 
went  first  to  Mass,  and  then  home  with  Cesar  after  the  ser- 
vice. Pillerault  used  to  ask  the  Abbe  Loraux  to  come — the 
Abbe  Loraux  who  had  sustained  Cesar  in  his  .trouble — and 
they  made  a  family  party.  The  old  ironmonger  could  not  but 
approve  his  nephew's  scruples,  his  own  sense  of  commercial 
honor  was  too  keen;  and  therefore  his  mind  was  bent  upon 
increasing  the  number  of  people  whom  the  bankrupt  might 
look  in  the  face  with  a  clear  brow. 

In  May  1821  the  efforts  of  the  family  thus  struggling  with 
adversity  were  rewarded  by  a  holiday,  contrived  by  the  ar- 
biter of  their  destinies.  The  first  Sunday  in  that  month  was 
the  anniversary  of  the  betrothal  of  Cesar  and  Constance. 
Pillerault  and  the  Ragons  had  taken  a  little  house  in  the 
country  at  Sceaux,  and  the  old  ironmonger  wanted  to  make  a 
festival  of  the  house-warming. 

On  the  Saturday  evening  he  spoke  to  his  nephew.  "We  are 
going  into  the  country  to-morrow,  Cesar,"  he  said,  "and  you 
must  come  too." 

Cesar,  who  wrote  a  beautiful  hand,  copied  documents  for 
Derville  and  several  other  lawyers  in  the  evenings,  and  on 
Sundays  (with  a  dispensation  from  the  cure)  he  worked  like 
a  negro. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  299 

"No,"  he  answered ;  "M.  Derville  is  waiting  for  an  account 
of  a  guardianship." 

"Your  wife  and  daughter  deserve  a  holiday,  and  there  will 
be  no  one  but  our  friends — the  Abbe  Loraux,  the  Ragons, 
and  Popinot  and  his  uncle.  Besides,  I  want  you  to  come." 

Cesar  and  his  wife,  carried  away  by  the  daily  round  of 
their  busy  lives,  had  never  gone  back  to  Sceaux,  though  from 
time  to  time  they  both  had  wished  to  see  the  garden  again, 
and  the  lime-tree  beneath  which  Cesar  had  almost  swooned 
with  joy,  in  the  days  when  he  was  still  an  assistant  at  the 
Queen  of  Roses.  To-day,  when  Popinot  drove  them,  and 
Birotteau  sat  with  Constance  and  their  daughter,  his  wife's 
eyes  turned  to  his  from  time  to  time,  but  the  look  of  intelli- 
gence in  them  drew  no  answering  smile  from  his  lips.  She 
whispered  a  few  words  in  his  ear,  but  a  shake  of  the  head 
was  the  only  response.  The  sweet  expressions  of  tenderness, 
unalterable,  but  now  forced  somewhat,  brought  no  light  into 
Cesar's  eyes;  his  face  grew  gloomier,  the  tears  which  he  had 
kept  back  began  to  fill  his  eyes.  Twenty  years  ago  he  had 
been  along  this  very  road,  when  he  was  young  and  prosper- 
ous and  full  of  hope,  the  lover  of  a  girl  as  lovely  as  Cesarine, 
who  was  with  them  now.  Then  he  had  dreamed  of  happiness 
to  come ;  to-day  he  saw  his  noble  child's  face,  pale  with  long 
hours  of  work,  and  his  brave  wife,  of  whose  great  beauty  there 
remained  such  traces  as  are  left  to  a  beautiful  city  after  the 
lava  flood  has  poured  over  it.  Of  all  that  had  been,  love  alone 
was  left.  Cesar's  attitude  repressed  the  joy  in  the  girl's 
heart  and  in  Anselme,  the  two  who  now  represented  the 
lovers  of  that  bygone  day. 

"Be  happy,  children;  you  deserve  to  be  happy,"  said  the 
poor  father,  in  heartrending  tones.  "You  can  love  each  other 
with  no  after-thoughts,"  added  he ;  and  as  he  spoke,  he  took 
both  his  wife's  hands  in  his  and  kissed  them  with  a  reverent, 
admiring  affection  which  touched  her  more  than  the  bright- 
est cheerfulness.  Pillerault,  the  Ragons,  the  Abbe  Loraux, 
and  Popinot  the  elder  were  all  waiting  for  them  at  the  house ; 
there  was  an  understanding  among  those  five  kindly  souls, 


300  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

and  their  manner,  and  looks,  and  words  put  Cesar  at  his  ease, 
for  it  went  to  their  hearts  to  see  him  always  as  if  on  the  mor- 
row of  his  failure. 

"Take  a  walk  in  the  Bois  d'Aulnay,"  said  Pillerault,  put- 
ting Cesar's  hand  into  his  wife's  hand.  "Go  and  take  An- 
selme  and  Cesarine  with  you,  and  come  back  again  at  four 
o'clock." 

"Poor  things,  we  are  in  the  way,"  said  Mme.  Ragon, 
touched  by  her  debtor's  unfeigned  misery;  "he  will  be  very 
happy  before  long." 

"It  is  a  repentance  without  the  sin,"  said  the  Abbe  Loraux. 

"He  could  only  have  grown  great  through  misfortune," 
said  the  judge. 

The  power  of  forgetting  is  the  great  secret  of  strong  and 
creative  natures ;  they  forget  after  the  manner  of  nature,  who 
knows  nothing  of  a  past ;  with  every  hour  she  begins  afresh  the 
constant  mysterious  workings  of  fertility.  But  weak  natures, 
like  Birotteau,  take  their  sorrows  into  their  lives  instead  of 
transmuting  them  into  the  axioms  of  experience;  and,  steep- 
ing themselves  in  their  troubles,  wear  themselves  out  by  re- 
verting daily  to  the  old  unhappiness. 

When  the  two  couples  had  found  the  footpath  which  leads 
to  the  Bois  d'Aulnay,  set  like  a  crown  on  one  of  the  loveliest 
of  the  low  hills  about  Paris ;  when  the  Vallee-aux-Loups  lay 
below  them  in  its  enchanting  beauty,  the  bright  day,  the 
charm  of  the  view,  the  fresh  green  leaves  about  them,  and  de- 
licious memories  of  that  fairest  day  of  their  youth,  relaxed 
the  chords  which  grief  had  strung  to  resonance  in  Cesar's 
soul;  he  held  his  wife's  arm  tightly  against  his  beating  heart; 
his  eyes  were  glazed  no  longer,  a  glad  light  shone  in  them. 

"At  last  I  see  you  again,  my  dear  Cesar,"  Constance  said. 
"It  seems  to  me  that  we  are  behaving  well  enough  to  allow 
ourselves  a  little  pleasure  from  time  to  time." 

"How  can  I  ?"  poor  Birotteau  answered.  "Oh  !  Constance, 
your  love  is  the  one  good  left  to  me.  I  have  lost  everything, 
even  the  confidence  that  I  used  to  have  in  myself.  I  have 
no  heart  left  in  me;  I  want  to  live  long  enough  to  pay  mj 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  301 

dues  on  earth  before  I  die,  and  that  is  all.  You,  dear,  who 
have  been  wisdom  and  prudence  for  me,  who  saw  things 
clearly,  you  who  are  not  to  blame,  may  be  glad.  Among  us 
three,  I  am  the  only  guilty  one.  Eighteen  months  ago,  at  that 
unlucky  ball,  I  saw  this  Constance  of  mine,  the  only  woman 
whom  I  have  loved,  more  beautiful  perhaps  than  the  young 
girl  with  whom  I  wandered  along  this  path  twenty  years  ago, 
as  our  children  are  wandering  together  now.  ...  In  less 
than  two  years  I  have  blighted  that  beauty,  my  pride,  and  I 
had  a  right  to  be  proud  of  it.  I  love  you  more  as  I  know  you 
better.  .  .  .  Oh !  dearest !"  and  his  tone  gave  the  word 
an  eloquence  that  went  to  his  wife's  heart,  "if  only  I  might 
hear  you  scold  me,  instead  of  soothing  my  distress." 

"I  did  not  think  it  possible,"  she  said,  "that  a  woman 
could  love  her  husband  more  after  twenty  years  of  life  to- 
gether." 

For  a  moment  Cesar  forgot  all  his  troubles  at  the  words 
that  brought  such  a  wealth  of  happiness  to  a  heart  like  his. 
It  was  with  something  like  joy  in  his  soul  that  he  went  to- 
wards their  tree,  which  by  some  chance  had  not  been  cut 
down.  Husband  and  wife  sat  down  beneath  it  and  watched 
Anselme  and  Cesarine,  who  walked  to  and  fro,  on  the  same 
plot  of  grass,  unconscious  of  their  movements,  fancying  per- 
haps that  they  were  still  walking  on  and  on. 

"Mademoiselle,"  Anselme  was  saying,  "do  you  think  me 
so  base  and  so  greedy  as  to  take  advantage  of  the  fact  that  I 
own  your  father's  interest  in  the  Cephalic  Oil  ?  I  have  care- 
fully set  aside  his  share  of  the  profits;  I  am  keeping  them 
for  him.  I  am  adding  interest  to  the  money;  if  there  are  any 
doubtful  debts,  I  pass  them  to  my  own  account.  We  can  only 
belong  to  each  other  when  your  father  has  been  rehabilitated  : 
I  am  trying  with  all  the  strength  that  love  gives  me  to  bring 
that  day  soon." 

He  had  carefully  kept  his  secret  from  Cesarine's  mother; 
but  the  simplest  lover  is  always  anxious  to  be  great  in  his 
love's  eyes. 

"And  will  it  come  soon  ?"  she  asked. 


302  RISE  AND  PALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

''Very  soon,"  said  Popinot. 

The  tone  in  which  the  answer  was  given  was  so  penetrat- 
ing, that  the  innocent  and  pure-hearted  girl  held  up  her  fore- 
head for  her  lover's  kiss,  fervent  and  respectful,  for  Cesarine's 
noble  nature  had  spoken  so  plainly  in  the  impulse. 

"Everything  is  going  well,  papa,"  she  said,  with  the  air  of 
one  who  knows  a  great  deal.  "Be  nice,  and  talk,  and  don't 
look  so  sad  any  longer." 

When  these  four  people,  so  closely  bound  together,  returned 
to  Pillerault's  new  house,  Cesar,  unobservant  though  he  was, 
felt  from  the  Eagons'  altered  manner  that  something  was  im- 
pending. Mme.  Ragon  was  peculiarly  gracious;  her  look 
and  tone  said  plainly  to  Cesar,  "We  are  paid." 

After  dinner  the  notary  of  Sceaux  appeared.  Pillerault 
asked  him  to  be  seated,  and  glanced  at  Birotteau,  who  began 
to  suspect  some  surprise,  though  he  did  not  imagine  how- 
great  it  would  be.  Pillerault  began : 

"Your  savings  for  eighteen  months,  nephew,  and  those  of 
your  wife  and  daughter  amount  to  twenty  thousand  francs. 
I  received  thirty  thousand  francs  in  the  shape  of  dividend, 
so  we  have  fifty  thousand  francs  to  divide  among  your  cred- 
itors. M.  Ragon  has  received  thirty  thousand  francs  as  divi- 
dend ;  so  this  gentleman,  who  is  the  notary  of  Sceaux,  is  about 
to  hand  you  a  receipt  in  full  for  principal  and  interest,  paid 
to  your  friends.  The  rest  of  the  money  is  with  Crottat  for 
Lourdois,  old  Mme.  Madou,  the  builder,  and  the  carpenter, 
and  the  more  pressing  of  your  creditors.  Next  year  we  shall 
see.  One  can  go  a  long  way  with  time  and  patience." 

Birotteau's  joy  cannot  be  described ;  he  embraced  his  uncle, 
and  shed  tears. 

"Let  him  wear  his  Cross  to-day/'  said  Ragon,  addressing 
the  Abbe  Loraux,  and  the  confessor  fastened  the  red  ribbrn 
to  Cesar's  buttonhole.  A  score  of  times  that  evening  he  looked 
at  himself  in  the  mirrors  on  the  walls  of  the  sitting-room  with 
a  delight  which  people  who  believe  themselves  to  be  superior 
would  laugh  at;  but  these  good-hearted  citizens  saw  nothing 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  303 

unnatural  in  it.  The  next  day  Birotteau  went  to  see  Mme. 
Madou. 

"Oh !  is  that  you  !"  she  cried ;  "I  did  not  know  you,  old  man, 
you  have  grown  so  gray.  Still,  the  like  of  you  don't  come 
to  grief ;  there  are  places  under  Government  for  you.  I  my- 
self am  working  as  hard  as  a  poodle  that  turns  a  spit,  and  de- 
serves to  be  christened." 

"But,  madame — 

"Oh,  I'm  not  blaming  you,"  she  said ;  "you  had  your  dis- 
charge." 

"I  have  come  to  tell  you  that  I  will  pay  you  the  balance 
to-day,  at  Maitre  Crottat's  office,  and  interest  also " 

"Eeally?" 

"You  must  be  there  at  half-past  eleven." 

"There's  honesty  for  you !  good  measure,  and  thirteen  to 
the  dozen,"  cried  she,  in  outspoken  admiration.  "Stop,  sir,  I 
do  a  good  trade  with  that  red-haired  youngster  of  yours ;  he  is 
a  nice  young  fellow ;  he  lets  me  make  my  profit  without  hag- 
gling over  the  price,  so  as  to  make  up  to  me  for  the  loss.  Well, 
then,  I  will  give  you  the  receipt;  keep  your  money,  poor  old 
soul !  La  Madou  fires  up  like  tinder,  she  hollers  out,  but  she 
has  something  here,"  and  she  tapped  the  most  ample  cushion 
of  live  flesh  ever  known  in  the  Great  Market. 

"Never !"  said  Birotteau,  "the  law  is  explicit ;  I  mean  to 
pay  you  in  full." 

"Then  there  is  no  need  to  keep  on  begging  and  praying 
of  me.  And  to-morrow  at  the  Market  I  will  sound  your 
praises ;  they  shall  all  know  about  you.  Oh !  it  is  a  rare  joke  I" 

The  worthy  man  went  through  the  same  scene  again  with 
the  house-painter,  Crottat's  father-in-law,  but  with  some  va- 
riations. It  was  raining.  Cesar  left  his  umbrella  in  a  corner 
by  the  door,  and  the  well-to-do  house  painter,  sitting  at  break- 
fast with  his  wife  in  a  handsomely  furnished  room,  saw  the 
stream  of  water  trickle  across  the  floor,  and  was  not  too  con- 
siderate. 

"Hallo,  poor  old  Birotteau,  what  do  you  want?"  he  asked, 
in  the  hard  tone  which  people  use  to  a  tiresome  beggar. 


304  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"Has  not  your  son-in-law  asked  you,  sir " 

"What?"  Lourdois  broke  in  impatiently.  Some  request 
was  to  follow,  he  thought. 

"To  go  to  his  office  this  morning  at  half-past  eleven,  to 
give  me  a  receipt  in  full  for  the  balance  of  your  claim." 

"Oh !  that  is  another  thing !  Just  sit  you  down,  M.  Birot- 
teau,  and  take  a  bite  with  us " 

"Do  us  the  honor  of  breakfasting  with  us,"  said  Mme.  Lour- 
dois. 

"Doing  pretty  well?"  asked  her  burly  spouse. 

"No,  sir.  I  have  had  to  lunch  off  a  roll  in  my  office  to  get 
some  money  together,  but  I  hope  in  time  to  repair  the  wrong 
done  to  my  neighbors." 

"Really,  you  are  a  man  of  honor,"  remarked  the  house- 
painter,  as  he  swallowed  a  mouthful  of  bread  and  butter  and 
Strasbourg  pie. 

"And  what  is  Mme.  Birotteau  doing?"  asked  Mme.  Lour- 
dois. 

"She  is  keeping  the  books  in  M.  Anselme  Popinot's  count- 
ing-house." 

"Poor  things !"  said  Mme.  Lourdois,  in  a  low  voice. 

"If  you  should  want  me,  come  and  see  me,  my  dear  M.  Bi- 
rotteau," began  Lourdois;  "I  might  be  of  use — 

"I  want  you  at  eleven  o'clock,  sir,"  said  Birotteau,  and 
with  that  he  went. 

This  first  result  gave  Birotteau  fresh  courage,  but  it  did  not 
give  him  peace  of  mind.  The  desire  to  redeem  his  character 
perturbed  him  beyond  all  measure.  He  completely  lost  the 
bloom  which  used  to  appear  in  his  face,  his  eyes  grew  dull,  his 
cheeks  hollow.  Old  acquaintances  who  met  him  at  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  or  after  four  in  the  afternoon  on  his 
way  to  and  from  the  Rue  de  1'Oratoire,  saw  a  pale-faced, 
nervous,  white-haired  man,  wearing  the  same  overcoat  which 
he  had  had  at  the  time  of  the  bankruptcy  (for  he  was  as  care- 
ful of  it  as  a  poor  sub-lieutenant  who  economizes  his  uni- 
form). Sometimes  they  would  stop  him  in  spite  of  himself, 
for  he  was  quick-sighted,  slinking  home,  keeping  close  to  the 
wall  like  a  thief. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OP  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  305 

"People  know  how  you  have  behaved,  my  friend/'  they 
would  say.  "Everybody  is  sorry  to  see  how  hardly  you  live, 
you  and  your  wife  and  daughter." 

"Take  a  little  more  time  about  it,"  others  would  suggest. 
"A  wound  in  the  purse  is  not  mortal." 

"No,  but  a  wound  in  the  soul  is  deadly  indeed,"  the  poor 
feeble  Cesar  said  one  day  in  answer  to  Matifat. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1823  the  Canal  Saint-Martin' 
was  decided  upon,  and  land  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple 
fetched  fabulous  prices.  The  canal  would  actually  pass 
through  the  property  once  Cesar's,  now  du  Tillet's.  The  com- 
pany who  had  purchased  the  concession  were  prepared  to  pay 
du  Tillet  an  exorbitant  sum  for  the  land  if  he  would  put  them 
in  possession  within  a  given  time,  and  Popinot's  lease  was 
the  one  obstacle  in  the  way.  So  du  Tillet  went  to  see  the 
druggist  in  the  Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants. 

If  Popinot  himself  regarded  du  Tillet  with  indifference, 
as  Cesarine's  lover  he  felt  an  instinctive  hatred  of  the  man. 
He  knew  nothing  of  the  theft,  nor  of  the  disgraceful  machina- 
tions of  the  lucky  banker,  but  a  voice  within  him  said,  "This 
is  a  thief  who  goes  unpunished."  Popinot  had  not  had  the 
slightest  transaction  with  du  Tillet,  whose  presence  was  hate- 
ful to  him,  and  particularly  hateful  at  that  moment  when 
he  beheld  du  Tillet  enriched  with  the  spoils  of  his  employer's 
property,  for  the  building-land  at  the  Madeleine  was  begin- 
ning to  command  prices  which  presaged  the  exorbitant  sums 
which  were  asked  for  them  in  1827.  So  when  the  banker 
explained  the  reason  of  his  visit,  Popinot  looked  at  him  with 
concentrated  indignation. 

"I  do  not  mean  to  refuse  outright  to  surrender  my  lease, 
but  I  must  have  sixty  thousand  francs  for  it,  and  I  will  not 
bate  a  farthing." 

"Sixty  thousand  francs !"  cried  du  Tillet,  making  as  though 
he  would  go. 

"The  lease  has  fifteen  years  to  run,  and  it  will  take  an- 
other three  thousand  francs  per  annum  to  replace  the  factory. 


306  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

So,  sixty  thousand  francs,  or  we  will  say  no  more  about  it," 
said  Popinot,  turning  into  the  shop,  whither  du  Tillet  fol- 
lowed him. 

The  discussion  waxed  warm,  when  Mme.  Birotteau,  hear- 
ing her  husband's  name  pronounced,  came  downstairs,  and 
saw  du  Tillet  for  the  first  time  since  the  famous  ball.  He, 
on  his  side,  could  not  avoid  making  a  startled  gesture  at  the 
sight  of  the  change  wrought  in  her  face;  he  was  frightened 
at  his  work,  and  lowered  his  eyes. 

"This  gentleman  is  receiving  three  hundred  thousand 
francs  for  your  land,"  said  Popinot,  addressing  Mme.  Cesar, 
"and  he  declines  to  pay  us  sixty  thousand  francs  by  way  of  in- 
demnity for  our  lease " 

"Three  thousand  francs  per  annum,"  said  du  Tillet,  lay- 
ing stress  on  the  words. 

"Three  thousand  francs!"  Madame  Cesar  repeated  the 
words  quietly  and  significantly. 

Du  Tillet  turned  pale;  Popinot  looked  at  Mme.  Birotteau. 
There  was  a  pause  and  a  deep  silence,  which  made  the  scene 
still  more  inexplicable  to  Anselme. 

"Sign  your  surrender,"  said  du  Tillet;  "I  have  had  the 
document  drafted  by  Crottat,"  and  he  drew  a  stamped  agree- 
ment from  a  side-pocket.  "I  will  give  you  a  draft  on  the 
Bank  for  sixty  thousand  francs." 

Popinot  stared  at  Mme.  Cesar  with  great  and  unfeigned 
astonishment;  he  thought  that  he  was  dreaming.  While  du 
Tillet  was  making  out  his  draft  at  a  desk,  Mme.  Cesar  van- 
ished upstairs  again.  The  druggist  and  the  banker  ex- 
changed papers,  and  du  Tillet  went  out  with  a  frigid  bow  to 
Popinot. 

"At  last !"  cried  Popinot.  "Only  a  few  months  now,  and 
I  shall  have  my  Cesarine,  thanks  to  this  queer  business,"  and 
he  watched  du  Tillet  turn  into  the  Rue  des  Lombards,  where 
his  cab  was  waiting  for  him.  "My  dear  little  wife  shall  not 
wear  herself  to  death  at  her  work.  What !  was  a  look  from 
Mme.  Cesar  enough?  What  is  there  between  her  and  that 
brigand  ?  It  is  a  very  extraordinary  thing." 


Great  was  his  astonishment  to  find  his  mother-in-law  reading  a 
letter  from  Du  Tillet 


RISE  AND  FAtiiL  OP  CESAR  B1ROTTEAU  307 

Popinot  sent  the  draft  to  be  cashed  at  the  Bank,  and  went 
up  to  speak  to  Mine.  Birotteau ;  but  she  was  not  in  the  count- 
ing-house, doubtless  she  had  gone  to  her  room.  Anselme  and 
Constance  lived  like  a  mother-in-law  and  son-in-law  when 
these  are  on  good  terms  with  each  other,  so  he  went  to  Con- 
stance's room  in  all  the  haste  natural  in  a  lover  who  sees 
happiness  within  his  grasp. 

Great  was  his  astonishment  to  find  his  mother-in-law 
(whom  he  surprised  by  springing  into  the  room)  reading  a 
letter  from  du  Tillet,  for  Anselme  recognized  the  handwriting 
at  once.  The  sight  of  a  lighted  candle  and  black  phantom 
scraps  of  burnt  paper  on  the  floor  sent  a  shudder  through 
Popinot,  whose  long-sighted  eyes  had  involuntarily  read  the 
words  with  which  the  letter  began,  "I  adore  you !  You  know 
it,  angel  of  my  life,  and  why " 

"What  hold  have  you  on  du  Tillet  to  make  him  conclude 
such  a  bargain  as  this?"  he  asked,  with  the  jerky  laugh  of 
repressed  suspicion. 

"Let  us  not  talk  of  it,"  she  said,  and  he  saw  that  she  was 
painfully  agitated. 

"Yes,"  answered  Popinot,  quite  taken  aback,  "we  must 
talk  of  the  end  of  your  troubles."  Anselme  swung  round  on 
his  heels  and  drummed  on  the  window-pane,  staring  out  into 
the  yard.  "Very  well,"  said  he  to  himself,  "and  suppose 
that  she  loved  du  Tillet,  is  that  any  reason  why  I  should  not 
behave  like  a  man  of  honor?" 

"What  is  it,  my  boy  ?"  the  poor  woman  asked. 

"The  net  profits  on  the  Cephalic  Oil  amount  to  two  hun- 
dred and  forty-two  thousand  francs,  and  the  half  of  two  hun- 
dred and  forty-two  is  one  hundred  and  twenty-one,"  said 
Popinot  abruptly.  "If  I  deduct  from  that  sum  the  forty-eight 
thousand  francs  already  paid  to  M.  Birotteau,  there  still  re- 
main seventy-three  thousand;  add  to  it  the  sixty  thousand 
just  paid  for  the  surrender  of  the  lease,  and  you  will  have 
one  hundred  and  thirty-three  thousand  francs." 

Mme.  Cesar  listened  in  such  glad  excitement,  that  Popinot 
could  hear  the  beating  of  her  heart. 


308  RISE  AND  PALL  OP  CESA&  BIROTTEAU 

"Well,  I  have  always  looked  on  M.  Birotteau  as  my  part- 
ner," he  continued;  "we  can  employ  the  mone}r  in  repaying 
his  creditors.  Your  savings,  twenty-eight  thousand  francs, 
in  Uncle  Pillerault's  keeping,  will  raise  the  sum  to  a  hun- 
dred and  sixty-one  thousand  francs.  Uncle  will  not  refuse  to 
give  us  a  receipt  for  his  twenty-five  thousand  francs.  ~No 
power  on  earth  can  prevent  my  lending  to  my  father-in-law, 
on  account  of  next  year's  profits,  enough  to  pay  off  the  re- 
mainder of  his  creditors.  .  .  .  And — he  will — he — re- 
habilitated— 

"^Rehabilitated !"  cried  Mme.  Cesar,  kneeling  before  her 
chair,  and,  clasping  her  hands,  she  repeated  a  prayer.  The 
letter  had  slipped  from  her  fingers.  She.  crossed  herself. 
"Dear  Anselme !"  she  said,  "dear  boy !"  She  took  his  face  in 
her  hands,  kissed  him  on  the  forehead,  and  held  him  tightl^ 
in  her  arms.  "Cesarine  is  yours  indeed,"  she  cried.  "My 
daughter  will  be  very  happy.  She  will  leave  the  house  where 
she  is  working  herself  to  death." 

"Through  love,"  said  Anselme. 

"Yes,"  smiled  the  mother. 

"Listen  to  a  little  secret,"  said  Anselme,  looking  out  of 
the  corner  of  his  eye  at  the  unlucky  letter.  "I  obliged  Celestin 
when  he  wanted  capital  to  buy  your  business,  but  it  was  on 
one  condition.  Your  rooms  are  just  as  you  left  them.  I 
had  my  own  idea,  but  I  did  not  think  then  that  fortune  would 
favor  us  so  greatly.  Celestin  has  undertaken  to  sublet  your 
old  rooms  to  you;  he  has  not  set  foot  in  them,  and  all  the 
furniture  there  is  yours.  I  am  reserving  the  second  story, 
so  that  Cesarine  and  I  may  live  there ;  she  shall  never  leave 
you.  After  we  are  married,  I  will  spend  the  day  here  from 
eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  six  in  the  evening.  Then 
I  will  buy  out  M.  Cesar's  interest  in  the  business  for  a  hun- 
dred thousand  francs,  so  that,  with  his  post,  you  will  have 
ten  thousand  livres  a  year.  Will  you  not  be  happy?" 

"Do  not  say  any  more,  Anselme,  or  I  shall  go  mad  with 

ioy." 

Mme.  Cesar's  angelic  bearing,  her  pure  eyes,  the  innocence 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAtJ  309 

on  her  fair  brow,  gave  the  lie  so  magnificently  to  the  count- 
less thoughts  which  surged  up  in  the  young  lover's  brain, 
that  he  made  up  his  mind  to  slay  the  chimeras  of  his  fancy. 
The  sin  was  irreconcilable  with  the  life  and  the  sentiments 
of  Pillerault's  niece. 

"My  dear  adored  mother,"  he  began,  "a  horrible  doubt  has 
just  crossed  my  mind.  If  you  would  see  me  happy,  you  will 
set  it  at  rest." 

Popinot  held  out  his  hand  as  he  spoke,  and  took  possession 
of  the  letter. 

"Unintentionally  I  read  the  first  words  in  du  Tillet's  hand- 
writing," he  said,  alarmed  at  the  consternation  in  her  face.  * 
"The  words  coincide  so  oddly  with  the  effect  you  just  produced 
upon  the  man,  who  complied  at  once  with  my  extravagant 
demands,  that  anybody  would  find  the  explanation  which  the 
devil  suggests  to  me  in  spite  of  myself.  A  glance  from  you, 
and  three  words  were  enough " 

"Stop,"  said  Mme.  Cesar,  and  taking  back  the  letter,  she 
burned  it  under  Anselme's  eyes.  "I  am  cruelly  punished 
for  a  trifling  fault,  my  child.  And  now  you  must  know  all, 
Anselme.  The  suspicion  attaching  to  the  mother  must  not 
do  her  daughter  an  injury,  and  besides,  I  may  speak  without 
a  blush;  I  could  tell  my  husband  this  that  I  am  about  to  tell 
you.  Du  Tillet  tried  to  seduce  me,  my  husband  was  warned 
at  once,  and  Du  Tillet  was  to  be  dismissed.  The  very  day 
that  my  husband  was  to  discharge  him  du  Tillet  took  three 
thousand  francs." 

"I  suspected  it,"  said  Popinot,  with  all  his  hatred  of  the 
man  in  his  tone. 

"Anselme,  your  future  and  your  happiness  required  this 
confidence,  but  it  must  die  in  your  own  breast,  as  it  had  died 
in  Cesar's  and  mine.  You  surely  remember  the  fuss  my  hus- 
band made  about  the  mistake  in  the  books.  M.  Birotteau,  no 
doubt,  put  three  thousand  francs  into  the  safe  (the  price  of 
the  shawl,  which  was  not  given  to  me  for  three  years),  so 
as  to  avoid  ruining  the  young  man  by  bringing  him  into  a 
police  court.  So  there  you  have  the  explanation  of  my  cry 
of  surprise.  Alas,  my  dear  boy,  I  will  confess  my  childish. 


310  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  B1ROTTEAU 

conduct.  Du  Tillet  had  written  three  love  letters  to  me, 
letters  which  showed  his  nature  so  plainly  that  I  kept  them — 
as  a  curiosity.  I  only  read  them  once;  but,  after  all,  it  was 
not  wise  to  keep  them.  When  I  saw  du  Tillet,  I  thought  of 
them,  and  went  up  to  my  room  to  burn  them.  When  you 
came  in,  I  was  looking  at  the  last  one.  That  is  all,  my 
,dear." 

Anselme  knelt  and  kissed  Mme.  Cesar's  hand.  The  ex- 
pression in  his  eyes  .drew  tears  of  admiring  affection  from 
hers.  Constance  raised  her  son-in-law,  and  clasped  him  to 
her  heart. 

That  day  was  destined  to  be  a  day  of  joy  for  Cesar.  The 
King's  private  secretary,  M.  de  Vandenesse,  came  to  the  of- 
fice to  speak  with  him.  They  went  out  together  into  the 
little  courtyard  of  the  Sinking-Fund  Department. 

"M.  Birotteau,"  said  the  Vicomte,  "the  story  of  your 
struggle  to  pay  your  creditors  came  by  chance  to  the  King's 
knowledge.  His  Majesty  was  touched  by  such  unusual  con- 
duct ;  and  learning  that,  from  motives  of  humility,  you  were 
not  wearing  the  Order  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  has  sent  me 
to  command  you  to  resume  it.  His  Majesty  also  wishes 
to  assist  you  to  discharge  your  obligations,  and  has  ordered 
me  to  pay  this  amount  to  you  out  of  his  own  privy  purse,  with 
regrets  that  he  can  do  no  more  for  you.  Let  the  matter  re- 
main a  profound  secret,  for  His  Majesty  thinks  it  little 
becomes  a  King  to  make  official  proclamation  of  his  good 
actions,"  and  the  private  secretary  paid  over  six  thousand 
francs  to  the  employe,  who  heard  these  words  with  inde- 
scribable emotions. 

Birotteau  could  only  stammer  inarticulate  thanks.  Van- 
denesse smiled,  and  waved  his  hand.  Cesar's  principles  are 
'so  rarely  seen  in  practice  in  Paris,  that  by  degrees  his  life 
had  won  admiration.  Joseph  Lebas,  Popinot  the  elder, 
Camusot,  Ragon,  the  Abbe  Loraux,  the  head  partner  of  the 
firm  which  employed  Cesarine,  Lourdois,  and  M.  de  la  Bil- 
lardiere  had  spoken  of  it.  The  scale  of  opinion  had  already 
turned  in  his  favor,  and  people  praised  him  to  the  skies. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  311 

"There  goes  a  man  of  honor!"  The  words  had  reached 
Cesar's  ears  several  times  in  the  street;  he  heard  them  with 
the  sensations  of  an  author  who  hears  his  name  pronounced. 
This  fair  renown  disgusted  du  Tillet.  Cesar's  first  thought 
on  receiving  the  King's  banknotes  was  of  repayment  to  his 
ex-assistant.  The  good  man  betook  himself  to  the  Rue  de  la 
Chaussee-d'Antin,  arid  it  so  fell  out  that  the  banker,  return- 
ing home  from  business,  met  him  upon  the  staircase. 

"Well,  my  poor  Birotteau,"  said  he,  in  a  caressing  tone. 

"Poor  ?"  the  other  cried  proudly.  "I  am  very  rich.  I  shall 
lay  my  head  on  the  pillow  to-night  with  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  I  have  paid  you/' 

The  words,  so  full  of  honesty,  put  du  Tillet  for  a  moment 
on  the  rack.  Every  one  respected  him,  but  he  had  lost  his 
self-respect;  a  voice  which  could  not  be  stifled  cried  within 
him,  "This  man  is  heroic !"  But  he  spoke : 

"Pay  me  !    What  business  can  you  be  in  ?" 

Birotteau  felt  quite  sure  that  du  Tillet  would  not  repeat 
the  story. 

"I  shall  never  start  in  business  again,  sir.  No  human  power 
could  foresee  the  thing  that  befell  me.  Who  knows  but  that  I 
might  be  the  victim  of  another  Eoguin?  But  my  conduct 
has  been  put  before  the  King,  his  heart  has  deigned  to  com- 
passionate my  struggles,  and  he  has  encouraged  them  by 
sending  me  at  once  a  fairly  large  sum,  which " 

"Do  you  want  a  receipt  in  full  ?".  du  Tillet  cut  him  short, 
"Are  you  paying " 

"In  full,  and  interest  besides.  So  I  must  beg  you  to  come 
to'  M.  Crottat's  office,  a  step  or  two  away." 

"In  the  presence  of  a  notary !" 

"Why,  sir,  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  me  from  thinking 
of  my  rehabilitation,  and  a  document  so  authenticated  is  legal 
evidence " 

"Come,  let  us  go/'  said  du  Tillet,  and  he  went  out  with 
Birotteau ;  "it  is  only  a  step.  But  who  will  find  you  so  much 
money?"  he  went  on. 

"No  one  finds  it  for  me,"  said  Cesar.  "I  am  earning  it 
by  the  sweat  of  my  brow/' 


312  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"You  owe  an  enormous  amount  to  Claparon." 

"Alas!  yes,  that  is  the  heaviest  of  my  debts;  I  am  afraid 
the  effort  will  be  too  much  for  me." 

"Oh  !  you  will  never  be  able  to  pay  it  all,"  said  du  Tillet 
harshly. 

"He  is  right,"  thought  Birotteau. 

He  went  home  again  by  way  of  the  Eue  Saint-Honore,  a 
piece  of  inadvertence,  for  he  always  went  round  some  other 
way,  that  he  might  not  see  his  shop,  nor  the  windows  of  his 
old  home.  For  the  first  time  since  his  fall,  he  saw  the  house 
where  he  had  spent  eighteen  happy  years,  and  three  months 
of  anguish  that  effaced  those  memories. 

"I  used  to  count  on  ending  my  days  there,"  he  said  to 
himself;  and  he  quickened  nis  pace  at  the  sight  of  a  new 
name  on  the  shop  front  : 


CREVEL 
Late  Cesar  Birotteau. 

"My  eyes  dazzle.  ...  Is  that  Cesarine?"  he  cried, 
thinking  that  he  had  seen  a  golden  head  at  the  window. 

It  was  really  Cesarine  whom  he  saw,  and  his  wife  was  there, 
and  so  was  Popinot.  The  two  lovers  knew  that  Birotteau 
never  went  past  his  old  home;  and  it  was  impossible  that 
they  should  imagine  the  great  event  in  the  Rue  de  1'Oratoire, 
so  they  had  gone  to  make  arrangements  for  the  fete  they  were 
planning  to  give  in  Birotteau's  honor.  The  strange  appari- 
tion astonished  Cesar  so  much  that  he  stood  stockstill. 

"There  is  M.  Birotteau  looking  at  his  old  house,"  said  M. 
Molineux  to  a  shopkeeper  who  lived  over  against  the  Queen 
of  Roses. 

"Poor  man  !"  returned  Birotteau's  old  neighbor,  "he  gave 
one  of  the  grandest  balls  there  —  there  were  two  hundred  car- 
riages in  the  street." 

"I  went  to  it  ;  he  went  bankrupt  three  months  afterwards, 
and  I  was  trustee,"  said  Molineux. 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR   BIROTTEAU  313 

Birotteau  fled,  his  legs  trembling  beneath  him,  and  reached 
Pillerault's  house. 

Pillerault  knew  what  was  passing  in  the  Rue  des  Cinq- 
Diamants,  and  it  seemed  to  him  that  his  nephew  was  scarcely 
fit  to  bear  the  shock  of  a  joy  so  great  as  his  rehabilita- 
tion. He  had  been  a  daily  witness  of  Cesar's  mental  suffer- 
ings, knew  that  Birotteau's  own  stern  doctrine  as  to  bank- 
rupts was  always  in  his  thoughts,  and  that  he  was  living  up 
to  the  very  limit  of  his  strength.  Dead  honor  might  have  its 
Easter  Day  for  him ;  and  it  was  this  hope  that  gave  him  no 
respite  from  pain.  Pillerault  undertook  to  prepare  Cesar 
for  the  good  news;  so  when  he  came  in,  his  uncle  was  think- 
ing how  to  attain  his  end.  Cesar  began  to  tefll  the  news  of 
the  interest  that  the  King  had  taken  in  him,  his  joy  seemed 
to  Pillerault  to  be  auspicious,  and  his  amazement  that  Cesar- 
ine  should  be  at  the  window  at  the  sign  of  the  Queen  of 
Roses  afforded  an  excellent  opening. 

"Well,  Cesar,"  Pillerault  began,  "do  you  know  what 
brought  it  about?  Popinot  is  impatient  to  marry  Cesarine. 
He  will  not  and  ought  not  to  be  bound  any  longer  by  your  ex- 
travagant ideas  of  honor,  to  spend  his  youth  in  eating  dry 
bread  and  smelling  a  good  dinner.  Popinot  is  determined 
to  pay  off  your  creditors  in  full." 

"He  is  going  to  buy  his  wife." 

"Isn't  it  to  his  credit  that  he  wants  to  rehabilitate  his 
father-in-law  ?" 

"But  questions  might  be  raised,  and  besides " 

"And  besides,"  cried  Uncle  Pillerault  in  feigned  anger, 
"you  may  sacrifice  yourself  if  you  like,  but  you  have  no  right 
to  sacrifice  your  daughter." 

A  lively  discussion  began,  and  Pillerault  worked  himself 
up. 

"Eh !  If  Popinot  lent  you  nothing,"  cried  he ;  "if  he  had 
looked  upon  you  as  his  partner;  if  he  chose  to  consider  the 
money  that  he  paid  over  to  your  creditors  for  your  interest  in 
the  Oil  as  an  advance  on  account  of  the  profits,  so  that  you 
should  not  be  robbed " 


314  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

"It  would  look  as  though  I  had  arranged  with  him  to  cheat 
my  creditors." 

Pillerault  pretended  to  be  defeated  by  this  logic.  He  knew 
enough  of  human  nature  to  guess  that  during  the  night  the 
good  man  would  argue  out  the  case  with  himself;  and  those 
private  reflections  of  his  would  accustom  him  to  the  idea  of 
rehabilitation. 

"But  how  came  my  wife  and  daughter  to  be  in  our  old 
house  ?''  he  asked  at  dinner. 

"Anselme  means  to  take  one  of  the  floors,  and  he  and 
Cesarine  will  set  up  housekeeping  there.  Your  wife  is  on 
his  side.  They  have  had  the  banns  put  up  without  telling 
you,  so  as  to  compel  you  to  give  your  consent.  Popinot  says 
that  there  will  be  less  merit  in  marrying  Cesarine  after  you 
are  rehabilitated.  You  accept  the  King's  six  thousand  francs, 
and  yet  you  will  take  nothing  from  your  relatives !  Now,  for 
my  own  part,  I  am  quite  justified  in  giving  you  a  receipt 
in  full ;  would  you  refuse  it  ?" 

"No,"  said  Cesar.  "But  it  would  not  hinder  me  from  sav- 
ing the  money  to  pay  you,  receipt  or  no." 

"All  this  is  splitting  hairs,"  said  Pillerault,  "and  when 
honesty  is  in  question,  I  ought  to  be  allowed  to  know  what  is 
right.  What  folly  were  you  talking  just  now?  When  your 
creditors  are  all  paid  in  full,  will  you  still  persist  that  you 
have  cheated  them?" 

Cesar  looked  full  at  Pillerault  as  he  spoke,  and  it  touched 
the  older  man  to  see  a  bright  smile  on  his  nephew's  face  after 
three  years  of  dejection. 

"You  are  right/'  he  said,  "they  would  be  paid. — But  it  is 
like  selling  my  daughter !" 

"And  I  wish  to  be  bought,"  cried  Cesarine,  who  came  in 
with  Popinot. 

The  lovers  stealing  on  tiptoe  through  the  lobby  had  over- 
heard the  words.  Mme.  Birotteau  was  just  behind  them.  The 
three  had  made  a  round  in  a  cab,  asking  all  the  creditors; 
to  meet  in  Crottat's  office  that  evening;  Popinot's  lover's  logic 
bore  down  Cesar's  scruples;  but  he  still  persisted  in  calling 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  315 

himself  a  debtor,  and  would  have  it  that  he  was  outflanking 
the  law  by  a  substitution.  Conscience  yielded  to  an  outburst 
from  Popinot: 

"So  you  mean  to  kill  your  daughter,  do  you?" 

"Kill  my  daughter!"  echoed  Cesar,  bewildered. 

"Well,  now,"  said  Popinot,  "what  is  there  to  prevent  me 
from  making  a  deed  of  gift  in  your  favor  of  a  sum  which  on 
my  conscience  I  believe  to  be  yours  ?  Can  you  refuse  ?" 

"No,"  said  Cesar. 

"Good.  Then  let  us  go  to  Alexandre  Crottat  this  evening," 
so  that  there  shall  be  no  going  back  upon  it,  and  our  mar- 
riage contract  can  be  decided  at  the  same  time." 

An  application  for  reinstatement  and  all  the  necessary  cer- 
tificates were  duly  deposited  by  Derville  at  the  office  of  the 
Procureur-General  of  the  Court  of  Appeal. 

During  the  month  which  elapsed  between  the  putting  up  of 
the  banns  and  the  marriage,  and  during  the  progress  of  the 
formalities,  Cesar  lived  in  a  state  of  constant  nervous  ex- 
citement. He  was  ill  at  ease.  He  feared  that  he  might  not 
live  to  see  the  great  day  when  his  disabilities  should  be  for- 
mally removed.  His  pulse  throbbed  unaccountably,  he  said, 
and  he  complained  of  a  dull  pain  about  his  heart.  He  had 
been  exhausted  by  painful  emotion,  and  this  supreme  joy  was 
wearing  him  out.  Decrees  of  rehabilitation  are  rare  in  Paris ; 
there  is  scarcely  one  in  ten  years. 

There  is  something  indescribably  solemn  and  imposing  in 
the  ceremony  of  justice  for  those  who  take  society  seriously. 
An  institution  is  to  men  as  they  consider  it,  and  is  invested 
with  dignity  and  grandeur  by  their  thoughts.  When  a  nation 
has  ceased,  not  to  feel  the  religious  instinct,  but  to  believe; 
when  primary  education  relaxes  the  bonds  of  union  by  teach- 
ing children  a  habit  of  merciless  analysis,  a  nation  is  dis- 
solved; for  the  only  ties  that  are  left  to  bind  men  together 
and  make  of  them  one  body  are  the  ignoble  ties  of  material 
interest,  and  the  dictates  of  the  selfish  cult  created  by  egoism 
well  carried  out.  Birotteau,  sustained  by  religion,  saw  Justice 
as  Justice  ought  to  be  regarded  among  men,  as  the  expression 


816  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

of  society  itself ;  beneath  the  forms  he  saw  the  sovereign  will, 
the  laws  by  which  men  have  agreed  to  live.  If  the  magistrate 
is  old,  feeble,  and  white-haired,  so  much  the  more  solemn  does 
his  priestly  office  appear,  an  office  which  demands  so  pro- 
found a  study  of  human  nature  and  of  things,  an  office  to 
wh/ich  the  heart  is  immolated,  for  of  necessity  it  becomes 
callous  in  a  guardian  of  so  many  palpitating  interests. 

In  these  days  the  men  who  cannot  ascend  the  staircase  of 
the  Court  of  Appeal  in  the  old  Palais  de  Justice  in  Paris, 
without  feeling  deeply  stirred,  are  growing  rare;  but  Birot- 
teau  was  one  of  these  men.  There  are  not  many  who  notice 
the  majestic  grandeur  of  that  staircase,  so  magnificently 
planned  to  produce  an  effect.  It  rises  at  the  further  end 
of  the  peristyle  which  adorns  the  Cour  du  Palais.  The  door- 
way opens  on  the  centre  of  the  gallery  which  leads  from 
the  vast  Salle  des  Pas  Perdus  at  its  one  end  to  the  Sainte- 
Chapelle  at  the  other,  two  monuments  which  may  well  dwarf 
everything  about  them  into  insignificance.  The  Church  of 
St.  Louis  is  in  itself  one  of  the  grandest  buildings  in  Paris, 
and  there  is  an  indescribable  dim  atmosphere  of  romance 
about  it  when  approached  by  way  of  this  gallery;  while  the 
vast  Salle  des  Pas  Perdus  is  flooded  with  daylight,  and  it 
is  hard  to  forget  the  memories  of  the  history  of  France  that 
cling  about  its  walls.  So  the  staircase  must  have  a  grandeur 
of  its  own  if  it  is  not  utterly  overshadowed  by  the  glories  of 
those  two  famous  buildings.  Perhaps  there  is  something 
to  stir  the  soul  at  the  sight  of  the  place  where  decrees  are 
executed,  beheld  through  the  rich  scroll-work  of  the  screen 
of  the  Palais.  The  staircase  gives  entrance  to  a  vast  room, 
the  Salle  des  Pas  Perdus  of  this  court,  beyond  which  lies  the 
Hall  of  Audience.  Imagine  the  feeling  with  which  Birotteau 
(always  so  much  impressed  by  the  circumstance  of  justice) 
mounted  the  staircase  among  a  little  crowd  of  his  friends — 
Lebas,  at  that  time  President  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce ; 
Camusot,  who  had  acted  as  registrar;  Ragon,  his  old  master; 
and  the  Abb6  Loraux,  his  confessor.  The  presence  of  the 
good  priest  enhanced  those  earthly  honors  by  a  reflection  from 
heaven,  which  gave  them  yet  more  value  in  Cesar's  eyes. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  317 

Pillerault,  that  practical  philosopher,  had  bethought  him 
of  the  expedient  of  dwelling  upon  and  exaggerating  the  joy 
'of  the  release,  so  that  the  actual  experience  might  not  over- 
whelm Cesar.  Just  as  he  finished  dressing,  he  found  himself 
surrounded  by  faithful  friends,  all  anxious  for  the  honor  of 
accompanying  him  to  the  bar  of  the  Court.  The  delight 
which  suffused  the  good  man's  soul  at  the  sight  of  this  group 
raised  him  to  a  pitch  of  happiness  necessary  for  him  if  he 
was  to  endure  the  alarming  ordeal.  He  found  others  of  his 
friends  standing  in  the  Great  Hall  of  Audience,  where  a 
dozen  Councillors  were  sitting. 

After  the  cases  had  been  called,  Birotteau's  attorney  made 
application  in  a  brief  formula.  At  a  sign  from  the  President, 
the  Attorney-General  rose  to  give  his  opinion.  In  the  name 
of  the  Court,  the  Attorney-General,  the  public  accuser,  was 
about  to  make  demand  that  the  merchant's  honor,  which  had 
been  pledged,  should  be  vindicated;  a  proceeding  unique  in 
law,  for  a  condemned  man  can  only  be  pardoned.  Those  who 
have  hearts  that  feel  can  imagine  Birotteau's  feelings  when 
M.  de  Granville  spoke  somewhat  as  follows: 

"Gentlemen,"  said  the  great  lawyer,  "on  the  16th  of  Jan- 
uary 1820,  Birotteau  was  declared  a  bankrupt  by  the  Tribunal 
of  Commerce  of  the  Seine.  The  insolvency  was  not  occa- 
sioned by  imprudence  on  the  part  of  the  merchant,  nor  by 
dishonest  speculation,  nor  any  other  cause  which  could  stain 
his  honor.  We  feel  that  it  is  necessary  to  state  it  publicly — 
the  calamity  was  brought  about  by  one  of  those  disasters  which 
occur  from  time  to  time,  to  the  great  affliction  of  Justice 
and  of  the  city  of  Paris.  It  was  reserved  for  this  present 
century,  in  which  the  evil  leaven  of  subverted  morals  and 
revolutionary  ideas  will  long  ferment,  to  behold  the  Parisian 
notariat  depart  from  the  honorable  traditions  of  its  past; 
there  have  been  more  cases  of  insolvency  in  that  body  during 
the  last  few  years  than  in  two  preceding  centuries  under  the 
ancient  monarchy.  The  greed  of  gold  rapidly  acquired  has 
seized  upon  officials,  those  guardians  of  the  public  welfare 
and  intermediary  authorities." 


318  RISE  AND   FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

Then  followed  a  tirade  based  on  this  text,  in  the  course  of 
which  M.  le  Comte  de  Granville  (speaking  in  character)  took 
occasion  to  incriminate  Liberals,  Bonapartists,  and  all  and 
sundry  who  were  disaffected,  as  in  duty  bound.  Events  have 
shown  that  there  was  good  ground  for  the  Councillor's  ap- 
prehensions. 

"The  immediate  cause  of  the  plaintiff's  ruin  was  the  action 
of  a  Paris  notary,  who  absconded  with  the  money  which  Bi- 
rotteau  deposited  with  him.  The  sentence  passed  by  the 
Court  in  Roguin's  case  shows  how  shamefully  he  had  betrayed 
his  client's  trust.  A  concordat  followed.  We  will  observe, 
for  the  honor  of  the  applicant,  that  the  proceedings  were 
characterized  by  honesty  not  to  be  met  with  in  the  scandalous 
failures  which  daily  occur  in  Paris.  Birotteau's  creditors, 
gentlemen,  found  every  trifle  that  he  possessed,  down  to 
trinkets  and  articles  of  wearing  apparel  belonging  not  only 
to  him,  but  to  his  wife,  who,  to  swell  the  assets,  gave  up  all 
that  she  had.  Birotteau  at  this  juncture  showed  himself 
worthy  of  the  respect  which  he  had  won  by  the  discharge 
of  his  municipal  functions;  for  he  was  at  that  time  deputy- 
mayor  of  the  second  arrondissement,  and  had  just  received 
the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  accorded  to  the  devoted 
Eoyalist,  who  shed  his  blood  for  the  cause  on  the  steps  of 
Saint-Koch  in  Vendemiaire;  and,  no  less,  to  the  Consular 
judge,  who  had  won  respect  by  his  ability,  and  popularity  by 
his  conciliatory  spirit;  to  the  modest  municipal  officer,  who 
declined  the  honors  of  the  mayoralty  for  himself,  and  put 
forward  the  name  of  another  as  more  worthy — the  honor- 
able Baron  de  la  Billardiere,  one  of  the  noble  Vendeans 
whom  he  had  learned  to  esteem  in  evil  days." 

"He  put  that  better  than  I  did,"  said  Cesar  in  his  uncle's 
ear. 

"The  creditors,  therefore,  receiving  sixty  per  cent  of  their 
claims,  thanks  to  the  upright  merchant  and  his  wife  and 
daughter,  who  surrendered  everything  that  they  possessed, 
gave  expression  to  their  respect  in  the  concordat,  by  which 
they  forewent  the  remainder  of  their  claims  in  consideration 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  319 

of  the  dividend.  The  attention  of  the  Court  is  called  to  the 
manner  in  which  this  record  is  worded." — Here  the  Attorney- 
Gieneral  read  the  concordat — "After  such  expressions  of  good- 
will, gentlemen,  many  a  trader  would  have  considered  him- 
self free,  and  would  have  walked  with  head  erect  in  pub- 
lic; but  so  far  from  considering  his  liabilities  to  be  dis- 
charged, Birotteau  would  not  give  way  to  despair,  but  made 
an  inward  resolution  to  hasten  the  coming  of  a  glorious  day 
which  here  and  now  dawns  for  him.  Nothing  turned  him 
aside  from  his  purpose.  Our  beloved  sovereign  gave  a  post  to 
the  man  who  was  wounded  at  Saint-Koch,  and  the  bankrupt 
merchant  set  by  the  whole  of  his  salary  for  the  benefit  of  his 
creditors,  for  the  devotion  of  his  family  did  not  fail  him " 

Tears  came  into  Birotteau's  eyes  as  he  squeezed  his  uncle's 
hand. 

"His  wife  and  daughter  poured  their  earnings  into  the 
common  treasury;  they  too  had  embraced  Birotteau's  loyal 
purpose.  They  descended  from  their  position  to  take  a 
subordinate  place.  Such  sacrifices  as  these,  gentlemen,  de- 
serve all  honor,  for  they  are  the  hardest  of  all.  This  was  the 
task  which  Birotteau  laid  upon  himself." 

The  Attorney  read  an  abbreviated  version  of  the  schedule, 
giving  the  names  of  the  creditors  and  the  balances  due  to 
them. 

"Every  one  of  these  amounts,  gentlemen,  has  been  paid  (in- 
terest included).  The  receipts  have  not  been  given  by  notes 
of  hand  which  demand  investigation,  but  by  certificates  of 
payment  made  in  the  presence  of  a  notary,  documents  which 
do  not  abuse  the  good  faith  of  the  Court,  though,  nevertheless, 
the  inquiries  required  by  the  law  have  been  duly  made.  You, 
therefore,  restore  to  Birotteau  not  his  honor,  but  the  civil  and 
political  privileges  of  which  he  has  been  deprived,  and  in  so 
doing  you  do  justice.  Such  cases  come  so  seldom  before  you, 
that  we  cannot  refrain  from  giving  expression  to  our  ad- 
miration of  the  conduct  of  the  applicant,  who  has  already 
received  the  encouragement  of  august  patronage." 

With  that,  he  read  the  formal  application.    The  Court  de- 


320  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

liberated  without  retiring,  and  the  President  rose  to  pro- 
nounce the  decree, 

"The  Court  charges  me  to  inform  M.  Birotteau  of  the 
satisfaction  with  which  the  decree,  granted  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, is  passed. — Call  the  next  case." 

Birotteau,  already  invested  with  a  caftan  of  honor  by  the 
Attorney-General's  speech,  was  struck  dumb  with  joy  when 
he  heard  these  solemn  words  from  the  President  of  the  High- 
est Court  of  Appeal  in  France,  words  which  made  those  who 
heard  them  feel  that  the  impassive  Themis  had  a  heart.  He 
could  not  move  from  his  place,  he  seemed  to  be  glued  to  the 
floor,  and  gazed  with  bewildered  eyes  at  the  Councillors,  who 
seemed  to  him  like  angels  who  had  opened  the  gates  which 
admitted  him  to  life  among  his  fellows.  His  uncle  took  him 
by  the  arm  and  drew  him  away.  Then  Cesar,  who  had  not 
obeyed  the  desire  of  Louis  XVIII.,  fastened  the  red  ribbon 
at  his  buttonhole,  like  a  man  in  a  dream,  and  went  down  in 
triumph  with  his  friends  about  him  to  the  hackney  cab. 

'"Where  are  you  taking  me?"  he  asked  of  Joseph  Lebas, 
Pillerault,  and  Ragon. 

"Home." 

"No.  It  is  three  o'clock;  I  want  to  go  on  'Change  again, 
now  that  I  have  the  right." 

"To  the  Exchange,"  Pillerault  gave  the  order,  and  looked 
significantly  at  Lebas,  for  there  were  symptoms  which  made 
him  uneasy;  he  feared  for  Birotteau's  reason. 

So  Birotteau  went  back  on  'Change  between  his  uncle  and 
Joseph  Lebas;  the  two  merchants  whom  every  one  respected 
linked  their  arms  in  his.  The  news  of  his  rehabilitation  was 
abroad.  Du  Tillet  was  the  first  to  see  the  three  and  old 
Eagon,  who  followed  behind. 

"Ah !  my  dear  master !  Delighted  to  hear  that  you  have 
pulled  through  your  difficulties.  Perhaps  I  contributed  to 
bring  about  this  happy  termination  by  allowing  little  Popinot 
to  pluck  me  so  easily.  I  am  as  glad  of  your  happiness  as 
if  it  were  my  own." 

"It  is  the  only  way  open  to  you,"  said  Pillerault,  "for  you 
will  never  experience  it  yourself." 


RISE  A>s7D  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  321 

"What  do  you  mean,  sir?"  asked  du  Tillet. 

"A  good  dig  in  the  ribs,  by  George,"  said  Lebas,  smiling 
at  Pillerault's  malicious  revenge.  He  knew  nothing  of  the 
part  that  du  Tillet  had  played,  but  he  looked  on  him  as  a 
scoundrel. 

Matifat  saw  Cesar,  and  immediately  all  the  most  respected 
merchants  crowded  about  the  perfumer;  he  received  an  ova- 
tion on  'Change,  the  most  nattering  congratulations  and 
handshakes,  which  caused  here  and  there  some  heart-burn- 
ings, and  here  and  there  a  pang  of  remorse,  for  fifty  out  of 
every  hundred  present  had  been  insolvent  at  some  time  or 
other. 

Gigonnet  and  Gobseck,  chatting  in  a  corner,  stared  at 
Ce"sar  as  the  learned  must  have  stared  when  the  first  electric 
eel  was  brought  for  their  inspection,  and  they  beheld  that 
strange  curiosity,  a  living  Leyden  jar. 

Then,  still  breathing  the  incense  of  triumph,  Cesar  went 
out  to  the  cab,  and  drove  home  to  his  house,  where  the  mar- 
riage-contract between  his  dear  child  Cesarine  and  the  de- 
voted Popinot  was  to  be  signed  that  evening.  He  laughed 
nervously,  in  a  way  that  alarmed  his  three  old  friends. 

It  is  one  of  the  mistakes  of  youth  to  imagine  that  every  one 
has  the  vitality  of  youth,  a  defect  nearly  akin  to  its  best  en- 
dowment; for  youth  does  not  behold  life  through  a  pair  of 
spectacles,  but  through  the  radiant  hues  of  a  reflected  glow, 
and  age  itself  is  credited  with  its  own  exuberant  life.  Popi- 
not, like  Cesar  and  Constance,  cherished  memories  of  the 
pomp  and  splendor  of  the  ball,  the  strains  of  Coll  i net's  or- 
chestra had  often  rung  in  his  ears;  he  had  seen  the  gay  throng 
of  dancers,  and  tasted  the  joy  so  cruelly  punished,  as  Adam 
and  Eve  might  have  thought  of  the  forbidden  fruit  which 
banished  them  from  the  Garden,  and  brought  Death  and 
Birth  into  the  world,  for  it  seems  that  the  multiplication  of 
the  angels  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Paradise  above. 

Popinot,  however,  could  think  of  that  night's  festivity 
not  only  without  remorse,  but  with  joy  in  his  heart,  for  then 
it  was  that  Cesarine  in  all  her  glory  had  given  her  promise 


.".±1  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

to  him  in  his  poverty.  That  evening  he  had  known  beyond  all 
doubt  that  he  was  loved  for  himself  alone.  So  when  he  paid 
Celestin  for  the  rooms  which  Grindot  had  restored,  and 
stipulated  that  everything  should  be  left  untouched ;  when  he 
had  carefully  seen  that  the  merest  trifles  belonging  to  Cesar 
and  Constance  were  in  their  place,  he  had  dreamed  of  giving 
a  ball  there  on  the  day  of  his  wedding.  The  preparations 
for  the  fete  had  been  a  work  of  love.  It  should  be  exactly 
like  the  previous  one,  except  in  the  extravagances.  Extrava- 
gance was  over  and  done  with.  Still,  the  dinner  was  to  be 
served  by  Che  vet,  and  the  guests  were  almost  the  same.  The 
Abbe  Loraux  took  the  place  of  the  Grand-Chancellor;  and 
Lebas,  the  President  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce,  was  to 
be  there.  Popinot  added  M.  Camusot's  name  to  the  list,  as 
an  acknowledgment  of  the  kindness  he  had  shown  to  Birot- 
teau  in  so  many  ways.  M.  de  Vandenesse  and  M.  de  Fon- 
taine took  the  place  of  M.  and  Mme.  Roguin. 

Cesarine  and  Popinot  had  exercised  their  discretion  in  the 
matter  of  invitations  to  the  ball.  They  both  shrank  from 
making  a  festival  of  their  wedding,  and  had  avoided  the  pub- 
licity which  jars  on  pure  and  tender  hearts  by  giving  the 
dance  on  the  occasion  of  the  signing  of  the  contract.  Con- 
stance had  found  the  cherry-colored  velvet  dre.ss  in  which  she 
had  shone  for  the  brief  space  of  a  single  day;  and  Cesarine 
had  pleased  herself  by  surprising  Popinot  in  the  ball-dress 
of  which  he  had  talked  times  out  of  mind.  So  the  house 
was  to  wear  the  same  air  of  an  enchanted  festival,  and  neither 
Constance,  nor  Cesarine,  nor  Anselme  thought  that  there  was 
any  danger  for  Cesar  in  this  joyful  surprise.  They  waited 
till  four  o'clock,  and  grew  almost  childish  in  their  happiness. 

After  the  hero  of  the  hour  had  passed  through  the  inde- 
scribable emotions  of  returning  to  the  Exchange,  a  fresh  shock 
awaited  him  in  the  Eue  Saint-Honore.  As  he  came  up  the 
stairs,  which  still  looked  new,  he  saw  his  wife  in  the  cherry- 
colored  velvet  dress ;  he  saw  Cesarine,  the  Comte  de  Fontaine, 
the  Vicomte  de  Vandenesse,  the  Baron  de  la  Billardiere,  and 
the  great  Vauquelin;  a  light  film  spread  over  his  eyes,  and 


RISK  AND    FALL  OF  CESAR   BIROTTEAU  323 

Uncle  Pillcrault,  on  whose  arm  he  leaned,  felt  the  shudder 
that  ran  through  his  nephew. 

"It  is  too  much  for  him,"  the  old  philosopher  said  to  the 
enamored  Anselme;  "he  will  not  stand  all  the  wine  which 
you  have  poured  out  for  him." 

But  all  hearts  beat  so  high  with  joy,  that  Cesar's  emotion 
and  tottering  steps  were  ascribed  to  an  intoxication,  very 
natural,  as  they  thought — but  not  seldom  fatal.  When  he 
looked  round  the  drawing-room,  and  saw  it  filled  with  guests 
and  women  in  ball  toilets,  the  sublime  rhythm  of  the  finale 
of  Beethoven's  great  symphony  beat  in  his  pulses  and  flooded 
his  brain.  That  imaginary  music  streamed  in  on  him  like 
rays  of  light,  sparkling  from  modulation  to  modulation;  it 
was  to  be  indeed  the  finale  that  rang  clear  and  high  through 
the  recesses  of  the  tired  brain.  Overcome  by  the  harmony 
that  swept  through  him,  he  laid  his  hand  on  his  wife's  arm, 
and  in  tones,  rendered  almost  inaudible  by  the  effort  to  keep 
back  the  flowing  blood  which  filled  his  mouth : 

"I  am  not  well,"  he  said. 

Constance,  in  alarm,  led  her  husband  to  her  room ;  he  was 
barely  able  to  reach  the  armchair,  into  which  he  sank,  ex- 
claiming, "M.  Haudry  !  M.  Loraux  !" 

The  Abbe  came  in,  followed  by  the  guests  and  women  in 
evening  dress,  who  stood  in  consternation.  Cesar  in  the  midst 
of  this  brightly-colored  throng  grasped  his  confessor's  hand, 
and  laid  his  head  on  the  breast  of  the  wife  who  knelt  beside 
him.  A  blood-vessel  had  been  ruptured  in  the  lungs,  and  the 
resulting  aneurism  was  stopping  his  last  breath. 

"Behold  the  death  of  the  righteous !"  the  Abbe  Loraux 
said  solemnly,  as  he  stretched  his  hand  towards  Cesar  with 
one  of  those  Divine  gestures  which  Rembrandt's  inspiration 
beheld  and  recorded  in  his  picture  of  Christ  raising  Lazarus 
from  the  dead. 

Christ  bade  Earth  surrender  her  prey ;  the  good  priest  sped 
a  soul  to  heaven,  where  the  martyr  to  commercial  integrity 
should  receive  an  unfading  palm. 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

To  Theophile  Gautier. 

AFTER  the  disasters  of  the  Eevolution  of  July  1830  had 
wrecked  the  fortunes  of  many  a  noble  family  dependent  upon 
the  Court,  Mme.  la  Princesse  de  Cadignan  had  the  address 
to  blame  political  events  for  the  total  ruin  due  in  reality  to 
her  own  extravagance.  The  Prince  had  left  France  with  the 
Eoyal  Family,  but  the  Princess  stayed  on  in  Paris,  the  very 
fact  of  her  husband's  absence  securing  her  from  arrest.  He, 
and  he  alone,  was  responsible  for  a  burden  of  debt  which 
could  not  be  discharged  by  the  sale  of  all  his  available  prop- 
erty. The  creditors  had  taken  over  the  revenues  of  the  en- 
tail, and  the  affairs  of  the  great  family  were,  in  short,  in  as 
bad  a  way  as  the  fortunes  of  the  elder  branch  of  the  Bour- 
bons. Things  being  thus,  the  Princesse  de  Cadignan  (the 
lady  so  celebrated  in  her  day  as  the  Duchesse  de  Maufri- 
gneuse)  made  up  her  mind  to  live  in  complete  retirement,  and 
tried  to  make  the  world  forget  her.  And  in  the  dizzy  cur- 
rent of  events  which  swept  Paris  away,  Mme.  de  Maufrigneuse 
was  soon  lost  to  sight  in  the  Princesse  de  Cadignan,  and  be- 
came almost  a  stranger  to  society;  the  new  actors  brought 
upon  the  stage  by  the  Revolution  of  July  knew  nothing  of 
the  metamorphosis. 

In  France  the  title  of  duke  takes  precedence  over  all  others, 
even  over  the  title  of  prince;  albeit  it  is  laid  down  unequivo- 
cally in  heraldry  that  titles  signify  absolutely  nothing,  and 
that  all  the  nobly  born  are  perfectly  equal.  This  admirable 
theory  was  conscientiously  put  in  practice  in  former  times 
by  the  royal  house  of  France:  indeed,  it  is  still  carried  out 
in  the  letter  at  any  rate,  for  kings  of  France  are  careful  to 
give  their  sons  the  simple  title  of  count.  By  virtue  of  the 

•    22  <325> 


326  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

same  system  Francis  I.  signed  himself  "Francis,  Lord  of 
Vanvcs,"  thereby  eclipsing  the  splendid  array  of  titles  as- 
sumed by  that  pompous  monarch,  Charles  V.  Louis  XI.  had 
even  gone  further  when  he  gave  his  daughter  to  Pierre  de 
Beaujeu,  a  simple  gentleman.  The  feudal  system  was  so 
thoroughly  broken  up  by  Louis  XIV.  that  the  title  of  duke 
in  his  reign  became  the  supreme  and  most  coveted  honor. 

Nevertheless,  there  are  two  or  three  families  in  France, 
in  which  the  principality  consists  of  great  territorial  posses- 
sions, handed  down  from  former  times,  and  in  these  it  ranks 
above  the  duchy.  The  House  of  Cadignan  is  one  of  these 
exceptions,  the  eldest  son  is  the  Due  de  Maufrigneuse,  and 
the  younger  brothers  are  simply  Chevaliers  de  Cadignan. 

The  Cadignans,  like  two  princes  of  the  House  of  Rohan 
in  other  times,  have  a  right  to  a  chair  of  state  in  their  own 
house,  and  may  keep  a  retinue  of  pages,  gentlemen,  in  their 
service.  This  is  a  necessary  piece  of  explanation,  given  partly 
to  anticipate  absurd  criticisms  from  persons  who  know  noth- 
ing of  the  matter,  partly  too  as  a  record  of  an  old  stately 
order  of  things  in  a  world  which  is  said  to  be  passing  away, 
an  order  of  things  which  some,  who  understand  it  but  little, 
are  very  eager  to  abolish. 

The  Cadignans  bear  or  five  fusils  sable  conjoined  in  fesse, 
with  the  motto  MEMINI,  and  a  close  crown,  without  sup- 
porters or  lambrequins.  What  with  the  prevalent  ignorance 
of  heraldry  in  these  days,  and  a  mighty  influx  of  foreigners 
to  Paris,  the  title  of  prince  is  beginning  to  enjoy  a  certain 
vogue;  but  it  is  usually  only  a  courtesy  title.  There  are  no 
real  princes  in  France  save  those  who  inherit  domains  with 
their  name,  and  are  entitled  to  be  addressed  as  "Your  High- 
ness." The  disdain  felt  for  the  title  by  the  old  noblesse,  and 
the  reasons  which  led  Louis  XIV.  to  give  supremacy  to  the 
rank  of  duke,  prevented  France  from  claiming  the  style  of 
Highness  for  the  few  princes  in  existence  (those  of  Na- 
poleon's creation  excepted).  This  is  how  the  Princes  de 
Cadignan  came  to  rank  nominally  below  other  princes  on  the 
continent  of  Europe. 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  327 

The  persons  known  collectively  as  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Germain  protected  the  Princess;  treating  her  with  a  respect- 
ful discretion  due  to  a  name  that  will  always  be  honored,  to 
misfortunes  which  no  longer  gave  rise  to  talk,  and  to  Mme.  de 
Cadignan's  beauty,  which  was  all  that  remained  of  her  faded 
glory.  The  world  that  she  had  adorned  gave  her  credit  for 
thus  taking  the  veil,  as  it  were,  and  entering  the  cloister  in 
her  own  house.  For  her,  of  all  women,  such  a  piece  of  good 
taste  involved  an  immense  sacrifice;  and  in  France  anything 
great  is  always  so  keenly  appreciated,  that  the  Princess'  re- 
treat gained  for  her  all  the  ground  that  she  had  lost  in  public 
opinion  while  her  splendor  was  at  its  height.  Of  her  old 
friends  among  women,  she  only  saw  the  Marquise  d'Espard; 
and  as  yet  she  was  never  seen  in  public  on  great  occasions, 
or  at  evening  parties.  The  Princess  and  the  Marquise  called 
upon  one  another,  very  early  in  the  morning,  and,  as  it  were, 
in  secret;  and  when  the  Princess  dined  with  her  friend,  the 
Marquise  closed  her  doors  to  every  one  else. 

Mme.  d'Espard's  behavior  was  admirable.  She  changed 
her  box  at  the  Italiens,  coming  down  from  the  first  tier  to 
a  baignoire  on  the  ground  floor,  so  that  Mme.  de  Cadignan 
could  come  and  depart  without  being  seen.  Not  every  woman 
would  have  been  capable  of  such  a  piece  of  delicacy  which  de- 
prived her  of  the  pleasure  of  dragging  a  former  and  fallen 
rival  in  her  train,  and  posing  as  her  benefactress.  Thus 
enabled  to  dispense  with  ruinous  toilettes,  the  Princess  went 
privately  in  the  Marquise's  carriage,  which  in  public  she 
would  have  refused  to  take.  Nobody  ever  knew  why  Mme. 
d'Espard  behaved  in  this  way;  but  her  conduct  was  sublime, 
involving  a  whole  host  of  the  little  sacrifices  which  seem  mere 
trifles  in  themselves,  but  taken  as  a  whole  reach  giant  pro- 
portions. In  1832  the  snows  of  three  years  had  covered  the 
Duchesse  de  Maufrigneuse's  adventures,  whitening  them  so  ef- 
fectually that  nothing  short  of  a  prodigious  effort  of  memory 
could  recall  the  heavy  indictments  formerly  laid  to  her 
charge.  Of  the  queen  adored  by  so  many  courtiers,  of  the 
duchess  whose  levities  might  furnish  a  novelist  with  several 


323  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

volumes,  there  now  remained  an  exquisitely  fair  woman  of 
thirty-six,  who  might  have  passed  for  thirty  in  spite  of  her 
nineteen-year-old  son. 

Georges,  Due  de  Maufrigneuse,  beautiful  as  Antinous,  and 
poor  as  Job,  was  certain  of  a  great  career:  and  his  mother's 
first  wish  was  to  see  him  married  to  a  great  fortune.  Per- 
haps she  meant  to  choose  an  heiress  for  him  some  day  out 
of  Mme.  d'Espard's  salon,  which  was  supposed  to  be  the  first 
in  Paris;  perhaps  this  was  the  real  reason  of  her  intimacy 
with  the"  Marquise.  The  Princess,  looking  forward,  saw  an- 
other five  3rears  of  retirement  before  her;  five  desolate  lonely 
years;  but  if  Georges  was  to  marry  well,  her  conduct  must 
receive  the  hall-mark  of  virtue. 

The  Princess  lived  in  a  modest  ground-floor  flat  in  a  man- 
sion in  the  Rue  de  Miromesnil,  where  relics  of  bygone  splen- 
dor had  been  turned  to  account.  A  great  lady's  elegance  still 
pervaded  everything.  She  had  surrounded  herself  with 
beautiful  things,  which  told  their  own  story  of  a  life  in  high 
spheres.  The  magnificent  miniature  of  Charles  X.  above 
her  chimney-piece  was  painted  by  Mme.  de  Mirbel,  and  bore 
the  legend,  "Given  by  the  King,"  engraved  on  the  frame. 
The  companion  picture  was  a  portrait  of  Madame,  who  had 
been  so  peculiarly  gracious  to  her.  The  album  that  shone 
conspicuous  on  one  of  the  tables  was  an  almost  priceless  treas- 
ure, which  none  of  the  bourgeoises  that  rule  our  modern 
money-making  and  censorious  society  would  dare  to  exhibit 
in  public.  It  was  a  piece  of  audacity  that  paints  the  Prin- 
cess' character  to  admiration.  The  album  was  full  of  por- 
traits, some  thirty  among  them  belonging  to  intimate  friends 
— lovers,  the  world  said.  As  to  numbers,  this  was  a  slander ; 
but  with  regard  to  some  ten  of  them  perhaps,  as  the  Mar- 
quise d'Espard  said,  there  was  a  good,  broad  foundation  for 
the  calumny.  However  that  might  be,  Maxime  de  Trailles,  de 
Marsay,  Rastignac,  the  Marquis  d'Esgrignon,  General  de 
Montriveau,  the  Marquises  de  Ronquerolles  and  d'Ajuda- 
Pinto,  Prince  Galathionne,  the  young  Due  de  Grandlieu,  the 
young  Due  de  Rhetore,  the  young  Vicomte  de  Serizy,  and 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  329 

Luoien  de  Rubempre's  beautiful  face,  had  all  received  most 
flattering  treatment  from  the  brushes  of  the  famous  portrait- 
painters  of  the  day.  At  this  time  the  Princess  had  only  re- 
ceived two  or  three  of  the  originals  of  the  portraits,  and  pleas- 
antly called  the  book  "My  Collection  of  Errors." 

Adversity  had  made  a  good  mother  of  Mme.  la  Princesse. 
Her  amusements  during  the  first  fifteen  years  of  the  Restora- 
tion had  left  her  little  time  to  think  of  her  son;  but  now, 
when  she  took  refuge  in  obscurity,  this  illustrious  egoist  be- 
thought herself  that  maternal  sentiment  pushed  to  an  extreme 
would  win  absolution  for  her.  Her  past  life  would  be  con- 
doned by  sentimental  people,  who  will  pardon  anything  to  a 
fond  mother,  and  she  loved  her  son  so  much  the  better  because 
she  had  nothing  else  left  to  love.  Georges  de  Maufrigneuse 
was,  for  that  matter,  a  son  of  whom  any  mother  might  have 
been  proud.  And  the  Princess  had  made  all  kinds  of  sacri- 
fices for  him.  Georges  had  a  stable  and  coach-house,  and  in- 
habited three  daintily-furnished  rooms  in  the  entresol  above, 
which  gave  upon  the  street. 

His  mother  stinted  herself  to  keep  a  horse  for  him  to  ride, 
a  cab-horse,  and  a  diminutive  servant.  The  Duke's  tiger  had 
a  hard  time  of  it !  "Toby,"  once  in  the  service  of  "the  late 
Beaudenord" — for  in  this  jocular  manner  young  men  of 
fashion  were  wont  to  allude  to  that  ruined  dandy — Toby,  to  re- 
peat, now  turned  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  still  supposed  to 
be  fourteen,  must  groom  the  horses,  clean  the  cab  or  the  tilbury, 
go  out  with  his  master,  keep  his  rooms  in  order,  and  be  on. 
hand  in  the  Princess'  antechamber  to  admit  visitors,  if  by  any 
chance  a  visitor  called  on  her. 

When  you  considered  the  part  that  the  beautiful  Duchesse 
de  Maufrigneuse  had  played  under  the  Restoration ;  how  she 
had  been  one  of  the  queens  of  Paris,  a  radiant  queen,  leading 
a  life  so  luxurious  that  even  the  wealthiest  women  of  fashion 
in  London  might  have  taken  lessons  of  her ;  it  was  something 
indescribably  touching  to  see  her  in  that  mere  nutshell  of  a 
place  in  the  Rue  de  Miromesnil,  only  a  few  doors  away  from 
the  huge  hotel  de  Cadignan,  which  nobody  was  rich  enough 


330  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

to  live  in,  so  that  the  speculative  builder's  hammer  brought 
it  down.  The  woman  for  whom  thirty  servants  were  scarce 
sufficient,  the  mistress  of  the  finest  salons  and  the  prettiest 
petits  appartements  in  which  she  entertained  so  splendidly, 
was  now  living  in  a  suite  of  five  rooms — an  antechamber,  a 
dining-room,  a  drawing-room,  a  bedroom,  and  dressing-room 
— with  a  couple  of  women  servants  for  her  whole  establish- 
ment. 

"Ah !  she  is  an  admirable  mother,"  that  shrewd  woman 
the  Marquise  d'Espard  would  remark,  "and  admirable  with- 
out overdoing  it.  She  is  happy.  Nobody  would  have  believed 
that  such  a  frivolous  woman  would  be  capable  of  taking 
a  resolution  and  following  it  up  so  persistently  as  she 
does.  And  our  good  Archbishop  has  encouraged  her,  he  is 
goodness  itself  to  her,  he  has  just  persuaded  the  dowager 
Comtesse  de  Cinq-Cygne  to  call  upon  her." 

In  any  case,  let  us  own  that  no  one  but  a  queen  can  abdi- 
cate, and  descend  nobly  from  the  lofty  elevation  which  is 
never  utterly  lost  to  her.  It  is  only  those  who  are  conscious 
that  they  are  nothing  in  themselves  that  will  waste  regrets 
on  their  decline,  and  pity  themselves,  and  turn  to  a  past  that 
will  never  return  for  them.  They  know  instinctively  that 
success  will  not  come  twice.  The  Princess  was  forced  to  do 
without  the  rare  flowers  with  which  she  had  been  wont  to  sur- 
round herself,  a  setting  that  enhanced  her  beauty,  for  no  one 
could  fail  to  compare  her  to  a  flower.  Wherefore  she  had 
chosen  her  ground-floor  flat  with  care,  so  as  to  enjoy  a  pretty 
little  garden  with  flowering  trees  and  a  green  grass-plot  to 
brighten  her  quiet  rooms  all  through  the  year. 

Her  annual  income  possibly  amounted  to  twelve  thousand 
francs  or  thereabouts,  but  even  that  modest  sum  was  made  up 
partly  by  an  allowance  from  the  old  Duchesse  de  Navarreins 
(the  young  Duke's  paternal  aunt),  partly  by  contributions 
from  the  Duchesse  d'Uxelles,  who  was  living  on  her  estate  in 
the  country,  and  saving  as  none  but  dowager-duchesses  can 
save;  Harpagon  was  a  mere  tyro  in  comparison. 

The  Prince  de  Cadignan  lived  abroad,  always  at  the  orders 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  331 

of  his  exiled  masters.  He  shared  their  adversity,  serving 
them  with  a  devotion  as  disinterested,  and  perhaps  rather  more 
intelligent  than  that  of  most  other  adherents  of  fallen  royalty. 
His  position  was  even  now  a  protection  to  his  wife  in  Paris. 
In  such  obscurity  did  the  Princess  live,  and  so  little  did  her 
destitution  arouse  the  suspicions  of  the  Government,  that  a 
certain  Marshal,  to  whom  France  owes  an  African  province, 
used  to  meet  Legitimist  leaders  at  her  house  and  hold  coun- 
sel with  them  while  Madame  was  making  the  attempt  in  La 
Vendee. 

Foreseeing  the  approaching  bankruptcy  of  love,  and  the 
drawing  nigh  of  that  fortieth  year  beyond  which  there  lies  so 
little  for  a  woman,  the  Princess  launched  forth  into  the 
realms  of  politics  and  philosophy.  She  took  to  reading! — 
she  who  for  the  last  sixteen  years  had  shown  the  utmost  ab- 
horrence of  anything  serious !  Literature  and  politics  to-day 
take  the  place  of  devoutness  as  the  last  refuge  of  feminine 
affectation.  It  was  said  in  fashionable  circles  that  Diane 
meant  to  write  a  book.  During  this  transition  period,  when 
the  beautiful  woman  of  other  days  was  preparing  to  fade  into 
a  woman  of  intellect,  until  such  time  as  she  should  fade  away 
for  good,  Diane  made  of  the  reception  at  her  house  a  privi- 
lege in  the  highest  degree  flattering  for  the  persons  thus  fa- 
vored. Under  cover  of  these  occupations  she  contrived  to 
hoodwink  de  Marsay,  one  of  her  early  lovers,  and  now  the 
most  influential  member  of  the  Government  of  the  Citizen 
King.  Several  times  she  received  visits  from  the  Prime  Min- 
ister in  the  evening  while  the  Legitimist  leaders  and  the  Mar- 
shal were  actually  assembled  in  her  bedroom,  discussing  plans 
for  winning  back  the  kingdom,  and  forgetting  in  their  delib- 
erations that  the  kingdom  was  not  to  be  won  without  the  help 
of  ideas — the  one  means  of  success  overlooked  by  them.  It 
was  a  pretty  woman's  revenge  thus  to  inveigle  a  prime  minis- 
ter and  use  him  as  a  screen  for  a  conspiracy  against  his  own 
government;  the  Princess  wrote  Madame  the  sprightliest  ac- 
count of  an  adventure  worthy  of  the  best  days  of  the  Fronde. 

The  young  Due  de  Maufrigneuse  went  to  La  Vendee,  and 


332  THE  SECRETS  OP  A  PRINCESS 

contrived  to  come  back  again  quietly  and  without  committing 
himself,  but  not  until  he  had  shared  Madame's  perils.  When 
all  seemed  lost,  Madame  sent  him  back,  unfortunately  per- 
haps, for  a  young  man's  impassioned  vigilance  might  possibly 
have  foiled  treachery. 

Great  as  Mme.  de  Maufrigneuse's  transgressions  might 
have  been  in  the  eyes  of  the  middle-class  matron,  her  son's 
behavior  blotted  them  all  out  for  the  aristocratic  world.  It 
was  something  great  and  noble  surely  to  risk  the  life  of  an 
only  son  and  the  heir  to  an  historic  name  in  this  way.  There 
are  persons,  reputed  clever,  who  redeem  the  faults  of  private 
life  by  political  services,  and  vice  versa.  But  the  Princesse 
de  Cadignan  had  acted  without  calculation  of  any  kind.  Per- 
haps there  is  never  calculation  on  the  part  of  those  who  so 
conduct  their  lives ;  and  circumstances  account  for  a  good  half 
of  many  seeming  inconsistencies. 

On  one  of  the  first  fine  days  in  May  1833,  the  Marquise 
d'Espard  and  the  Princess  were  taking  a  turn,  they  could 
scarcely  be  said  to  be  taking  a  walk,  along  the  one  garden 
path  beside  the  grass  plot.  It  was  about  two  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  the  sun  was  taking  leave  of  the  garden  for  the 
day,  but  the  air  was  warm  with  heat  reflected  from  the  walls, 
and  the  air  was  full  of  the  scent  of  flowers  brought  by  the 
Marquise. 

"We  shall  lose  de  Marsay  soon,"  Mme.  d'Espard  was  say- 
ing, "and  with  him  goes  your  last  hope  of  fortune  for  the 
Due  de  Mauf rigneuse ;  since  you  played  such  a  successful  trick 
on  that  great  politician,  his  affection  for  yr  u  has  sensibly  in- 
creased." 

"My  son  shall  never  come  to  terms  with  the  younger  branch, 
even  if  he  must  starve  first  and  I  should  have  to  work  for 
him,"  returned  the  Princess.  "But  Berthe  de  Cinq-Cygne  has 
no  aversion  for  him." 

"The  younger  generation  is  not  bound  in  the  same  way 
as  the  older " 

"Let  us  say  nothing  about  that.    If  I  fail  to  tame  the  Mar- 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  333 

quise  de  Cinq-Cygne,  it  will  be  quite  bad  enough  to  be  forced 
to  marry  my  son  to  some  blacksmith's  daughter,  as  young 
d'Esgrignon  did." 

"Did  you  love  him?"  asked  the  Marquise. 

"No,"  the  Princess  answered  gravely,  "d'Esgrignon's  na- 
ivet6  was  only  a  kind  of  provincial's  callowness,  as  I  found  out 
a  little  too  late,  or  too  soon,  if  you  prefer  it." 

"And  de  Marsay?" 

"De  Marsay  played  with  me  as  if  I  were  a  doll.  I  was 
almost  a  girl.  We  never  love  the  men  who  take  the  office  of 
tutor  upon  themselves ;  they  grate  overmuch  on  our  little  sus- 
ceptibilities." 

"And  that  wretched  boy  who  hanged  himself?" 

"Lucien?  An  Antinous  and  a  great  poet.  I  worshiped 
him  in  all  conscience,  and  I  might  have  been  happy.  But  he 
was  in  love  with  a  girl  of  the  town;  and  I  gave  him  up  to 
Mme.  de  Serizy.  .  .  .  If  he  had  cared  to  love  me,  should 
I  have  given  him  up?" 

"What  an  odd  thing,  that  you  should  come  into  collision 
with  an  Esther !" 

"She  was  handsomer  than  I,"  said  the  Princess. — "Very 
soon  I  shall  have  spent  three  years  in  complete  solitude,"  she 
went  on  after  a  pause.  "Well,  there  has  been  nothing  painful 
in  the  quiet.  To  you,  and  you  only,  I  will  venture  to  say 
that  I  have  been  happy.  Adoration  palled  upon  me;  I  was 
jaded  without  enjoyment;  the  surface  impressions  never  went 
deeper  into  my  heart.  All  the  men  that  I  had  known  were 
petty,  mean,  and  superficial,  I  thought;  not  one  of  them  did 
anything  in  the  least  unexpected ;  they  had  neither  innocence, 
nor  greatness,  nor  delicacy.  I  should  have  liked  to  find  some 
one  of  whom  I  could  stand  in  awe." 

"Then,  is  it  with  you  as  it  is  with  me,  my  dear?  Have 
you  tried  to  love  and  never  found  love  ?" 

"Never,"  broke  in  the  Princess,  laying  a  hand  on  her 
friend's  arm.  The  two  women  went  across  to  a  rustic  bench 
under  a  mass  of  jessamine  now  flowering  for  the  second  time. 
Both  had  spoken  words  full  of  solemn  import  for  women  at 
their  age. 


334  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

"Like  you/'  resumed  the  Princess,  "I  have  been  more  loved, 
perhaps,  than  other  women;  but  through  so  many  adven- 
tures, I  feel  that  I  have  never  known  happiness.  I  have  done 
many  reckless  things,  but  always  with  an  end  in  view,  and 
that  end  receded  as  I  advanced.  My  heart  has  grown  old 
with  an  innocence  unfathomed  in  it.  Yes,  a  credulous  first 
love  lies  unawakened  beneath  all  the  experience,  and  I  feel  too 
that  I  am  young  and  fair,  in  spite  of  so  much  weariness,  so 
many  blighting  influences.  We  may  love,  yet  not  be  happy; 
we  may  be  happy  when  we  do  not  love ;  but  to  love  and  to  be 
happy  both,  to  know  the  two  boundless  joys  of  human  experi- 
ence— this  is  a  miracle,  and  the  miracle  has  not  been  worked 
for  me." 

"Nor  for  me,"  said  Mme.  d'Espard. 

.  "A  dreadful  regret  haunts  me  in  my  retreat ;  I  have  found 
pastimes,  but  I  have  not  loved." 

"What  an  incredible  secret!" 

"Ah !  my  dear,  these  are  secrets  that  we  can  only  confide 
to  each  other;  nobody  in  Paris  would  believe  us." 

"And  if  we  had  not  both  passed  our  thirty-sixth  year,  per- 
haps we  might  not  make  these  admissions." 

"N"o.  While  we  are  young,,  we  are  stupidly  fatuous  on 
some  points,"  assented  the  Princess.  "Sometimes  we  behave 
like  the  poverty-stricken  youths  that  play  with  a  toothpick  to 
make  others  believe  that  they  have  dined  well." 

"After  all,  here  we  are,"  Mme.  d'Espard  said,  with  bewitch- 
ing grace,  and  a  charming  gesture  as  of  innocence  grown  wise; 
"here  we  are,  and  there  is  still  enough  life  in  us,  it  seems  to 
me,  for  a  return  game." 

"When  you  told  me  the  other  day  that  Beatrix  had  gone  off 
with  Conti,  I  thought  about  it  all  night  long,"  said  the  Prin- 
cess, after  a  pause.  "A  woman  must  be  very  happy  indeed  to 
sacrifice  her  position  and  her  future,  and  to  give  up  the  woi  Id 
for  ever  like  that." 

"She  is  a  little  fool,"  Mme.  d'Espard  returned  gravely. 
"Mile,  des  Touches  was  only  too  delighted  to  be  rid  of  Conti. 
Beatrix  could  not  see  that  it  was  a  strong  proof  that  there  was 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  335 

nothing  in  Conti  when  a  clever  woman  gave  him  up  without 
making  a  defence  of  her  so-called  happiness  for  a  single  mo- 
ment." 

"Then  is  she  going  to  be  unhappy  ?" 

"She  is  unhappy  now.  What  was  the  good  of  leaving  her 
husband?  What  is  it  but  an  admission  of  weakness  in  a 
wife?" 

"Then,  do  you  think  that  Mme.  de  Rochefide's  motive  was 
not  a  desire  to  experience  a  complete  love,  that  bliss  of  loving 
and  being  loved  which  for  us  both  is  still  a  dream  ?" 

"No.  She  aped  Mme.  de  Beauseant  and  Mme.  de  Lange- 
ais,  who,  between  ourselves,  would  have  been  as  great  fig- 
ures as  La  Valliere,  or  the  Montespan,  or  Diane  de  Poitiers, 
or  the  Duchesses  d'fitampes  or  de  Chateauroux,  in  any  age 
less  commonplace  than  ours." 

"Oh,  with  the  king  omitted,  yes,  my  dear.  Ah !  if  I  could 
only  call  up  those  women,  and  ask  them  if " 

"But  there  is  no  necessity  to  call  up  the  dead,"  broke  in 
the  Marquise;  "we  know  living  women  who  are  happy.  A 
score  of  times  I  have  begun  intimate  talk  about  this  kind  of 
thing  with  the  Comtesse  de  Montcornet.  For  fifteen  years 
she  has  been  the  happiest  woman  under  the  sun  with  that  lit- 
tle fimile  Blondet.  Not  an  infidelity,  not  a  thought  from  an- 
other ;  they  are  still  as  they  were  at  the  first.  But  somebody 
always  comes  to  disturb  us  at  the  most  interesting  point. 
Then  there  is  Rastignac  and  Mme.  de  Nucingen,  and  your 
cousin  Mme.  de  Camps  and  that  Octave  of  hers;  there  is  a 
secret  in  these  long  attachments;  they  know  something,  dear, 
that  we  neither  of  us  know.  The  world  does  us  the  exceeding 
honor  to  take  us  for  rouees  worthy  of  the  Court  of  the  Re- 
gency, and  we  are  as  innocent  as  two  little  boarding-school 
misses." 

"I  should  be  glad  to  have  even  that  innocence,"  the  Princess 
exclaimed  mockingly;  "ours  is  worse,  there  js  something  hu- 
miliating in  it.  There  is  no  help  for  it !  We  will  offer  up 
the  mortification  to  ^ou  in  expiation  of  our  fruitless  quest  of 
love;  for  it  is  scarcely  likely,  dear,  that  in  our  Marti Q'S  sum- 


336  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

mer  we  shall  find  the  glorious  flower  that  did  not  bloom  for  us 
in  May  and  June." 

"That  is  not  the  question,"  rejoined  the  Marquise  after  a 
pause,  filled  by  meditative  retrospect.  "We  are  still  handsome 
enough  to  inspire  love,  but  we  shall  never  convince  any  one 
of  our  innocence  and  virtue." 

"If  it  were  a  falsehood,  it  should  soon  be  garnished  with 
commentaries,  served  up  with  the  pretty  art  that  makes  a  lie 
credible,  and  swallowed  down  like  delicious  fruit.  But  to 
make  a  truth  credible ! — Ah  !  the  greatest  men  have  perished 
in  that  attempt,"  added  the  Princess,  with  a  subtle  smile  that 
Leonardo's  brush  alone  could  render. 

"Fools  can  sometimes  love,"  said  the  Marquise. 

"Yes ;  but  not  even  fools  are  simple  enough  to  believe  this," 
pointed  out  the  Princess. 

"You  are  right,"  the  Marquise  said,  laughing.  "We  ought 
not  to  look  to  a  fool  or  a  man  of  talent  for  the  solution  of  the 
problem.  There  is  nothing  for  it  but  genius.  In  genius  alone 
do  you  find  a  child's  trustfulness,  the  religion  of  love,  and  a 
willingness  to  be  blindfolded.  Look  at  Canalis  and  the 
Duchesse  de  Chaulieu.  If  you  and  I  ever  came  across  men 
of  genius,  they  were  too  remote  from  our  lives,  and  too  busy; 
we  were  too  frivolous,  too  much  carried  away  and  taken  up 
with  other  things." 

"Ah !  and  yet  I  should  not  like  to  leave  this  world  without 
knowing  the  joy  of  love  to  the  full,"  exclaimed  the  Princess. 

"It  is  nothing  to  inspire  love,"  said  Mme.  d'Espard ;  "it  is 
a  question  of  feeling  it.  I  see  many  women  that  are  only  pegs 
on  which  to  hang  a  passion,  and  not  at  once  its  cause  and  ef- 
fect." 

"The  last  passion  that  I  inspired  was  something  sacred 
and  noble,"  said  the  Princess;  "a  future  lay  before  it.  Chance, 
for  this  once,  sent  me  the  man  of  genius,  our  due;  the  due 
so  difficult  to  come  by,  for  there  are  more  pretty  women  than 
men  of  genius.  But  the  devil  was  in  it." 

"Do  tell  me  about  it,  dear;  this  is  quite  new  to  me." 

"I  only  discovered  his  romantic  passion  in  the  winter  of 


THE  SECRETS  OP  A  PRINCESS  337 

1829.  Every  Friday  at  the  Opera  I  used  to  see  a  man  of  thirty 
or  thereabouts  sitting  in  the  same  place  in  the  orchestra;  he 
used  to  look  at  me  with  eyes  of  fire,  saddened  at  times  by  the 
thought  of  the  distance  between  us  and  the  impossibility  of 
success." 

"Poor  fellow,  we  grow  very  stupid  when  we  are  in  love," 
said  the  Marquise.  The  Princess  smiled  at  the  friendly  epi- 
gram. 

"He  used  to  slip  out  into  the  corridor  between  the  acts," 
she  went  on.  "Once  or  twice,  to  see  me  or  to  be  seen,  he  pressed 
his  face  against  the  pane  of  glass  in  the  next  box.  If  people 
came  to  my  box,  I  used  to  see  him  glued  in  the  doorway  to 
steal  a  glance.  He  knew  every  one  in  my  set  by  sight  at  last. 
He  used  to  follow  them  to  my  box,  for  the  sake  of  having  the 
door  left  ajar.  Poor  fellow,  he  must  have  found  out  who  I 
was  very  soon,  for  he  knew  M.  de  Maufrigneuse  and  my 
father-in-law  by  sight.  Afterwards  I  used  to  see  my  mysteri- 
ous stranger  at  the  Italiens,  sitting  in  a  stall  just  opposite, 
so  that  he  eould  look  up  at  me  in  unfeigned  ecstasy.  It  was 
pretty  to  see  it.  After  the  Opera  or  the  Bouffons,  I  used  to 
see  him  planted  on  his  two  feet  in  the  crush.  People  elbowed 
him,  he  stood  firm.  The  light  died  out  of  his  eyes  when  he 
saw  me  leaning  on  the  arm  of  some  one  in  favor.  As  for  an)'- 
thing  else,  not  a  word,  not  a  letter,  not  a  sign.  This  was  in 
good  taste,  you  must  admit.  Sometimes  in  the  morning,  when 
I  came  back  to  my  house,  I  would  find  him  again,  sitting  on  a 
stone  by  the  gateway.  This  love-stricken  man  had  very  fine 
eyes,  a  long,  thick  fan-shaped  beard,  a  royale,  and  a  mous- 
tache and  whiskers;  you  could  see  nothing  of  his  face  but  the 
pale  skin  over  the  cheek  bones  and  a  noble  forehead.  It  was 
a  truly  antique  head. 

"The  Prince,  as  you  know,"  she  continued,  "defended  the 
Tuileries  on  the  side  of  the  Quais  in  July.  He  came  to  Saint- 
Cloud  the  evening  that  all  was  lost.  'I  was  all  but  killed,  dear, 
at  four  o'clock,'  he  said.  'One  of  the  insurgents  had  leveled 
his  gun  at  me,  when  the  leader  of  the  attack,  a  young  man 
with  a  long  beard  whom  I  have  seen  at  the  Italiens,  I  think, 


333  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

struck  down  the  barrel.'  The  shot  hit  somebody  else,  a  quar- 
ter-master, I  believe,  two  paces  away  from  my  husband.  So  it 
was  plain  that  the  young  fellow  was  a  Kepublican. 

"In  1831  when  I  came  to  live  here  I  saw  him  leaning 
against  the  house  wall.  He  seemed  to  rejoice  over  my  calami- 
ties; perhaps  he  thought  that  they  brought  us  nearer  to- 
gether. But  I  never  saw  him  again  after  the  Saint-Merri 
affair;  he  was  killed  that  day.  The  day  before  General  La- 
marque's  funeral  I  walked  out  with  my  son,  and  our  Eepub- 
lican went  with  us,  sometimes  behind,  sometimes  in  front, 
from  the  Madeleine  to  the  Passage  des  Panoramas  where  I 
was  going." 

"Is  that  all  ?"  asked  the  Marquise. 

"All,"  returned  the  Princess.  "Oh  yes;  the  morning  after 
Saint-Merri  was  taken  a  boy  out  of  the  street  came  and  must 
speak  to  me ;  he  gave  me  a  letter  written  on  cheap  paper,  and 
signed  with  the  stranger's  name." 

"Let  me  see  it,"  said  the  Marquise. 

"No,  dear.  The  love  in  that  man's  heart  was-  something 
so  great  and  sacred  that  I  cannot  betray  his  confidence.  It 
stirs  my  heart  to  think  of  that  short  terrible  letter,  and  the 
dead  writer  moves  me  more  than  any  of  the  living  men  that  I 
have  singled  out.  He  haunts  me." 

"Tell  me  his  name  ?" 

"Oh,  quite  a  common  one — Michel  Chrestien." 

"You  did  well  to  tell  me  of  it,"  Mme.  d'Espard  answered 
quickly;  "I  have  often  heard  of  him.  Michel  Chrestien  was 
a  friend  of  a  well-known  writer  whom  you  have  already  wished 
to  see — that  Daniel  d'Arthez  who  comes  to  my  house  once  or 
twice  in  a  winter.  This  Chrestien,  who  died,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  at  Saint-Merri,  did  not  lack  friends.  I  have  heard  it 
said  that  he  was  one  of  those  great  politicians  who,  like  de 
Marsay,  need  nothing  but  a  turn  of  the  wheel  of  chance  to  be 
on  a  sudden  all  that  they  ought  to  be." 

"Then  it  is  better  that  he  should  be  dead,"  said  the  Princess, 
hiding  her  thoughts  beneath  a  melancholy  expression. 

"Do  you  care  to  meet  d'Arthez  some  evening  at  my  house  ?" 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  339 

asked  the  Marquise.  "You  could  talk  with  him  of  your 
ghost." 

"Very  willingly,  dear." 

Some  days  after  this  conversation,  Blondet  and  Rastignac, 
knowing  d'Arthez,  promised  Mme.  d'Espard  that  he  should 
dine  with  her.  The  promise  would  scarcely  have  been  pru- 
dent if  the  Princess'  name  had  not  been  mentioned,  but  the 
great  man  of  letters  could  not  be  indifferent  to  the  opportu- 
nity of  an  introduction  to  her. 

Daniel  d'Arthez  is  one  of  the  very  few  men  of  our  day  who 
combine  great  gifts  with  a  great  nature.  He  had  at  this  time 
won,  not  all  the  popularity  that  his  work  deserved,  but  a  re- 
spectful esteem  to  which  the  chosen  few  could  add  nothing. 
His  reputation  certainly  would  increase,  but  in  the  eyes  of 
connoisseurs  he  had  practically  reached  his  full  development. 
Some  writers  find  their  true  level  soon  or  late,  and  once  for 
all,  and  d'Arthez  was  one  of  them.  Poor,  and  of  good  fam- 
ily, he  had  rightly  guessed  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  trusted 
not  to  his  ancestor's  name,  but  the  name  won  by  himself.  For 
many  years  he  fought  his  battle  in  the  arena  of  Paris,  to  the 
annoyance  of  a  rich  uncle,  who  left  the  obscure  writer  to  lan- 
guish in  the  direst  poverty.  Afterwards,  when  his  nephew  be- 
came famous,  he  left  him  all  his  money,  a  piece  of  incon- 
sistency to  be  laid  to  the  score  of  vanity.  The  sudden  transi- 
tion from  poverty  to  wealth  made  no  change  whatever  in 
Daniel  d'Arthez's  way  of  life.  He  continued  his  work  with 
simplicity  worthy  of  ancient  times,  and  laid  new  burdens  upon 
himself  by  accepting  a  seat  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  on 
the  benches  to  the  Right. 

Since  his  name  became  known  in  the  world  he  had  occa- 
Isionally  gone  into  society.  An  old  friend  of  his,  the  great 
doctor  Horace  Bianchon,  had  introduced  him  to  the  Baron 
de  Rastignac,  an  under-secretary  of  state,  and  a  friend  of  de 
Marsay's.  These  were  the  two  politicians  who  nobly  enough 
gave  Michel  Chrestien's  friends  permission  to  look  for  his 
dead  body  in  the  cloisters  of  Saint-Merri,  and  to  bury  the  Re- 


340  THE  SECRETS  OP  A  PRINCESS 

publican  with  due  honors.  Gratitude  for  a  service  which  con- 
trasted strongly  with  the  rigor  used  by  the  administration 
at  a  time  when  party  spirit  ran  so  high,  formed  a  bond,  as  it 
were,  between  d'Arthez  and  Rastignac,  a  bond  which  the  un- 
der-secretary  of  state  and  the  illustrious  minister  were  too 
adroit  not  to  turn  to  account.  Several  of  Michel  Chrestien's 
friends  held  opposite  opinions  in  politics ;  these  had  been  won 
over  and  attached  to  the  new  government.  One  of  them,  Leon 
Giraud,  first  received  the  appointment  of  Master  of  Requests, 
and  afterwards  became  a  Councillor  of  State. 

Daniel  d'Arthez's  life  was  entirely  devoted  to  his  work.  He 
saw  society  by  glimpses  only ;  it  was  a  sort  of  dream  for  him. 
His  house  was  a  convent.  He  led  the  life  of  a  Benedictine, 
with  a  Benedictine's  sober  rule,  a  Benedictine's  regularity  of 
occupation.  His  friends  knew  that  he  had  always  dreaded 
the  accident  of  a  woman's  entry  into  his  life,  he  had  studied 
woman  too  well  not  to  fear  her ;  and  by  dint  of  much  study 
he  knew  less  of  his  subject,  much  as  your  profound  tactician 
is  always  beaten  under  unforeseen  conditions  when  scientific 
axioms  will  not  apply.  He  turned  the  face  of  an  experienced 
observer  upon  the  world  while  he  was  still  at  heart  a  com- 
pletely unsophisticated  boy.  The  seeming  paradox  is  quite  in- 
telligible to  any  one  who  can  appreciate  the  immense  distance 
set  between  faculties  and  sentiments — for  the  former  proceed 
from  the  brain,  the  latter  from  the  heart.  A  man  may  be 
great,  and  yet  be  a  villain,  and  a  fool  may  rise  to  sublime 
heights  of  love.  D'Arthez  was  one  of  the  richly  endowed  be- 
ings in  whom  a  keen  brain  and  a  wide  range  of  intellectual 
gifts  have  not  excluded  a  capacity  for  deep  and  noble  feeling. 
By  a  rare  privilege  he  was  both  a  doer  and  a  thinker.  His 
private  life  was  noble  and  pure.  Carefully  as  he  had  shunned 
love  hitherto,  he  was  learned  in  love;  he  knew  beforehand 
how  great  an  ascendency  passion  would  gain  over  him.  But 
poverty  and  cold,  and  the  heavy  strain  of  the  preparation  of 
the  solid  groundwork  of  his  brilliant  after-achievements,  had 
acted  marvelously  as  a  preservative.  Then  his  circumstances 
grew  easier,  and  he  formed  a  commonplace  and  utterly  in- 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  341 

comprehensible  connection;  the  woman  certainly  was  good- 
looking  enough,  but  without  manners  or  education,  and  so- 
cially his  inferior.  She  was  kept  carefully  out  of  sight. 

Michel  Chrestien  maintained  that  men  of  genius  possess 
the  power  of  transforming  the  most  massive  women  into 
sylphs;  for  them  the  silliest  of  the  sex  have  sense  and  wit, 
and  the  peasant-girl  is  a  marquise ;  the  more  accomplished  the 
woman,  the  more  (according  to  Chrestien)  she  loses  in  their 
eyes,  because  she  leaves  less  to  the  imagination.  He  also 
held  that  love  (a  purely  physical  craving  for  lower  natures) 
becomes  for  the  higher,  the  greatest  achievement  of  the  soul 
of  man;  the  closest  and  strongest  of  all  ties  that  bind  two 
human  creatures  to  each  other.  By  way  of  justifying  d'Ar- 
thez,  he  instanced  Eaphael  and  the  Fornarina.  (He  might 
have  taken  himself  as  a  model  in  that  kind,  since  he  saw  an 
angel  in  the  Duchesse  de  Mauf rigneuse. )  But  d'Arthez's 
strange  fancy  was  explicable  in  many  Avays.  Perhaps  at  the 
outset  he  lost  all  hope  of  finding  a  woman  to  correspond  to  the 
exquisite  visionary  ideal,  the  fond  dream  of  every  intelligent 
man ;  perhaps  his  heart  was  too  fastidiously  sensitive,  too  deli- 
cate to  surrender  to  a  woman  of  the  world;  perhaps  he  pre- 
ferred to  do  as  nature  bade  while  keeping  his  illusions  and  cul- 
tivating his  ideal ;  or  had  he  put  love,  far  from  him  as  some- 
thing incompatible  with  work,  with  the  regularity  of  a  clois- 
tered life,  in  which  passion  might  have  worked  confusion  ? 

For  some  months  past  Blondet  and  Eastignac  had  rallied 
him  on  this  score,  reproaching  him  with  knowing  nothing  of 
the  world  nor  of  women.  To  hear  them  talk,  his  works  were 
numerous  enough  and  advanced  enough  to  permit  of  some  di- 
version; he  had  a  fine  fortune,  yet  he  lived  like  a  student; 
he  had  had  no  pleasure  from  his  fame  or  his  wealth;  he  knew 
nothing  of  the  exquisite  delights  of  the  noble  and  delicate 
passion  that  a  high-born,  high-bred  woman  can  inspire  and 
feel.  Was  it  not  unworthy  in  him  to  know  love  only  in  its 
gross  material  aspects?  Love  reduced  to  the  thing  that  na- 
ture made  it  was,  in  their  eyes,  the  most  besotted  folly.  It 
was  the  glory  of  civilization  that  it  had  created  Woman,  when 


342  THE  SECRETS  OP  A  PRINCESS 

nature  stopped  short  at  the  female;  nature  cared  for  nothing 
but  the  perpetuation  of  the  species,  whereas  civilization  in- 
vented the  perpetuation  of  desire;  and,  in  short,  discovered 
love,  the  fairest  of  man's  religions.  D'Arthez  knew  nothing 
of  charming  subtleties  of  language;  nothing  of  proofs  of  af- 
fection continually  given  by  the  brain  and  soul;  nothing  of 
desire  ennobled  by  expression ;  nothing  of  the  divine  form  that 
a  high-bred  woman  lends  to  the  grossest  materialism.  D'Ar- 
thez might  know  women,  but  he  knew  nothing  of  the  divinity. 
A  prodigious  deal  of  art,  a  fair  presentment  of  body  and  soul, 
was  indispensable  in  a  woman,  if  love  was  worthy  to  be  called 
love.  In  short,  the  tempters  vaunted  that  delicious  corrup- 
tion of  the  imagination  which  constitutes  a  Parisienne's  co- 
quetry;-they  pitied  d'Arthez  because  he  lived  on  plain  and 
wholesome  fare,  and  had  not  tasted  luxuries  prepared  with 
the  Parisienne's  skill  in  these  high  culinary  arts,  and  whetted 
his  curiosity.  At  length  Dr.  Bianchon,  recipient  of  d'Arthez's 
confidences,  knew  that  this  curiosity  was  aroused.  The  con- 
nection formed  by  the  great  man  of  letters  with  a  common- 
place woman,  far  from  growing  more  agreeable  with  use  and 
wont,  had  become  intolerable  to  him;  but  the  excessive  shy- 
ness that  seizes  upon  solitary  men  was  holding  him  back. 

"What  ?"  said  Eastignac,  "when  a  man  bears  per  bend  gules 
and  or,  a  besant  and  a  torteau  counterchanged,  why  does  he 
not  allow  the  old  Picard  scutcheon  to  shine  on  his  carriage? 
You  have  thirty  thousand  livres  a  year  and  all  that  you  make 
by  your  pen ;  you  have  made  good  your  motto — ARS  TTiEsawr- 
usque  virtus,  an  old  punning  device  such  as  our  ancestors 
loved — yet  you  will  not  air  it  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne !  Good 
qualities  ought  not  to  hide  themselves  in  this  age." 

"If  you  read  your  work  over  to  that  fat  Laforet-like  crea- 
ture who  solaces  your  existence,  I  would  forgive  you  for  keep- 
ing her,"  put  in  Blondet.  "But,  my  dear  fellow,  if  you  live 
on  dry  bread  materially  speaking,  mentally  you  have  not  so 
much  as  a  crust." 

These  friendly  skirmishes  between  Daniel  and  his  friends 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  343 

had  been  going  on  for  ^some  months  before  Mine.  d'Espard 
asked  Eastignac  and  Blondet  to  induce  d'Arthez  to  dine  with 
her,  saying  as  she  did  so  that  the  Princesse  de  Cadignan  was 
extremely  anxious  to  make  the  famous  writer's  acquaintance. 
There  are  women  for  whom  curiosities  of  this  kind  have  all 
the  attraction  that  magic-lantern  pictures  possess  for  chil- 
dren ;  but  the  pleasure  for  the  eyes  is  poor  enough  at  the  best, 
and  fraught  with  disenchantment.  The  more  interesting  a 
clever  man  seems  at  a  distance,  the  less  he  answers  expecta- 
tions on  a  nearer  view;  the  more  brilliant  he  was  imagined  to 
be,  the  duller  the  figure  that  he  subsequently  cuts.  And  it 
may  be  added,  parenthetically,  that  disappointed  curiosity  is 
apt  to  be  unjust.  D'Arthez  was  not  to  be  deluded  by  Ras- 
tignac  or  Blondet,  but  they  told  him  laughingly  that  here  was 
a  most  alluring  opportunity  of  rubbing  the  rust  off  his  heart, 
of  discovering  something  of  the  supreme  felicity  to  be  gained 
through  the  love  of  a  Parisian  great  lady.  The  Princess  was 
positively  smitten  with  him;  there  was  nothing  to  fear;  he  had 
everything  to  gain  from  the  interview;  he  could  not  possibly 
descend  from  the  pedestal  on  which  Mme.  de  Cadignan  had 
placed  him.  Neither  Blondet  nor  Rastignac  saw  any  harm 
in  crediting  the  Princess  with  this  love-affair;  her  past  had 
furnished  so  many  anecdotes  that  she  could  surely  bear  the 
weight  of  the  slander.  For  d'Arthez's  benefit,  they  proceeded 
to  relate  the  adventures  of  the  Duchesse  de  Maufrigneuse. 
Beginning  with  Her  Grace's  first  flirtations  with  de  Mar- 
say,  they  told  of  her  subsequent  escapades  with  d'Ajuda-Pinto 
(whom  she  took  from  his  wife,  and  so  avenged  Mme.  de  Beau- 
seant) ;  and  of  her  third  liaison  with  young  d'Esgrignon,  who 
went  with  her  to  Italy,  and  got  himself  into  an  ugly  scrape 
on  her  account.  Then  they  told  how  wretched  a  certain  well- 
known  ambassador  had  made  her;  how  happy  she  had  been 
with  a  Russian  general;  how  she  had  acted  since  then  as 
Egeria  to  two  Ministers  of  Foreigii  Affairs,  and  so  forth  and 
so  forth.  D'Arthez  told  them  that  he  had  heard  more  about 
her  than  they  could  tell  him;  their  poor  friend  Michel  Chres- 
tien  had  worshiped  her  in  his  secret  heart  for  four  years,  and 
all  but  lost  his  wits  for  her. 


341  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

"I  often  used  to  go  with  him  to  the.  Italiens  or  the  Opera," 
Daniel  said.  "He  and  I  used  to  rush  along  the  streets  to 
keep  up  with  her  horses,  while  he  gazed  at  the  Princess 
through  the  windows  of  her  brougham.  The  Prince  de  Cadi- 
gnan  owed  his  life  to  that  love  affair;  a  street-boy  was  going 
to  fire  at  him  when  Michel  stopped  him." 

"Well,  well,  you  will  find  a  subject  ready  made,"  smiled 
Blondet.  "Just  the  woman  you  want;  she  will  only  be  cruel 
through  delicacy;  she  will  initiate  you  into  the  mysteries  of 
refined  luxury  in  the  most  gracious  way ;  but  take  care !  She 
has  run  through  many  a  fortune.  The  fair  Diane  is  a  spend- 
thrift of  the  order  that  costs  not  a  centime,  but  for  whom 
men  spend  millions.  Give  yourself  body  and  soul  if  you  will, 
but  keep  a  hold  of  your  purse,  like  the  old  man  in  Girodet's 
picture  of  the  Deluge." 

This  conversation  invested  the  Princess  with  the  grace  of  a 
queen,  the  corruption  of  a  diplomatist,  the  mystery  of  an  ini- 
tiation, the  depth  of  an  abyss,  and  the  danger  of  a  siren.  D'Ar- 
thez's  ingenious  friends,  being  quite  unable  to  foresee  the  re- 
sults of  their  hoax,  ended  by  making  Diane  d'Uxelles  the 
most  portentous  Parisienne,  the  cleverest  coquette,  the  most 
bewildering  courtesan  in  the  world.  They  were  right ;  and  yet 
the  woman  so  lightly  spoken  of  was  sacred  and  divine  for 
d'Arthez.  There  was  no  need  to  work  upon  his  curiosity.  He 
agreed  to  meet  her  at  the  first  asking,  and  that  was  all  his 
friends  wanted  of  him. 

Mme.  d'Espard  went  to  the  Princess  as  soon  as  the  invita- 
tion was  accepted. 

"Do  you  feel  that  you  are  in  good  looks  and  good  form  for 
coquetry,  dear?"  she  asked.  "Come  and  dine  with  me  in  a  few 
days'  time,  and  I  will  serve  you  up  d'Arthez.  Our  man  of 
genius  is  the  shyest  of  the  shy ;  he  is  afraid  of  women ;  he  has 
never  been  in  love.  Here  is  a  subject  for  you.  He  is  ex-, 
tremely  clever,  and  so  simple  that  he  disarms  suspicion  and' 
puts  you  at  a  disadvantage.  His  perspicacity  is  altogether  of 
the  retrospective  kind ;  it  acts  after  the  event,  and  throws  out 
all  your  calculations.  You  may  take  him  in  to-day;  to-morrow 
he  is  not  to  be  duped  by  anything." 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  345 

"Ah!  if  I  were  only  thirty  years  old,  I  would  have  some 
fun,"  said  the  Princess.  "The  one  thing  wanting  in  my  life 
hitherto  has  been  a  man  of  genius  to  outwit.  I  have  always 
had  partners,  never  an  adversary.  Love  was  a  game,  not  a 
contest." 

"Admit  that  I  am  very  generous,  dear  Princess;  for,  after 
all,  well-regulated  charity " 

The  women  looked  laughingly  into  each  other's  faces,  and 
their  hands  met  with  a  friendly  pressure.  Surely  both  of 
them  must  have  been  in  possession  of  important  secrets !  They 
certainly  did  not  take  account  of  a  man  or  a  service  to  render ; 
and  any  sincere  and  lasting  friendship  between  two  women  is 
sure  to  be  cemented  by  petty  crimes.  You  may  see  two  of 
these  dear  friends,  each  of  them  quite  able  to  kill  the  other 
with  the  poisoned  dagger  in  her  hand ;  and  a  touching  picture 
of  harmony  they  present — till  the  moment  comes  when  one  of 
them  chances  to  let  her  weapon  drop. 

In  a  week's  time,  therefore,  the  Marquise  gave  one  of  her 
small  evening  parties,  her  petits  jours,  when  a  few  intimate 
friends  were  invited  by  word  of  mouth,  and  the  hostess  shut 
her  door  to  other  visitors.  Five  people  were  asked  to  dinner : 
Smile  Blondet  and  Mme.  de  Montcornet,  Daniel  d'Arthez, 
Rastignac  and  the  Princesse  de  Cadignan — three  men  and, 
including  the  mistress  of  the  house,  three  women.  Never  did 
chance  permit  of  more  skilful  prearrangement  than  on  this  oc- 
casion of  d'Arthez's  introduction  to  Mme.  de  Cadignan. 

Even  at  this  day  the  Princess  is  supposed  to  be  one  of  the 
best-dressed  women  in  Paris,  and  for  women  dress  is  the  first 
of  arts.  She  wore  a  blue  velvet  gown  with  large  white  hang- 
ing sleeves.  The  corselet  bodice  was  cut  low  at  the  throat; 
but  a  sort  of  chemisette  of  slightly  drawn  tulle  with  a  blue 
border — such  as  you  may  see  in  some  of  Raphael's  portraits — 
(covered  her  shoulders,  leaving  only  about  four  fingers'  breadth 
of  her  neck  quite  bare.  A  few  sprays  of  white  heather,  cleverly 
arranged  by  her  maid,  adorned  the.  fair,  rippling  hair  for 
which  Diane  had  been  famous.  In  truth,  at  this  moment  she 
looked  scarcely  five-and-twenty.  Four  years  of  solitude  and 


34G  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

repose  had  restored  brilliancy  to  her  complexion;  and  there 
are  moments,  surely,  when  a  woman  looks  more  beautiful  for 
the  desire  to  please;  the  will  counts  for  something  in  the 
changes  that  pass  over  a  face.  If  persons  of  sanguine  or  mel- 
ancholic temperament  turn  sallow,  and  the  lymphatic  grow 
livid  under  the  influence  of  violent  emotion,  surely  it  must 
be  conceded  that  desire  and  hope  and  joy  are  great  beautifiers 
of  the  complexion ;  they  glow  in  brilliant  light  from  the  eyes, 
kindling  beauty  in  a  face  with  a  fresh  brightness  like  that  of 
a  sunny  morning.  The  white  fairness  for  which  the  Princess 
was  so  famous  had  taken  on  the  rich  coloring  of  mature  and 
majestic  womanhood.  At  this  period  of  her  life,  reflection  and 
serious  thought  had  left  their  impression  upon  her;  the 
dreamy,  very  noble  forehead  seemed  wonderfully  in  harmony 
with  the  slow  queenly  gaze  of  her  blue  eyes.  No  physiogno- 
mist, however  skilled,  could  have  imagined  that  calculation 
and  decision  lay  beneath  those  preternaturally  delicate  fea- 
tures. Some  women's  faces  baffle  science  by  their  repose  and 
fineness,  and  leave  observation  at  fault ;  the  opportunity  of 
studying  them  while  the  passions  speak  is  hard  to  come  by; 
when  the  passions  have  spoken  it  is  too  late;  by  that  time  a 
woman  is  old,  she  does  not  care  to  dissimulate. 

The  Princess  was  just  such  an  inscrutable  feminine  mys- 
tery. Whatever  she  chose  to  be  she  could  be.  She  was  play- 
ful, childlike,  distractingly  innocent;  or  subtle,  serious,  and 
disquietingly  profound.  When  she  came  to  the  Marquise's, 
she  meant  to  be  a  simple,  sweet  woman,  who  had  known  life 
only  by  its  deceptions;  a  soulful,  much-slandered,  but  resigned 
victim,  a  cruelly-used  angel,  in  short. 

She  came  early,  so  as  to  take  her  place  beside  Mme.  d'Es- 
pard  on  the  settee  by  the  fireside.  She  would  be  seen  as  she 
meant  to  be  seen ;  she  would  arrange  her  attitude  with  an  art 
concealed  by  an  exquisite  ease ;  her  pose  should  be  of  the  elab- 
orated and  studied  kind  which  brings  out  all  the  beauty  of 
the  curving  line  that  begins  at  the  foot,  rises  gracefully  to  the 
hips,  and  continues  through  Avonderful  sinuous  contours  to  the 
shoulder,  outlining  the  whole  length  of  the  body.  Nudity 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  347 

would  be  less  dangerous  than  draperies  so  artfully  arranged  to 
cover  and  reveal  every  line.  With  a  subtlety  beyond  the  reach 
of  many  women,  Diane  had  brought  her  son  with  her.  For  a 
moment  Mme.  d'Espard  beheld  the  Due  de  Maufrigneuse  with 
blank  amazement,  then  her  eyes  showed  that  she  compre- 
hended the  situation.  She  grasped  the  Princess'  hand  with, 
"I  understand !  D'Arthez  is  to  be  made  to  accept  all  the  dif- 
ficulties at  the  outset,  so  that  you  will  have  nothing  to  over- 
come afterwards." 

The  Comtesse  de  Montcornet  came  with  Blondet,  Kastignac 
brought  d'Arthez.  The  Princess  paid  the  great  man  none  of 
the  compliments  with  which  ordinary  people  are  lavish  on 
such  occasions;  but  in  her  advances  there  was  a  certain  gra- 
ciousness  and  deference  which  could  scarcely  have  been  ex- 
ceeded for  any  one.  Just  so,  no  doubt,  she  had  been  with  the 
King  of  France  and  the  Princes.  She  seemed  pleased  to  see 
the  great  man  of  letters,  and  glad  to  have  sought  him  out. 
People  of  taste  (and  the  Princess'  taste  was  excellent)  are 
known  by  their  manner  as  listeners;  by  an  unfeigned  inter- 
est and  urbanity,  which  is  to  politeness  what  practice  is  to 
good  doctrine.  Her  attentive  way  of  listening  when  d'Arthez 
spoke  was  a  thousand  times  more  flattering  than  the  most 
highly-seasoned  compliments.  The  introduction  was  made  by 
the  Marquise  quite  simply,  and  with  regard  to  the  dues  of 
either. 

At  dinner,  so  far  from  adopting  the  affectations  which 
some  women  permit  themselves  with  regard  to  food,  the 
Princess  ate  with  a  very  good  appetite;  she  made  a  point  of 
allowing  the  natural  woman  to  appear  without  airs  of  any 
kind.  D'Arthez  sat  next  to  her,  and  between  the  courses  she 
entered  upon  a  tete-a-tete  with  him  under  cover  of  the  gen- 
eral conversation. 

"My  reason  for  procuring  myself  the  pleasure  of  a  meet- 
ing with  you,  monsieur,"  she  said,  "was  a  wish  to  hear  some- 
thing of  an  unfortunate  friend  of  yours  who  died  for  a  cause 
other  than  ours.  I  lay  under  great  obligations  to  him,  but 
it  was  out  of  my  power  to  acknowledge  or  to  requite  his  ser- 


348  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

vices.  The  Prince  de  Cadignan  shares  my  regrets.  I  have 
heard  that  you  were  one  of  the  poor  fellow's  most  intimate 
friends,  and  that  disinterested  staunch  friendship  between 
you  gives  me  a  certain  claim  to  your  acquaintance;  so  you 
will  not  think  it  strange  that  I  should  wish  to  hear  all  that 
you  could  tell  me  of  one  so  dear  to  you.  I  am  attached  to  the 
exiled  family,  and  of  course  hold  monarchical  opinions;  but 
1  am  not  of  the  number  of  those  who  think  that  it  is  impos- 
sible for  a  Republican  to  be  noble  at  heart.  A  monarchy  and 
a  republic  are  the  only  forms  of  government  which  do  not 
stifle  nobility  of  sentiment." 

"Michel  Chrestien  was  sublime,  madame,"  Daniel  an- 
swered with  an  unsteady  voice.  "I  do  not  know  of  a  greater 
man  among  the  heroes  of  old  times.  You  must  not  think  that 
he  was  one  of  the  narrow  Republicans  who  want  the  Conven- 
tion and  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  re-established  with 
its  pretty  ways.  No,  Michel  used  to  dream  of  European  Fed- 
eration on  the  Swiss  model.  Set  aside  the  magnificent  mon- 
archical system  which,  in  my  opinion,  is  peculiarly  suited  to 
our  country;  and  let  us  admit  that  Michel's  project  would 
mean  the  abolition  of  war  in  the  old  world,  and  a  Europe 
constituted  afresh  on  a  very  different  basis  from  that  of  an- 
cient conquest,  modified  subsequently  by  the  feudal  system. 
On  this  showing  the  Republicans  most  nearly  approached  his 
theories;  and  for  that  reason  he  fought  with  them  in  July 
and  at  Saint-Merri.  In  politics  we  were  diametrically  op- 
posed, but  none  the  less  we  were  the  closest  friends." 

"It  is  the  finest  possible  testimony  to  both  your  characters," 
Mme.  de  Cadignan  said  timidly. 

"During  the  last  four  years  of  his  life  he  told  me  of  his  love 
for  you.  No  one  else  knew  about  it,"  continued  d'Arthez. 
"We  had  been  like  brothers;  but  that  confidence  bound  us  to 
each  other  even  more  closely  than  before.  He  alone,  madame, 
would  have  loved  you  as  you  deserve  to  be  loved.  Many  a 
wetting  I  have  had,  as  he  and  I  accompanied  your  carriage 
home,  running  to  keep  up  with  the  horses,  so  as  not  to  miss 
a  glimpse  of  your  face — to  admire  you " 


THE  SECRETS  OP  A  PRINCESS  349 

"Why,  monsieur,  I  shall  soon  be  bound  to  make  compensa- 
tion  " 

"Why  is  not  Michel  here?"  returned  Daniel  in  a  melan- 
choly voice. 

"Perhaps  he  might  not  have  loved  me  for  long,"  began 
the  Princess  with  a  sorrowful  shake  of  the  head.  "Republi- 
cans are  even  more  absolute  in  their  ideas  than  we  Absolutists 
who  sin  through  indulgence.  He  would  dream  of  me  as  a 
perfect  woman  no  doubt;  he  would  have  been  cruelly  unde- 
ceived. We  women  are  persecuted  with  slander;  and,  unlike 
you  literary  men,  we  cannot  meet  calumny  and  fight  it  down 
by  our  fame  and  our  achievements.  People  take  us,  not  for 
the  women  we  are,  but  simply  as  others  make  us  out  to  be. 
Others  would  very  soon  hide  the  real  unknown  self  that  there 
is  in  me  by  holding  up  a  sham  portrait  of  an  imaginary  wo- 
man, the  true  Mme.  de  Maufrigneuse  in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 
He  would  think  me  unworthy  of  the  noble  love  he  bore  me, 
he  would  think  I  could  not  understand."  Again  the  Princess 
shook  her  head  with  its  coronet  of  heather  among  the  bright 
gold  curls.  There  was  something  sublime  in  the  movement; 
it  expressed  sorrowful  misgivings  and  hidden  griefs  that  could 
not  be  uttered.  Daniel  understood  all  that  it  meant.  He 
looked  at  her  with  quick  sympathy  in  his  eyes. 

"Still,"  she  said,  "when  I  saw  him  again  one  day,  a  long 
while  after  the  Revolution  of  July,  I  almost  gave  way  to  a 
wish  that  came  over  me  to  grasp  him  by  the  hand,  then  and 
there  before  every  one,  in  the  peristyle  of  the  Theatre  Italieii, 
and  to  give  him  my  bouquet.  And  then — I  thought  that  such 
a  demonstration  of  gratitude  would  be  sure  to  be  miscon- 
strued, like  so  many  generous  acts  that  people  call  'Mme.  de 
Maufrigneuse's  follies';  it  will  never  be  in  my  power  to  ex- 
plain them ;  nobody  save  God  and  my  son  will  ever  know  me 
as  I  really  am." 

Her  murmured  words,  spoken  with  an  accent  worthy  of  a 
great  actress,  in  tones  so  low  that  no  one  else  could  overhear 
them,  must  have  thrilled  any  listener.  They  went  to  d'Ar- 
thez's  heart.  The  famous  man  of  letters  was  quite  out  of 


350  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

sight;  this  was  a  woman  striving  to  rehabilitate  herself  for 
the  sake  of  the  dead.  Perhaps  people  had  slandered  her  to 
him ;  she  wanted  to  know  if  anything  had  tarnished  her  name 
for  this  man  who  had  loved  her  once.  Had  he  died  with  all 
his  illusions? 

"Michel  was  one  of  those  men  who  love  wholly  and  com- 
pletely," returned  d'Arthez ;  "such  as  he,  if  they  choose  amiss, 
can  suffer,  but  they  can  never  give  up  her  whom  they  have 
chosen." 

"Then  was  I  loved  like  that?"  she  cried,  with  a  look  of 
high  beatitude. 

"Yes,  madame." 

"And  he  was  happy  through  me?" 

"For  four  years." 

"No  woman  ever  hears  of  such  a  thing  without  a  feeling  of 
proud  satisfaction,"  she  said,  and  there  was  a  modest  con- 
fusion in  the  noble  sweet  face  that  turned  to  his. 

One  of  the  cleverest  manoeuvres  known  to  such  actresses 
is  a  trick  of  veiling  their  manner  if  words  have  said  too  much, 
or  of  talking  with  their  eyes  when  other  language  falls  short. 
There  is  an  irresistible  fascination  in  these  ingenious  disso- 
nances that  creep  into  the  music  of  love,  or  true  or  feigned. 

"To  have  made  a  great  man  happy,"  she  went  on  (and 
her  voice  dropped  lower  and  lower  when  she  had  assured  her- 
self of  the  effect  that  she  had  produced).  "To  have  made  a 
great  man  happy,  and  that  without  committing  a  crime — this 
is  the  fulfilment  of  one's  destiny,  is  it  not  ?" 

"Did  he  not  write  to  you?" 

"Yes,  but  I  wanted  to  be  quite  sure;  for,  believe  me,  mon- 
sieur, when  he  set  me  so  high,  he  was  not  mistaken  in  me." 

Women  have  an  art  of  investing  their  utterances  with  a  cer- 
tain peculiar  sacramental  virtue ;  they  can  impart  an  inde- 
scribable something  to  their  words,  a  thrill  that  gives  them  a 
wider  significance,  a  greater  depth;  and,  unless  the  charmed 
auditor  subsequently  takes  it  into  his  head  to  ask  himself  what 
those  words  really  meant,  the  effect  is  attained — which  is  the 
peculiar  aim  and  object  of  eloquence.  If  the  Princess  had 


THE  SECRETS  OF1  A  PRINCESS  351 

worn  the  crown  of  France  at  that  moment,  instead  of  the 
high  plaited  coronet  of  bright  hair  and  wreath  of  delicate 
heather,  her  brows  could  not  have  looked  more  queenly.  She 
seemed  to  d'Arthez  to  be  walking  over  the  tide  of  slander  as 
our  Saviour  walked  over  the  Sea  of  Galilee ;  the  shroud  of  her 
dead  love  wrapped  her  round  as  an  aureole  clings  about  an 
angel.  There  was  not  the  remotest  suggestion  that  she  felt 
that  this  was  the  one  position  left  to  her  to  take  up;  not  a 
hint  of  a  desire  to  seem  great  or  loving;  it  was  done  simply 
and  quietly.  No  living  man  could  have  done  the  Princess  the 
service  rendered  by  the  dead. 

D'Arthez,  worker  and  recluse,  had  had  no  experience  of 
the  world;  study  had  folded  him  beneath  its  sheltering  wings. 
Her  words,  her  tones,  found  a  credulous  listener.  He  had 
fallen  under  the  spell  of  her  exquisite  ways;  he  was  filled 
with  admiration  of  her  flawless  beauty,  matured  by  evil  for- 
tune, freshened  by  retirement;  he  bowed  down  before  that 
rarest  combination — a  vivid  intellect  and  a  noble  soul.  He 
longed,  in  short,  to  be  Michel  Chrestien's  heir  and  successor. 

The  first  beginnings  of  his  love  may  be  traced  to  an  idea — 
a  common  case  with  your  profound  thinker.  While  he  looked 
at  his  neighbor,  while  his  eyes  grew  familiar  with  the  outlines 
of  her  head,  the  disposition  of  her  delicate  features,  her  shape, 
her  foot,  her  finely  modeled  hands;  while  he  saw  her  now  on 
a  closer  view  than  in  the  days  when  he  accompanied  his 
friend  on  his  wild  pursuit  of  her  carriage,  he  was  thinking 
to  himself  that  here  was  an  instance  of  that  wonderful  thing 
— the  power  of  second-sight  developed  in  a  man  under  the  in- 
fluence of  love's  exaltation.  How  clearly  Michel  Chrestien  had 
read  this  woman's  heart  and  soul  by  the  light  of  the  fire  of 
love !  And  she  too  on  her  side  had  divined  the  Federalist ;  he 
might,  no  doubt,  have  been  happy !  In  this  way  the  Princess 
was  invested  with  a  great  charm  for  d'Arthez;  a  halo  as  of 
poetry  shone  about  her. 

In  the  course  of  the  dinner,  d'Arthez  remembered  MichePs 
confidences,  Michel's  despair,  Michel's  hopes  when  he  fancied 
that  he  was  loved  in  return,  and  his  passionate,  lyrical  out- 


352  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

pourings  to  the  one  friend  to  whom  he  spoke  of  his  love.  And 
Daniel  the  while  was  all  unconscious  that  he  was  to  reap 
the  benefit  of  the  preparations  due  to  chance.  It  very  seldom 
happens  that  a  confidant  can  pass  without  remorse  to  the 
estate  of  rival;  d'Arthez  could  do  this,  and  wrong  no  one 
now.  In  one  brief  moment  he  realized  the  immense  distance 
that  separates  the  high-bred  lady,  the  flower  of  the  great 
world,  from  the  ordinary  woman,  whom,  however,  he  only  knew 
by  a  single  specimen.  He  had  been  approached  on  his  weakest 
side,  touched  on  the  tenderest  spots  in  his  soul  and  genius. 
His  simplicity,  his  impetuous  imagination  urged  him  to 
possess  this  woman ;  but  he  felt  that  the  world  held  him  back, 
and  the  Princess'  bearing,  her  majesty,  be  it  said,  raised  a 
barrier  between  him  and  her.  It  was  something  new  to 
him  to  respect  the  woman  he  loved;  and  this  unwonted  feel- 
ing acted  in  a  manner  as  an  irritant ;  the  physical  attraction 
grew  all  the  more  potent  because  he  had  swallowed  the  bait, 
and  must  keep  his  uneasiness  to  himself. 

They  talked  of  Michel  Chrestien  till  dessert  was  served. 
It  was  an  excuse  for  lowering  their  voices  on  either  side. 
Love,  sympathy,  intuition — here  was  her  opportunity  of  pos- 
ing as  a  slandered,  unappreciated  woman !  here  was  his  chance 
of  stepping  into  the  dead  Republican's  shoes !  Possibly  a  man 
of  such  candid  mind  may  have  detected  within  himself  a  cer- 
tain diminution  of  regret  for  the  loss  of  his  friend. 

But  when  the  dessert  shone  resplendent  on  the  table;  when 
the  light  of  the  candles  in  the  sconces  fell  upon  the  rich 
colors  of  fruit  and  sugar-plums  among  the  bouquets  of 
flowers;  then,  under  shelter  of  the  brilliant  screen  of  blossoms 
that  separated  the  guests,  it  pleased  the  Princess  to  put  an 
end  to  the  confidences.  With  a  word,  a  delicious  word,  ac- 
companied by  one  of  the  glances  that  seem  to  turn  a  fair- 
haired  woman  into  a  brunette,  she  found  some  subtle  way  of 
expressing  the  idea  that  Daniel  and  Michel  were  twin  souls. ' 
After  this  d'Arthez  threw  himself  into  the  general  conversa- 
tion with  boyish  spirits,  and  a  slightly  fatuous  air  not  un- 
worthy of  a  youth  at  school. 

The  Princess  took  d'Arthez's  arm  in  the  simplest  way 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  353 

when  they  returned  to  the  Marquise's  little  drawing-room. 
She  lingered  a  little  in  the  great  salon,  till  the  Marquise,  on 
Blondet's  arm,  was  at  some  little  distance  from  them.  Then 
she  stopped  d'Arthez. 

"It  is  my  wish  to  be  not  inaccessible  to  that  poor  Repub- 
lican's  friend,"  she  said.  "I  have  made  it  a  rule  to  receive 
no  visitors,  but  you  shall  be  the  one  exception.  Do  not  think 
of  this  as  a  favor.  Favors  are  only  possible  between  strangers, 
and  it  seems  to  me  that  we  are  old  friends.  I  wish  to  look 
on  you  as  Michel's  brother." 

D'Arthez  could  only  reply  by  a  pressure  of  the  arm ;  he 
found  nothing  to  say. 

Coffee  was  served.  Diane  de  Cadignan  wrapped  herself  in 
a  large  shawl  with  coquettish  grace,  and  rose  to  go.  Blondet 
and  Rastignac  knew  too  much  of  the  world  and  of  courtiers' 
tact  to  try  to  detain  her  or  to  make  any  ill-bred  outcry; 
but  Mme.  d'Espard,  taking  the  Princess  by  the  hand,  in- 
duced her  to  sit  down  again. 

"Wait  till  the  servants  have  dined,"  she  whispered;  "the 
carriage  is  not  ready." 

She  made  a  sign  to  the  footman  who  carried  out  the  coffee 
tray.  Mme.  de  Montcornet,  guessing  that  Mme.  d'Espard 
wished  to  speak  with  the  Princess,  drew  off  d'Arthez,  Ras- 
tignac,  and  Blondet  by  one  of  those  wild  paradoxical  tirades 
which  Parisiennes  understand  to  admiration. 

"Well?"  asked  the  Marquise.  "What  do  you  think  of 
him  ?" 

"He  is  simply  an  adorable  child ;  he  is  scarcely  out  of 
swaddling  clothes.  Really,  even  this  time  there  will  be  a 
victory  without  a  struggle,  as  usual." 

"It  is  disheartening,"  said  Mme,  d'Espard,  "but  there  is 
one  thing  left," 

"And  that  is?" 

"Let  me  be  your  rival." 

"That  is  as  you  shall  decide.  I  have  made  up  my  mind 
what  to  do.  Genius  is  a  kind  of  cerebral  existence;  I  do  not 
know  how  to  reach  its  heart.  We  will  talk  of  this  later  on." 


354  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

After  that  last  enigmatic  remark,  Mme.  d'Espard  made 
a  plunge  into  the  conversation.  Apparently  she  was  neither 
hurt  by  the  words,  "That  is  as  you  shall  decide,"  nor  curious 
to  know  what  might  come  of  this  interview.  The  Princess 
stayed  nearly  an  hour  longer  on  the  settee  by  the  fireside. 
She  sat  in  a  listless,  careless  attitude,  like  Dido  in  Guerin's 
picture;  and  while  she  seemed  to  be  absorbed  in  listening, 
she  glanced  now  and  again  at  Daniel  with  undisguised  yet 
well-controlled  admiration.  The  carriage  was  announced. 
She  grasped  the  Marquise  d'Espard's  hand,  bowed  to  Mme. 
de  Montcornet,  and  vanished. 

The  Princess'  name  was  not  mentioned  in  the  course  of  the 
evening.  The  rest  of  the  party,  however,  reaped  the  benefit 
of  d'Arthez's  uplifted  mood;  he  talked  his  best;  and,  indeed, 
in  Rastignac  and  Blondet  he  had  two  supporters  of  the  first 
rank  as  regards  quickness  of  intellect  and  mental  grasp,  while 
the  two  women  had  long  since  been  counted  among  the 
wittiest  great  ladies  in  Paris.  To  them  that  evening  was 
like  a  halt  at  an  oasis;  it  was  a  rare  enjoyment  keenly  ap- 
preciated by  the  quartette,  who  lived  in  constant  dread  of  the 
danger  signals  of  society,  politics,  or  drawing-room  cliques. 
Some  people  are  privileged  to  shine  like  beneficent  stars  upon 
others,  giving  light  to  their  minds  and  warmth  to  their  hearts. 
D'Arthez  was  one  of  these  finer  natures.  A  man  of  letters, 
if  he  rises  to  the  height  of  his  position,  is  accustomed  to  think 
without  restraint,  and  apt,  in  society,  to  forget  that  everything 
must  not  be  said;  still,  as  there  is  almost  always  a  certain 
originality  about  his  divagations,  no  one  complains  of  them. 
It  was  this  savor  of  originality,  so  rare  in  mere  cleverness, 
this  simple-minded  freshness,  that  made  d'Arthez's  character 
something  nobly  apart;  and  in  this  lay  the  secret  of  that 
delightful  evening.  D'Arthez  came  away  with  the  Baron  de 
Rastignac.  As  they  drove  home,  the  latter  naturally  spoke  of 
the  Princess,  and  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  her.  y 

"No  wonder  Michel  loved  her,"  returned  d'Arthez;  "she  is 
no  ordinary  woman." 

UA.  very  extraordinary  woman,"  Rastignac  returned  drily. 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  355 

"I  can  tell  by  the  sound  of  your  voice  that  you  are  in  love  with 
her  already.  You  will  call  before  three  days  are  out; 
and  I  am  too  old  a  hand  in  Paris  not  to  know  what  will  pass 
between  you.  So,  my  dear  Daniel,  I  beg  you  not  to  fall  into 
any  'confusion  of  interests.'  Love  the  Princess  by  all  means 
if  you  feel  that  you  can  love  her,  but  bear  your  interests 
in  mind.  She  has  never  asked  or  taken  two  farthings  of  any 
man  whatsoever;  she  is  far  too  much  a  Cadignan  or 
d'Uxelles  for  that;  but  to  my  certain  knowledge  she  has  not 
only  squandered  a  very  considerable  fortune  of  her  own,  she 
has  made  others  run  through  millions  of  francs.  How?  why? 
and  wherefore?  Nobody-  can  tell.  She  does  not  know  herself. 
Thirteen  years  ago  I  saw  her  swallow  down  a  charming  young 
fellow's  property  and  an  old  notary's  savings  to  boot  in 
twenty  months." 

"Thirteen  years  ago !"  exclaimed  d' Arthez ;  "then  how  old 
is  she?" 

"Why,  did  you  not  see  her  son  ?"  Eastignac  retorted,  laugh- 
ing. "That  was  her  son  at  table — the  Due  de  Maufrigneuse, 
a  young  fellow  of  nineteen.  And  nineteen  and  seventeen 
make " 

"Thirty-six !"  exclaimed  the  man  of  letters  in  amazement ; 
"I  took  her  for  twenty." 

"She  will  be  quite  willing;  but  you  need  have  no  uneasiness 
on  that  score,  she  will  never  be  more  than  twenty  for  you. 
You  are  setting  foot  in  the  most  fantastic  of  worlds. — Good- 
night. Here  you  are  at  home,"  added  Rastignac,  as  the  car- 
riage turned  into  the  Rue  de  Bellefond,  where  d'Arthez  lived 
in  a  neat  house  of  his  own.  "We  shall  met  at  Mile,  des 
Touches'  in  the  course  of  the  week." 

D'Arthez  allowed  love  to  invade  his  heart  after  the  fashion 
of  my  Uncle  Toby,  videlicet,  without  the  least  attempt  at  re- 
sistance. He  proceeded  at  once  to  uncritical  adoration,  ad- 
miring the  one  woman  and  excluding  all  others.  The  Prin- 
cess, one  of  the  most  remarkable  portents  in  Paris,  where 
everything  good  or  evil  is  possible — the  Princess,  fair  creature, 
became  for  him  the  "angel  of  his  dreams,"  hackneyed  though 


356  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

the  expression  may  be,  now  that  it  has  fallen  on  evil  days. 
A  full  comprehension  of  the  sudden  transformation  wrought 
in  the  illustrious  man  of  letters  is  impossible,  unless  you  re- 
member how  solitude  and  continual  work  leave  the  heart  dor- 
mant, and  how  painful  a  connection  with  a  vulgar  woman 
may  become,  when  physical  cravings  give  place  to  love,  and 
love  develops  new  desires  and  fancies  and  regrets,  and  calls 
forth  the  diviner  impulses  of  the  highest  regions  of  a  man's 
nature.  D'Arthez  was,  indeed,  the  child,  the  schoolboy  that 
the  Princess  at  once  discerned  him  to  be. 

And  the  beautiful  Diane  herself  received  an  almost  similar 
illumination.  At  last  she  had  found,  a  man  above  other  men, 
the  man  whom  all  women  desire  to  find,  even  if  they  only 
mean  to  play  with  him;  the  power  that  they  consent  to  obey 
for  the  'sake  of  gaining  control  of  it.  At  last  she  had  dis- 
covered a  great  intellect,  combined  with  a  boy's  heart,  and 
this  in  the  first  dawn  of  passion ;  and  she  saw,  with  happiness 
undreamed  of,  that  all  this  wealth  was  contained  in  a  form 
that  pleased  her. 

D'Arthez  was  handsome,  she  thought.  Perhaps  he  was. 
He  had  reached  the  sober  age  of  maturity;  he  had  led  a 
quiet,  regular  life  that  had  preserved  a  certain  bloom  of 
youth  through  his  thirty-eight  years;  and,  like  statesmen 
and  men  of  sedentary  life  generally,  had  attained  a  reason- 
able degree  of  stoutness.  As  a  very  young  man  he  bore  a 
vague  resemblance  to  the  portraits  of  the  young  Bonaparte; 
and  the  likeness  was  still  as  strong  as  it  might  be  between 
a  dark-eyed  man  with  thick  brown  hair  and  the  Emperor  with 
his  blue  eyes  and  chestnut  locks.  But  all  the  high  and  burn- 
ing ambition  that  once  shone  in  d'Arthez's  eyes  had  been 
softened,  as  it  were,  by  success;  the  thoughts  that  lay  dormant 
beneath  the  lad's  forehead  had  blossomed ;  the  hollows  in  his 
face  had  filled  up.  Prosperity  had  mellowed  the  sallow 
tints  that  once  told  of  a  penurious  life  and  faculties  braced 
to  bear  the  strain  of  incessant  and  exhausting  toil. 

If  you  look  carefully  at  the  finest  faces  among  ancient 
philosophers,  you  can  alwavs  find  that  those  deviations  from 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  357 

the  perfect  type  which  give  to  each  face  a  character  of  its 
own  are  rectified  by  the  habit  of  meditation,  and  the  con- 
tinual repose  demanded  by  the  intellectual  life.  The  most 
crabbed  visage  among  them — that  of  Socrates,  for  instance — • 
acquires  a  well-nigh  divine  serenity  at  last.  In  the  noble 
simplicity  that  became  d'Arthez's  imperial  face  very  well, 
there  was  something  guileless,  something  of  a  child's  uncon- 
sciousness of  itself,  and  a  kindliness  that  went  to  the  hearts 
of  others.  He  had  none  of  that  politeness  in  which  there 
is  always  a  tinge  of  insincerity,  none  of  the  art  by  which  the 
best-bred  and  most  amiable  people  can  assume  those  qualities 
which  they  have  not,  much  to  the  discomfiture  of  their  late- 
enlightened  dupes.  Some  sins  of  omission  he  might  make  as 
a  consequence  of  his  isolation;  but  he  never  jarred  upon 
others,  and  a  perfume  of  the  wilderness  only  enhances  the 
gracious  urbanity  of  the  great  man  who  lays  aside  his  great- 
ness to  descend  to  the  social  level,  and,  like  Henri  IV.,  will 
either  lend  a  hand  in  children's  games  or  lend  his  wit  to 
fools. 

If  d'Arthez  made  no  attempt  at  a  defence,  the  Princess, 
on  her  return  home,  did  not  open  the  question  again  with 
herself.  There  was  no  more  to  be  said,  so  far  as  she  was 
concerned;  with  all  her  knowledge,  and  all  her  ignorance, 
she  loved.  She  only  asked  herself  if  she  deserved  such  great 
happiness — what  had  she  done  that  heaven  should  send 
such  an  angel  to  her?  She  would  be  worthy  of  his  love;  it 
should  last ;  it  should  be  hers  for  ever ;  the  last  years  of  youth 
and  waning  beauty  should  be  sweet  in  the  paradise  that  she 
saw  by  glimpses.  As  for  resisting  it,  as  for  haggling  over 
herself,  or  coquetting  with  her  lover,  she  did  not  even  think  of 
it.  Her  thoughts  were  of  something  quite  different.  She  un- 
derstood the  greatness  of  genius;  she  felt  instinctively  that 
genius  is  not  apt  to  apply  the  ordinary  rules  to  a  woman  of 
a  thousand.  So  after  a  rapid  forecast,  such  as  none  but  great 
feminine  natures  can  make,  she  vowed  to  herself  to  surrender 
at  the  first  summons.  Her  estimate  of  d'Arthez's  character, 

based  on  a  single  interview,  led  her  to  suspect  that  there  would 
24 


358  THE  SECRETS  OP  A  PRINCESS 

be  time  to  make  what  she  wished  of  herself,  to  be  what  she 
meant  to  be  in  the  eyes  of  this  sublime  lover,  before  that 
summons  would  be  made. 

And  herewith  begins  an  obscure  comedy,  played  on  the 
stage  of  the  inner  consciousness  of  a  man  and  woman,  each 
to  be  duped  by  the  other.  Tartuffe  is  the  merest  trifle  com- 
pared with  such  inscrutable  comedies  as  this;  the}'  enlarge 
the  borders  of  the  depravity  of  human  nature;  they  lie  be- 
yond the  domain  of  dramatic  art.  Extraordinary  as  they  are  i 
throughout,  they  are  natural,  conceivable,  justified  by  neces- 
sity. Such  a  comedy  is  a  horrible  kind  of  drama,  which  should 
be  entitled  the  seamy  side  of  vice. 

The  Princess  began  by  sending  for  d'Arthez's  books.  She 
had  not  read  a  single  word  of  them,  but  nevertheless  she  had 
kept  up  a  flattering  conversation  on  the  subject  for  twenty 
minutes  without  making  a  single  slip.  She  proceeded  to 
read  them  through,  and  then  tried  to  compare  his  work  with 
that  of  the  best  contemporary  writers.  The  result  was  a  fit 
of  mental  indigestion  on  the  day  of  d'Arthez's  visit.  Every 
day  that  week  she  had  dressed  with  unusual  care;  her 
toilette  expressed  an  idea  for  the  eyes  to  accept,  without 
knowing  how  or  wherefore.  So  she  appeared  in  a  com- 
bination of  soft  shades  of  gray;  a  listless,  graceful  half- 
mourning,  an  appropriate  costume  for  a  woman  who  felt 
weary  of  life,  and  had  nothing  left  to  bind  her  to  life  save 
a  few  natural  ties  (her  son  perhaps).  Hers,  apparently, 
was  an  elegant  disgust  that  stopped  short,  however,  of  sui- 
cide; she  was  finishing  her  allotted  time  in  the  earthly 
prison-house. 

She  received  d'Arthez  as  though  she  expected  his  visit, 
and  had  seen  him  at  her  house  a  hundred  times,  doing  him 
the  honor  of  treating  him  as  an  old  acquaintance.  The  con- 
versation began  in  the  most  commonplace  way.  They  talked 
of  the  weather,  of  the  Cabinet,  of  de  Marsay's  bad  health, 
of  the  hopes  of  the  Legitimist  party.  D'Arthez  was  an  Ab- 
solutist. The  Princess  could  not  but  know  the  opinions  of  a 
man  who  sat  among  the  fifteen  or  twenty  Legitimist  members 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  359 

of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies ;  so  she  took,  occasion  to  tell  the 
story  of  the  trick  she  had  played  de  Marsay;  she  touched 
on  the  Prince's  devotion  to  the  Royal  family  and  to  Madame; 
and  thence,  by  an  easy  transition,  brought  d'Arthez's  atten- 
tion to  the  Prince  de  Cadignan. 

"There  is  this  at  least  to  be  said  for  him,  he  is  an  attached 
and  devoted  servant  of  His  Majesty,"  said  she.  "His  public 
character  consoles  me  for  all  that  I  have  suffered  from  his 
private  life.  But,"  she  continued,  adroitly  leaving  the  Prince 
on  one  side,  "have  you  not  noticed  (for  nothing  escapes  you) 
that  men  have  two  sides  to  their  characters?  One  side  they 
show  at  home,  to  their  wives;  it  is  their  true  character  that 
appears  in  private  life;  the  mask  is  taken  off,  dissimulation  is 
at  an  end;  they  do  not  trouble  to  seem  other  than  they  are; 
they  are  themselves — often  they  are  horrible.  They  are 
great,  noble,  and  generous  for  the  rest  of  the  world,  for  the 
King,  and  the  Court,  and  the  salons;  they  wear  a  costume 
embroidered  with  virtues  and  bedizened  with  fine  language; 
they  possess  exquisite  qualities  in  abundance.  What  a  shock- 
ing farce  it  is !  And  yet  there  are  people  that  wonder  at  the 
smile  some  women  wear,  at  their  air  of  superiority  over  their 
husbands,  their  indifference " 

She  broke  off,  but  allowed  her  hand  to  drop  till  it  rested 
on  the  arm  of  her  chair,  a  gesture  that  rounded  off  her  dis- 
course to  admiration.  D'Arthez's  eyes  were  intent  upon  her 
lissome  figure,  upon  the  lines  so  gracefully  carved  against  the 
silken  depths  of  her  easy-chair;  upon  the  movements  of  her 
dress;  upon  a  certain  fascinating  little  wrinkle  that  played 
up  and  down  over  her  bust,  a  daring  device  which  only  suits 
a  waist  so  slender  that  it  has  nothing  to  lose  by  it.  The 
Princess,  watching  him,  took  up  the  order  of  her  thoughts, 
as  though  she  were  speaking  to  herself. 

"I  will  say  no  more,"  she  said.  "For  as  for  women  that 
give  themselves  out  for  'misunderstood/  and  victims  of  ill- 
assorted  unions  who  take  themselves  dramatically  and  pose 
as  interesting  persons — that  kind  of  thing  seems  to  me  hope- 
lessly vulgar,  and  you  authors  have  ended  by  making  such 


360  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

women  very  ridiculous.  One  must  either  submit,  and  there 
is  no  more  to  be  said,  or  one  resists  and  finds  amusement.  In 
either  case  a  woman  should  keep  silence.  It  is  true  that  I 
could  not  make  up  my  mind  to  do  either,  but  that  is  so  much 
the  more  reason,  perhaps,  for  keeping  silence  now.  How  silly 
it  is  to  complain !  If  a  woman  is  not  equal  to  the  circum- 
stances, if  she  fails  in  tact,  or  sense,  or  subtlety,  she  de- 
serves her  fate.  Are  not  women  queens  in  France?  They 
play  with  you  when  they  choose,  as  they  choose,  and  for  as 
long  as  they  choose." 

She  swung  her  scent-bottle,  with  a  marvelous  blending  of 
feminine  insolence  and  mocking  gaiety  in  her  gesture. 

"I  have  often  heard  contemptible  little  creatures  regret 
that  they  were  women,"  she  continued ;  "ami  I  always  felt 
sorry  for  them.  If  I  had  the  choice,  I  would  be  a  woman 
over  again.  Ah !  the  pleasure  and  pride  of  owing  your  tri- 
umphs to  strength,  to  all  the  power  put  in  your  hands  by  laws 
of  your  own  framing!  And  when  we  see  you  at  our  feet, 
doing  and  saying  foolish  things  for  our  sakes,  is  it  not  in- 
toxicating joy  to  feel  that  the  woman's  weakness  triumphs? 
So,  when  we  succeed,  we  are  bound  to  keep  silence  under 
penalty  of  losing  our  ascendency.  And  after  a  defeat,  a  wo- 
man's pride  bids  her  be  silent.  The  slave's  silence  dismays 
the  master." 

While  this  prattle  was  piped  forth  in  those  winning  tones 
of  gentle  derision,  with  an  accompaniment  of  little  dainty 
turns  of  the  head,  d'Arthez  was  spellbound,  just  as  a  partridge 
is  fascinated  by  the  sportsman's  dog.  This  kind  of  woman 
was  something  quite  new  in  his  experience. 

"Tell  me,  madame,  I  beg  of  you,  how  any  man  could  have 
made  you  suffer;  be  sure  that  where  other  women  would  be 
vulgar,  you  would  be  distinguished,  even  if  you  had  not  a 
manner  of  saying  things  that  would  make  a  cookery-book  in- 
teresting." 

"You  are  going  far  in  friendship,"  she  said,  so  gravely, 
that  d'Arthez  grew  serious  and  uneasy. 

She  changed  the  subject.      It  grew  late.     The   man   of 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  361 

genius,  poor  fellow,  went  away  in  a  contrite  frame  of  mind; 
he  had  seemed  inquisitive;  he  had  hurt  her  feelings;  and  he 
was  convinced  that  she  had  suffered  as  few  women  suffer. 
Diane  had  spent  her  life  in  amusing  herself;  she  was  neither 
more  nor  less  than  a  feminine  Don  Juan,  with  this  difference 
— if  she  had  tempted  the  stone  statue  it  would  not  have  been 
with  an  invitation  to  supper,  and  she  certainly  would  not 
have  had  the  worst  of  the  encounter. 

It  is  impossible  to  continue  this  history  without  a  word 
as  to  the  Prince  de  Cadignan  (better  known  as  the  Due  de 
Maufrigneuse),  or  the  whole  salt  and  savor  of  the  Princess' 
miraculous  inventions  will  be  lost  upon  the  reader.  An  out- 
sider could  never  understand  the  atrocity  of  the  comedy 
which  the  lady  has  been  playing  for  the  benefit  of  a  man 
of  letters.  In  person  M.  le  Due  de  Maufrigneuse,  like  his 
father  the  Prince  de  Cadignan,  was  tall  and  spare;  he  was  a 
complete  fine  gentleman,  his  urbanity  never  deserted  him; 
he  made  charming  speeches ;  he  became  a  colonel  by  the  grace 
of  God,  and  a  good  soldier  by  accident.  In  other  respects 
the  Prince  was  as  brave  as  a  Pole,  showed  his  valor  on  all 
occasions  without  discrimination,  and  used  the  jargon  of 
Court  circles  to  hide  his  mental  vacuit}'.  Ever  since  he  at- 
tained the  age  of  thirty-six  he  had  been  perforce  as  indifferent 
to  the  sex  as  his  royal  master  King  Charles  X. ;  for,  like  his 
master,  he  had  found  too  much  favor  with  the  fair  in  his 
youth,  and  now  was  paying  the  penalty.  He  had  been  the 
idol  of  the  Faubourg  Saint-Germain  for  eighteen  years,  dur- 
ing which  time  he  led  the  dissipated,  pleasure-filled  life  of  an 
eldest  son. 

The  Eevolution  had  ruined  his  father;  and  though  after 
the  Restoration  the  late  Prince  had  recovered  his  post,  the 
governorship  of  a  royal  castle,  with  a  salary  and  divers  pen- 
sions, he  had  kept  up  the  state  of  a  grand  seigneur  of  old 
days,  and  squandered  his  fortune  during  the  brief  gleam  of 
prosperity  to  such  purpose,  that  all  the  sums  repaid  him  by 
the  law  of  indemnity  went  in  a  display  of  luxury  in  his  im- 
mense old  mansion.  It  was  the  only  piece  of  property  left 


362  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

to  him,  and  the  greater  part  of  it  was  occupied  by  his 
daughter-in-law.  The  old  Prince  de  Cadignan  died  at  the 
ripe  age  of  eighty-seven,  some  years  before  the  Eevolution  of 
July.  He  had  ruined  his  wife,  and  for  a  long  time  there 
had  been  something  like  a  coolness  between  him  and  his  son- 
in-law,  the  Due  de  Navarreins;  the  Duke's  first  wife  had 
been  a  Cadignan,  and  the  accounts  of  the  trust  of  her  fortune 
had  never  been  satisfactorily  settled. 

The  present  Prince  (then  the  Due  de  Maufrigneuse)  had 
had  a  liaison  with  the  Duchesse  d'Uxelles.  Towards  1814, 
when  the  Duke  reached  his  thirty-sixth  year,  the  Duchess, 
seeing  that  he  was  poor  but  stood  very  well  at  Court,  gave 
him  her  daughter  with  a  rent-roll  of  fifty  or  sixty  thousand 
livres,  to  say  nothing  of  expectations.  In  this  way  Mile. 
d'Uxelles  became  a  duchess,  her  mother  knowing  that  in  all 
probability  the  newly  married  wife  would  be  allowed  great 
liberty.  An  heir  was  born,  after  which  unexpected  piece  of 
good  fortune  the  Duke  left  his  wife  complete  freedom  of 
action,  amused  himself  by  going  from  garrison  to  garrison, 
spent  the  winters  in  Paris,  contracted  debts  which  his  father 
paid,  and  professed  the  most  complete  indifference  for  his 
wife.  He  always  gave  the  Duchess  a  week's  warning  before 
returning  to  Paris.  Adored  by  his  regiment,  in  high  favor 
with  the  Dauphin,  an  adroit  courtier,  and  something  of  a 
gambler,  there  was  no  sort  of  affectation  about  the  Due  de 
Maufrigneuse;  the  Duchess  never  could  persuade  him  to 
take  up  an  Opera  girl,  out  of  regard  for  appearances  and  con- 
sideration for  her,  as  she  pleasantly  said.  The  Duke  suc- 
ceeded to  his  father's  post  at  Court,  and  contrived  to  please 
both  Louis  XVIII.  and  Charles  X.,  which  shows  that  he 
understood  how  to  turn  a  colorless  character  to  a  tolerable 
good  account;  and  besides,  his  life  and  behavior  were  covered 
over  by  the  most  elegant  veneer.  In  language  and  fine  man- 
ners he  was  a  perfect  model ;  he  was  popular  even  among 
Liberals.  The  Cadignans,  according  to  the  Prince  his  father, 
were  famous  for  ruining  their  wives;  in  this  respect,  how- 
ever, he  found  it  impossible  to  keep  up  the  family  tradi- 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  3G3 

tion,   the   Duchess   was   running   through   her   fortune   too 
quickly  for  him. 

These  little  details  of  the  family  history  were  public  prop- 
erty at  Court  and  in  the  Faubourg  Saint-Germain ;  so  much 
so,  in  fact,  that  if  any  one  had  begun  to  discuss  them,  he 
would  have  been  met  with  a  smile.  A  man  might  as  well 
have  announced  the  capture  of  Holland  by  the  Dutch.  No 
iwomaii  ever  mentioned  the  "charming  Duke"  without  a  word 
of  praise.  His  conduct  towards  his  wife  had  been  perfect; 
it  was  not  a  small  thing  for  a  man  to  behave  himself  as  well 
as  Maufrigneuse  had  done,  he  had  left  the  Duchess'  fortune 
entirely  at  her  disposal;  he  had  given  her  his  support  and 
countenance  on  every  occasion.  And  indeed,  from  pri'de, 
or  good  nature,  or  from  some  chivalrous  feeling,  M.  de  Mau- 
frigneuse had  many  a  time  come  to  the  Duchess'  rescue;  any 
other  woman  would  have  gone  under,  in  spite  of  her  connec- 
tions, in  spite  of  the  combined  credit  of  the  old  Duchesse 
d'Uxelles,  the  Due  de  Navarreins,  the  old  Prince  de  Cadignan, 
and  her  husband's  aunt.  The  present  Prince  is  allowed  to  be 
one  of  the  true  nobles  among  the  noblesse.  And  perhaps,  if 
a  courtier  is  faithful  at  need,  he  has  won  the  finest  of  all 
victories  over  himself. 

The  Duchesse  d'Uxelles  was  a  woman  of  five-and-forty 
when  she  married  her  daughter  to  the  Due  de  Maufrigneuse, 
and  therefore  she  saw  her  old  friend's  success  not  merely 
without  jealousy,  but  with  interest.  At  the  time  of  the  mar- 
riage she  had  showed  herself  a  great  lady  and  saved  the  situa- 
tion; though  she  could  not  prevent  scoffing  on  the  part  of 
spiteful  persons  at  Court,  who  said  that  the  Duchess'  noble 
conduct  cost  her  no  great  effort,  albeit  she  had  given  the  past 
five  years  to  repentance  and  devotion,  after  the  manner  of  j 
women  who  stand  in  great  need  of  forgiveness. 

To  return  to   Diane   de   Cadignan.     The  extent   of  the! 
knowledge  of  literature  which  she  displayed  grew  more  and 
more  remarkable  clay  by  day.     She  could  venture  with  the 
utmost  boldness  upon  the  most  abstruse  questions,  thanks  to 


3G4  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

studies  daily  and  nightly  pursued  with  an  intrepidity  worthy 
of  all  praise.  D'Arthez  was  bewildered.  He  was  incapable 
of  suspecting  that  Diane,  like  a  good  many  writers,  repeated 
at  night  what  she  read  of  a  morning.  He  took  her  for  a 
woman  of  no  ordinary  power.  In  the  course  of  these  con- 
versations they  wandered  further  and  further  from  the  end 
that  Diane  had  in  view;  she  tried  to  return  to  the  ground  of 
confidential  talk,  but  it  was  not  very  easy  to  bring  a  man  of 
d'Arthez's  temper  back  to  a  subject  after  he  had  once  been 
warned  from  it.  However,  after  a  month  of  excursions  into 
literature  and  beautiful  Platonic  discourses,  d'Arthez  grew 
bolder,  and  came  every  day  at  three  o'clock.  At  six  he  took 
leave,  only  to  return  three  hours  later  to  stay  till  midnight 
or  one  o'clock  in  the  morning.  This  with  the  regularity  of 
an  impatient  lover;  and  the  Princess,  on  her  side,  was  always 
more  or  less  carefully  dressed  at  his  hours.  The  tryst  thus 
kept  daily,  the  pains  that  they  both  took  with  themselves, 
their  whole  proceedings,  in  fact,  expressed  the  feelings  to 
which  neither  of  them  dared  to  confess;  and  the  Princess 
divined  in  some  marvelous  way  that  the  grown  child  dreaded 
the  coming  contest  as  much  as  she  herself  longed  for  it.  And 
yet  d'Arthez's  manner  was  a  constant  declaration  of  love — 
a  declaration  made  with  a  respect  which  was  inexpressibly 
pleasant  to  the  Princess.  Every  day  they  felt  so  much  the 
more  closely  drawn  together,  because  there  was  no  convention, 
no  sharp  line  of  difference  to  arrest  the  progress  of  their 
ideas;  no  barrier  was  raised,  as  frequently  happens  between 
lovers,  by  formal  demands  on  the  "one  side,  and  coquettish 
or  sincere  demurs  upon  the  other.  Like  most  men  whose 
youth  Insts  on  until  middle  age,  d'Arthez  was  consumed  by  a 
poignant  irresolution  caused  by  vehement  desires  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  dread  of  incurring  his  mistress'  displeasure 
on  the  other.  A  young  woman  understands  nothing  of  all 
this  while  s'he  shares  the  emotion,  but  the  Princess  was  too 
experienced  not  to  linger  over  its  delights.  So  Diane  enjoyed 
to  the  full  the  delicious  child's-play  of  love,  finding  all  the 
more  charm  in  it  because  she  knew  so  well  how  to  put  an 


THE  SECRETS  OP  A  PRINCESS  365 

end  to  it.  She  was  like  a  great  artist,  dwelling  complacently 
on  the  vague  outlines  of  a  sketch,  sure  of  the  coming  hour  of 
inspiration  that  shall  shape  a  masterpiece  out  of  an  idea  that 
floats  as  yet  in  the  limbo  of  things  unborn.  How  many 
a  time,  as  she  saw  that  d'Arthez  was  ready  to  advance,  she 
amused  herself  by  checking  him  with  her  queenly  air.  She 
could  control  the  tempest  in  the  man's  boyish  heart,  she  could 
raise  the  storm  and  still  it  again,  by  a  glance,  by  giving  him 
her  hand  to  kiss,  by  some  commonplace  word  uttered  in  a 
soft,  tremulous  voice. 

This  policy  of  hers  had  been  coolly  resolved  upon,  and 
she  acted  it  out  divinely,  gradually  deepening  the  lines  of 
the  image  engraven  upon  the  heart  of  a  clever  man  of  letters 
of  whom  it  pleased  her  to  make  a  child.  With  her  he  was 
trustful,  open,  almost  simple;  and  yet  at  times  something 
like  a  reaction  would  set  in,  and  she  could  not  but  admire  the 
man's  greatness,  blended  with  such  innocence.  The  arch-co- 
quette's play  was  binding  her  at  unawares  to  her  bond-slave. 
At  length  Diane  grew  impatient  with  her  love-sick  Epictetus ; 
and  as  soon  as  she  felt  that  he  was  disposed  to  put  a  blind 
faith  in  her,  she  set  herself  to  tie  a  thick  bandage  over  his 
eyes. 

One  evening  Daniel  found  the  Princess  in  a  pensive  mood. 
She  was  sitting  with  one  elbow  on  the  table,  her  bright  golden 
head  bathed  in  the  lamplight,  while  she  played  with  a  letter, 
absently  tapping  it  upon  the  tablecloth.  When  d'Arthez  had 
been  allowed  a  full  view  of  the  letter,  she  folded  it  and  thrust 
it  into  her  belt. 

"What  is  the  matter?"  asked  d'Arthez.  "You  look 
troubled." 

"I  have  heard  from  M.  de  Cadignan,"  she  replied. 
"Deeply  as  he  has  wronged  me,  I  have  been  thinking,  since 
I  read  this  letter,  that  he  is  an  exile,  and  alone;  he  is  fond 
of  his  son,  and  his  son  is  away  from  him." 

Her  soul  seemed  to  vibrate  through  her  voice;  to  d'Arthez 
it  was  a  revelation  of  a  divine  sensitiveness  to  another's  pain. 
It  touched  him  to  the  quick.  His  lover's  eagerness  to  read 


366  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

her  became,  as  it  were,  a  piece  of  curious  literary  and 
scientific  inquiry.  If  he  could  only  know  the  height  of  her 
woman's  greatness;  the  full  extent  of  the  injuries  forgiven; 
and  learn  how  near  the  angels  a  woman  of  the  world  may 
rise  while  others  accuse  her  of  frivolity  and  selfishness  and 
hardness  of  heart !  Then  he  remembered  that  once  before 
he  had  sought  to  know  this  angel's  heart,  and  how  he  had  been 
repulsed.  He  took  the  slender  transparent  hand  with  its  taper 
fingers  in  his,  and  said,  with  something  like  a  tremor  in  his 
voice,  "Are  we  friends  enough  now  for  you  to  tell  me  what 
you  have  suffered?  Old  troubles  must  count  for  something 
in  your  musings." 

"Yes,"  said  the  fair  Diane,  prolonging  the  one  syllable; 
Tulou's  flute  never  sighed  forth  a  sweeter  sound.  Then  she 
drifted  again  into  musings,  her  eyes  clouded  over;  and  as 
Daniel  waited  in  anxious  suspense,  the  solemnity  of  the  mo- 
ment penetrated  his  being.  His  poet's  imagination  beheld 
the  cloud  veiling  the  sanctuary;  slowly  the  obscurity  would 
clear  away,  and  he  should  behold  the  wounded  lamb  lying  at 
the  feet  of  God. 

"Well?"  he  said  softly  and  quietly. 

Diane  looked  into  his  face  with  its  look  of  tender  entreaty, 
then  her  eyes  fell  slowly,  and  the  lashes  drooped;  the  move- 
ment was  a  revelation  of  the  noblest  delicacy.  A  man  must 
have  been  a  monster  to  imagine  that  there  could  be  a  taint 
of  hypocrisy  in  the  graceful  curve  of  the  throat,  as  Diane 
raised  her  little  dainty  head  to  send  a  glance  into  the  very 
depths  of  those  hungry  eyes. 

"Can  I?  and  ought  I?"  she  began,  with  a  certain  hesita- 
tion, and  her  face  wore  a  sublime  expression  of  dreamy  ten- 
derness as'  she  gazed  at  d'Arthez.  "Men  keep  faith  so  little 
in  such  things.  They  feel  so  little  bound  to  secrecy." 

"Ah !  but  if  you  cannot  trust  me,  why  am  I  here  ?"  he 
cried. 

"Ah !  my  friend,  does  a  woman  calculate  when  she  binds 
herself  to  a  friendship  for  life?"  answered  Diane,  and  there 
was  all  the  charm  of  an  involuntary  confession  about  her 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  367 

words.  "It  is  not  a  question  of  refusing  you  (what  can  I 
refuse  to  you?) ;  but  what  would  you  think  of  me  if  I  should 
speak  ?  Willingly  I  would  tell  you  of  my  position,  a  strange 
one  at  my  age;  but  what  would  you  think  of  a  wife  who 
should  lay  bare  the  wounds  dealt  to  her  by  her  own  husband, 
and  betray  the  secrets  of  another?  Turenne  kept  his  word 
with  thieves;  ought  I  not  to  show  the  honor  of  a  Turenne 
towards  those  who  tortured  me?" 

"Have  you  given  your  word  to  any  one?" 

"M.  de  Cadignan  thought  it  unnecessary  to  ask  for  secrecy. 
So  you  would  have  more  of  me  than  myself  ?  Ah !  tyrant, 
am  I  to  bury  my  honesty  in  you?"  and  her  glance  made  the 
pretended  confidence  seem  something  greater  than  the  gift 
of  her  person. 

"You  rate  me  rather  too  low  if  you  can  fear  any  wrong 
whatsoever  from  me,"  he  said  with  ill-disguised  bitterness. 

"Forgive  me,  my  friend,"  she  said.  She  took  his  hand  in 
hers,  caressing  it  with  a  most  loving  soft  touch  of  her  fingers. 
"I  know  all  your  worth.  You  have  told  me  the  story  of  your 
life;  it  is  a  noble,  a  beautiful  story;  it  is  sublime,  it  is  worthy 
of  your  name ;  perhaps  you  think  I  owe  you  mine  in  return  ? 
But  at  this  very  moment  I  am  afraid  of  lowering  myself  in 
your  eyes  by  telling  secrets  that  are  not  mine  only.  And, 
poet  and  lonely  thinker  as  you  are,  perhaps  you  may  not  be- 
lieve in  the  horrors  of  worldly  life.  Oh !  when  you  invent 
your  tragedies,  you  little  know  what  tragedies  are  going  on 
in  many  an  apparently  closely  united  family !  You  do  not 
imagine  the  extent  of  the  wretchedness  beneath  the  gilding." 

"I  know  all,"  he  cried.. 

"No,  nothing,"  she  answered.  "Ought  a  daughter  to  be- 
tray her  mother?" 

At  these  words  of  hers,  d'Arthez  felt  as  if  he  had  lost  his/ 
way  in  darkness  among  the  Alps,  and  found,  with  the  first.1 
glimpse  of  dawn,  that  he  stood  on  the  very  edge  of  a  bottom-* 
less  precipice.  He  looked  with  dazed  eyes  at  the  Princess, 
and  a  cold  chill  crept  over  him.  For  a  moment  Diane  thought 
that  the  man  of  ge.iius  was  a  weakling;  but  a  flash  in  his 
eyes  reassured  her 


368  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

"And  now,  you  are  almost  like  a  judge  for  me,"  she  said 
despairingly.  "And  I  may  speak,  for  every  slandered 
creature  has  a  right  to  prove  its  innocence.  I  have  been, 
nay — if  any  one  remembers  a  poor  recluse,  a  woman  forced 
by  the  world  to  renounce  the  world — I  am  still  accused  of 
such  light  conduct,  of  so  many  sins,  that  I  may  be  forgiven 
for  putting  myself  in  the  true  light  for  the  heart  in  which 
I  find  a  refuge  from  which  I  shall  not  be  driven  forth.  It 
has  always  seemed  to  me  that  self-justification  tells  heavily 
against  innocence;  for  that  reason  I  have  always  scorned  to 
defend  myself;  to  whom,  indeed,  could  I  speak?  Painful 
things  like  these  can  only  be  confided  to  God,  or  to  some  one 
very  near  Him,  to  a  priest  or  to  a  second  self.  Ah,  well, 
if  my  secrets  are  not  there,"  she  added,  laying  a  hand  on 
d'Arthez's  breast,  "as  they  are  here"  (bending  the  busk  of 
her  corset  with  her  fingers),  "}rou  cannot  be  the  great 
d'Arthez,  and  I  have  been  mistaken  in  you." 

D'Arthez's  eyes  filled,  and  Diane  drank  in  those  tears ;  she 
gave  him  a  sidelong  glance  with  steady  eyes  and  unquivering 
eyelids.  It  was  as  deft  and  neat  as  a  cat's  spring  on  a  mouse. 
Then,  for  the  first  time,  after  sixty  days  of  protocols,  d'Arthez 
took  the  warm,  moist  hand,  carried  it  to  his  lips,  and  set  a 
kiss  upon  it — a  slow,  long  kiss,  drawn  from  the  wrist  to  the 
finger-tips,  taken  with  such  delicate  rapture  that  the  Princess, 
bending  her  head,  augured  very  well  of  literature.  In  her 
opinion,  men  of  genius  ought  to  love  more  perfectly  than 
men  of  the  world,  coxcombs,  diplomates,  or  even  military  men, 
though  these  certainly  have  nothing  else  to  do.  Diane  had 
had  experience.  She  knew  that  a  man's  character  as  a  lover  is 
revealed  by  very  small  signs  and  tokens.  If  a  woman  is 
learned  in  this  lore,  she  can  tell  from  a  mere  gesture  what  she 
has  to  expect;  much  as  Cuvier  could  examine  a  fragment  of 
a  fossil  foot,  and  say,  "This  belonged  to  an  animal  that  lived 
so  many  thousand  years  ago;  its  habit  was  amphibious,  car- 
nivorous, herbivorous,  or  what  not ;  it  had  or  had  not  horns, 
and  so  forth."  She  felt  sure  that  the  imagination  which 
d'Arthez  put  into  his  literary  style  would  show  itself  in  his 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  3G9 

love;  so  she  held  it  expedient  to  bring  him  to  the  highest 
degree  of  passion  and  belief  in  her.  She  drew  her  hand  back 
at  once,  with  a  magnificent  gesture  fraught  with  emotion. 
If  she  had  said  in  words,  "No  more  of  that,  you  will  kill  me !" 
she  could  not  have  spoken  more  forcibly.  For  a  moment  her 
eyes  rested  upon  his;  joy  and  fear  and  prudery  and  confi- 
dence and  languor;  a  vague  longing  and  something  of  a 
maiden's  shyness  were  mingled  in  their  expression.  For  that 
moment  she  was  a  girl  of  twenty.  She  had  prepared,  you 
may  be  sure,  for  that  hour's  comedy;  never  had  woman 
dressed  herself  with  such  art;  and  now,  as  she  sat  in  her 
great  chair,  she  looked  like  a  flower  ready  to  open  out  at 
the  first  kiss  of  the  sun.  Eeal  or  artificial,  whichever  she 
was,  she  intoxicated  Daniel. 

And  here,  if  it  is  permissible  to  hazard  a  personal  opinion, 
let  us  confess  that  it  would  be  delightful  to  be  thus  deceived 
for  as  long  as  possible.  Talma  on  the  stage  certainly  rose 
far  above  nature  many  a  time ;  but  is  not  the  Princesse  de 
Cadignan  the  greatest  actress  of  our  day?  Nothing  was 
wanting  to  her  save  an  attentive  audience.  But,  unfor- 
tunately, women  disappear  in  stormy  epochs;  they  are  like 
water-lilies,  they  must  have  a  cloudless  sky  and  the  softest  of 
warm  breezes  if  they  are  to  blossom  and  spread  themselves 
before  our  enchanted  eyes. 

The  hour  had  come.  Diane  was  about  to  entangle  a  great 
man  in  the  inextricable  toils  of  a  romance  that  had  long 
been  growing;  and  he  was  to  listen  to  it  as  a  catechumen 
might  have  listened  to  an  epistle  from  one  of  the  apostles 
in  the  palmy  days  of  the  Christian  Church. 

"My  mother,  who  is  still  living  at  Uxelles,  married  me  in 
1814  to  M.  de  Maufrigneuse  when  I  was  seventeen  years  old 
(you  see,  rny  friend,  how  old  I  am).  She  made  the  match, 
not  out  of  love  for  me,  but  from  love  of  him.  He  was  the  only 
man  she  had  ever  cared  for;  so  she  repaid  him  in  this  way  for 
all  the  happiness  that  he  had  given  her.  Oh!  do  not  be 
shocked  by  the  ugly  combination ;  it  is  a  thing  that  often 
happens.  Some  womeia  put  their  lover  before  their  children 


370  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  TRINU'ESS 

just  as  most  women  are  mothers  rather  than  wives.  The  two 
instincts  of  wifely  love  and  motherhood,  developed  as  they 
are  by  social  conditions,  often  come  into  conflict  in  a  woman's 
heart.  One  of  them  must  necessarily  supplant  the  other 
unless  both  kinds  of  love  are  equally  strong,  as  sometimes 
happens  with  an  extraordinary  woman,  the  glory  of  our  sex. 
A  man  of  your  genius  surely  will  understand  these  things; 
fools  wonder  at  them,  yet  they  are  none  the  less  founded  in 
nature.  I  will  go  further,  they  are  justifiable  by  differences 
in  character,  temperament,  situation,  and  the  nature  of  the 
attachment.  If  I  myself,  for  instance,  at  this  moment, — 
after  twenty  years  of  misfortune,  and  disappointment,  and 
heavy  trials,  and  hollow  pleasures,  and  slander  which  I  could 
not  refute — if  I  were  offered  a  true  and  lasting  love,  might 
I  not  feel  ready  to  fling  myself  at  the  feet  of  the  man  who 
offered  it  ?  If  I  did,  would  not  the  world  condemn  me  ?  And 
yet,  surely  twenty  years  of  wretchedness  ought  to  buy  absolu- 
tion for  twelve  years  given  to  a  pure  and  hallowed  love — the 
twelve  years  of  life  that  remain  before  I  fade?  But  it  will 
not  be ;  I  am  not  foolish  enough  to  diminish  my  merits  in  the 
eyes  of  God.  I  have  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day 
until  evening;  I  will  finish  my  day;  I  shall  have  earned  my 
reward " 

"What  an  angel!"  thought  d'Arthez. 

"In  short,  though  the  Duchesse  d'Uxelles  cared  more  for 
M.  de  Maufrigneuse  than  for  the  poor  Diane  whom  you  see 
before  you,  I  have  never  borne  her  a  grudge.  My  mother 
had  scarcely  seen  me ;  she  had  forgotten  me ;  but  her  behavior 
to  me,  as  between  woman  and  woman,  was  bad ;  and  what  is 
bad  between  woman  and  woman  becomes  hateful  between 
mother  and  daughter.  Mothers  that  lead  such  a  life  as  the 
Duchesse  d'Uxelles  led  keep  their  daughters  at  a  distance. 
I  only  'came  out'  a  fortnight  before  my  marriage.  Judge  of 
my  innocence!  I  knew  nothing;  I  wa<=  incapable  of  guessing 
the  motives  that  brought  the  match  about.  I  had  a  fine  for- 
tune— sixty  thousand  livres  a  year  from  forests,  which  they 
either  could  not  sell  or  had  forgotten  to  sell  during  the  Revo- 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  571 

lution,  and  the  chateau  d'Anzy  in  the  Nivernais  to  which  the 
forest  belonged.  M.  de  Maufrigneuse  was  burdened  with 
debts.  If  I  afterwards  came  to  understand  what  debts  meant, 
at  the  time  of  my  marriage  I  was  too  completely  ignorant 
of  life  to  suspect  the  significance  of  the  word.  The  accumu- 
lated interest  of  my  fortune  went  to  pacify  my  husband's 
creditors. 

"M.  de  Maufrigneuse  was  thirty-eight  years  old  when  I  was 
married  to  him;  but  those  years  were  like  a  soldier's  cam- 
paigns; they  should  count  double.  Oh,  he  was  far  more  than 
seventy-six  years  old.  My  mother  at  the  age  of  forty  had  still 
some  pretensions  to  beauty;  and  I  found  that  I  was  be- 
tween jealousy  on  either  side.  What  a  life  I  led  for  the  next 
ten  years !  .  .  .  Ah !  if  people  but  knew  how  the  poor, 
much-suspected  young  wife  suffered !  To  be  watched  by  a 
mother  who  was  jealous  of  her  own  daughter!  Ah,  God! 
.  .  .  You  writers  of  tragedies  will  never  invent  a  drama 
so  dark  and  so  cruel !  I  think,  from  the  little  I  know  of 
literature,  that  a  play  as  a  rule  is  a  series  of  events,  con- 
versations, and  actions  which  lead  to  the  catastrophe;  but 
this  thing  of  which  I  am  speaking  to  you  is  a  most  dreadful 
catastrophe  without  end.  It  is  as  if  the  avalanche  that  fell 
this  morning  should  fall  again  at  night — and  yet  again  next 
morning.  A  cold  shudder  runs  through  me  while  I  speak 
of  it,  while  I  light  up  the  cavern  from  which  there  was  no 
escape,  the  cold,  gloomy  place  where  I  used  to  live.  If  you 
must  know  all,  the  birth  of  my  child — altogether  mine,  in- 
deed, for  you  must  surely  have  been  struck  by  his  likeness 
to  me? — he  has  my  hair,  my  eyes,  the  outline  of  my  face, 
my  mouth,  my  smile,  my  chin,  my  teeth — well,  my  child's 
birth  was  due  either  to  chance  or  to  some  agreement  between 
my  mother  and  my  husband.  For  long  after  my  marriage 
I  was  still  a  girl ;  I  was  abandoned,  so  to  speak,  directly 
afterwards;  I  was  a  mother,  but  a  girl  still.  The  Duchess 
was  pleased  to  prolong  the  period  of  ignorance,  and  to 
attain  this  end  a  mother  has  horrible  advantages.  As  for 
me,  a  poor,  little  creature  brought  up  like  a  mystic  rose 


372  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

in  a  convent,  I  knew  nothing  of  married  life,  I  developed 
late,  and  felt  very  happy;  I  rejoiced  over  the  good  un- 
derstanding and  the  harmony  that  prevailed  in  the  family. 
I  did  not  care  much  for  my  husband,  and  he  took  no  pains 
to  please  me;  and  at  length  my  thoughts  were  altogether 
diverted  from  me  by  the  first  joys  of  motherhood,  joys 
the  more  keenly  felt  because  I  had  no  suspicion  that  there 
could  be  any  others.  So  much  had  been  dinned  into  my 
?ars  about  the  respect  that  a  mother  owed  herself !  And 
besides,  a  girl  always  loves  to  'play  at  mamma.'  At  that  age 
a  child  is  as  good  as  a  doll.  I  was  so  proud  too  to  have  that 
lovely  flower,  for  Georges  was  a  lovely  child — a  wonder ! 
How  could  one  think  of  society  while  one  had  the  pleasure 
of  nursing  and  tending  a  little  angel  ?  I  adore  little  children 
while  they  are  quite  little  and  pink  and  white.  So  I  saw  no 
one  but  my  baby;  I  lived  with  him;  I  would  not  allow  his 
nurse  to  dress  or  undress  him  or  to  change  his  clothes.  The 
little  cares  that  grow  so  wearisome  to  the  mother  of  a  regi- 
ment of  babes  were  all  pure  pleasure  to  me.  But  after  three 
or  four  years,  as  I  am  not  altogether  a  fool,  the  light  broke  in 
upon  me  in  spite  of  all  the  pains  they  took  to  bandage  my 
eyes.  Can  you  imagine  me  when  the  awakening  came,  four 
years  afterwards,  in  1819.  Deux  Freres  ennemis  is  a  rose- 
water  tragedy  compared  with  the  dramatic  situation  in  which 
the  Duchess  and  I,  mother  and  daughter,  were  placed  with 
regard  to  each  other.  Then  I  defied  both  her  and  my  hus- 
band, by  flirting  publicly  in  a  way  that  made  people  talk. 
Heaven  knows  what  they  did  not  say.  You  can  understand, 
my  friend,  that  the  men  with  whom  I  was  accused  of  light 
conduct  were  simply  daggers  that  I  used  to  defend  myself 
against  the  enemy.  My  thoughts  were  so  full  of  revenge 
that  T  did  not  feel  the  wounds  that  I  dealt  myself.  I  was 
innocent  as  a  child;  people  looked  upon  me  as  a  depraved 
woman,  one  of  the  worst  of  women.  I  knew  nothing  of  this. 
"The  world  is  very  stupid,  very  ignorant,  very  blind.  Peo- 
ple only  penetrate  into  the  secrets  that  interest  them  and  serve 
their  spite;  but  when  the  greatest  and  nobles  things  are  to 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  373 

be  seen,  they  put  their  hands  before  their  eyes.  And  yet,  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  pride  that  thrilled  through  me  and  shook 
me  in  those  days,  the  indignant  innocence  in  my  expression 
and  attitudes,  would  have  been  a  godsend  to  a  great  painter. 
The  tempest  of  anger  in  me  must  have  flashed  like  lightning 
through  a  ballroom;  my  disdain  must  have  poured  out  like 
a  flood.  It  was  wasted  passion.  Nothing  save  the  indignation 
of  twenty  years  can  rise  to  such  sublime  tragic  heights.  As 
we  grow  older  we  cannot  feel  indignant,  we  are  tired ;  evil  is 
not  a  surprise ;  we  grow  cowardly,  we  are  afraid.  As  for  me,  I 
made  fine  progress.  I  acted  like  the  veriest  fool;  I  bore  the 
blame  of  wrongdoing,  and  had  none  of  the  pleasure.  I  en- 
joyed compromising  myself.  I  played  child's  tricks. 

"I  went  to  Italy  with  a  hare-brained  boy;  he  made  love 
to  me,  and  I  threw  him  over;  but  when  I  found  out  that  he 
had  got  himself  into  a  scrape  on  my  account  (he  had  forged  a 
bill),  I  hurried  to  the  rescue.  My  mother  and  my  husband, 
who  knew  the  secret  of  it  all,  kept  a  tight  hand  over  me 
as  an  extravagant  wife.  Oh !  that  time  I  went  to  the  King. 
Louis  XVIII.,  though  he  had  no  heart,  was  touched.  He 
gave  me  a  hundred  thousand  francs  out  of  the  privy  purse. 
The  Marquis  d'Esgrignon  (you  may  perhaps  have  met  him 
in  society,  he  married  a  very  rich  heiress  afterwards),  the 
Marquis  d'Esgrignon  was  rescued  from  the  depths  into  which 
he  plunged  for  me.  This  adventure,  brought  about  by  my 
heedlessness,  made  me  reflect.  I  saw  then  that  I  was  the  first 
to  suffer  from  my  revenge.  My  mother  and  husband  and 
father-in-law  had  every  one  on  their  side;  they  stood  to  all 
appearance  between  me  and  the  consequences  of  my  reckless- 
ness. My  mother  knew  that  I  was  far  too  proud,  too  great, 
too  truly  a  d'Uxelles,  to  do  anything  commonplace;  about 
this  time  she  grew  frightened  by  the  mischief  she  had  done. 
She  was  fifty-two  years  old.  She  left  Paris  and  went  to  live 
at  d'Uxelles.  Now  she  repents  of  her  sins  towards  me,  and 
expiates  them  by  the  most  extravagant  devotion  and  bound- 
less love.  But  in  1823  she  left  me  alone,  face  to  face  with 
M.  de  Maufrieneuse. 


374  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

"Oh,  my  friend,  you  men  cannot  know  what  an  elderly 
man  of  pleasure  is;  nor  what  a  house  is  like  when  a  man  is 
accustomed  to  have  women  of  the  world  burning  incense 
before  him,  and  finds  neither  censer  nor  perfumes  at  home; 
when  he  is  dead  to  everything,  and  jealous  for  that  very  rea- 
son. When  M.  de  Maufrigneuse  was  mine  alone,  I  tried,  I 
tried  to  be  a  good  wife;  but  I  came  into  conflict  with  the  as- 
perities of  a  morose  temper,  with  all  the  fancies  of  an  effete 
voluptuary;  the  driveling  puerilities,  the  vain  self-sufficiency 
of  a  man  who  was,  to  tell  truth,  the  most  tedious,  maun- 
dering grumbler  in  the  world.  He  treated  me  like  a  little 
girl ;  it  gave  him  pleasure  to  humiliate  me  on  every  occasion, 
to  crush  me  with  the  bludgeon  of  his  experience,  and  to  show 
me  how  completely  ignorant  I  was.  He  mortified  me  at  every 
moment.  He  did  everything,  in  fact,  to  make  himself  de- 
testable and  to  give  me  a  right  to  deceive  him ;  but  for  three 
or  four  years  I  was  the  dupe  of  my  own  heart  and  my  desire 
to  do  right.  Do  you  know  what  a  shameful  speech  it  was  that 
urged  me  to  fresh  recklessness?  Could  you  imagine  the  su- 
preme lengths  to  which  slander  is  carried  in  society? — "The 
Duchesse  de  Maufrigneuse  has  gone  back  to  her  husband,' 
people  said. — 'Pooh!  out  of  sheer  depravity;  it  is  a  triumph 
to  quicken  the  dead,  nothing  else  remains  for  hei-  to  do,'  re- 
plied my  best  friend,  a  relative  at  whose  house  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  you." 

"Mme.  d'Espard !"  exclaimed  Daniel,  aghast. 

"Oh,  I  have  forgiven  her,  my  friend.  The  speech  was  ex- 
tremely clever,  to  go  no  further,  and  I  may  perhaps  have 
said  more  cruel  things  of  other  unhappy  women  who  were 
quite  as  pure  as  I  was." 

Again  d'Arthez  kissed  her  hands.  The  sainted  woman  had 
I  chopped  her  mother  to  pieces  and  served  her  up  to  him;  the 
(Prince  de  Cadignan,  whose  acquaintance  we  have  previously 
made,  had  been  put  forward  as  an  Othello  of  the  blackest 
dye;  and  nor  she  was  acknowledging  her  faults  and  scourg- 
ing herself  vigorously — all  to  assume,  for  the  etyes  of  this 
guileless  man  of  letters,  that  virgin  estate  which  the  simplest 
woman  tries  at  all  costs  to  offer  to  her  lover. 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  375 

"You  can  understand,  my  friend,  that  when  I  went  back 
into  the  world,  it  was  to  make  a  sensation,  and  I  intended 
to  make  a  sensation.  There  were  fresh  struggles  to  be  gone 
through;  I  had  to  gain  independence  and  to  counteract  M. 
de  Maufrigneuse.  So  I  began  a  life  of  dissipation  for  new 
reasons.  I  tried  to  forget  myself,  I  tried  to  forget  real  life 
in  a  life  of  dreams;  I  shone  in  society,  I  entertained;  I  was 
a  Princess,  and  I  got  into  debt.  At  home  I  found  forgetful- 
ness  in  sleep.  Beautiful,  high-spirited,  and  reckless,  I  began 
a  new  life  in  the  world;  but  in  the  weary  struggle  between 
dreams  and  reality,  I  ran  through  my  fortune. 

"The  revolt  of  J830  came  just  as  this  chapter  out  of  the 
Arabian  Nights  drew  to  an  end;  and  just  at  that  time  I  found 
the  pure  and  sacred  love  which  I  longed  to  know.  (I  am 
frank  with  you!)  It  was  not  unnatural  (admit)  that  when 
a  woman's  heart  had  been  repressed  again  and  again  by  fate, 
it  should  awaken  at  last  at  the  age  when  a  woman  sees  that 
she  has  been  cheated  of  her  due  ?  I  saw  that  so  many  women 
about  me  were  happy  through  love.  Oh !  why  was  Michel 
Chrestien  so  much  in  awe  of  me?  There  again  is  another 
irony  in  my  life.  There  was  no  help  for  it.  When  the  crash 
came  I  had  lost  everything;  I  had  not  a  single  illusion  loft : 
I  had  pressed  out  the  last  drops  of  all  experience,  but  of  one 
fruit  I  had  not  tasted,  and  I  had  neither  taste  nor  teeth  loft 
for  it.  In  short,  by  the  time  I  was  obliged  to  leave  the  world 
I  was  disenchanted.  There  was  something  providential  in 
this,  as  in  the  insensibility  that  prepares  us  for  death,"  she 
added,  with  a  gesture  full  of  religious  unction. 

"Everything  that  happened  just  then  helped  me,"  she  con- 
tinued; "the  downfall  and  ruin  of  the  Monarchy  buried  me 
out  of  sight.  My  son  makes  up  to  me  for  a  great  deal. 
Motherhood  compensates  us  for  all  our  thwarted  powers  of 
loving.  People  are  astonished  by  my  retreat,  but  I  have  found 
happiness.  Oh !  if  you  but  knew  how  happy  the  poor 
creature  before  you  has  grown.  The  joys  which  I  have  not 
known,  and  shall  never  know,  are  all  forgotten  in  the  joy  of 
sacrificing  myself  for  my  son's  sake.  Who  could  think  that 


376  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

life,  for  the  Princesse  de  Cadignan,  would  be  summed  up  by 
a  wretched  marriage-night,  the  adventures  with  which  she  is 
credited,  and  a  childish  defiance  of  two  dark  passions?  No- 
body could  believe  it.  At  this  day  I  am  afraid  of  everything. 
I  remember  so  many  delusions  and  misfortunes  that  I  should 
be  sure  to  repulse  genuine  feeling,  and  pure  love  for  love's 
sake;  just  as  rich  men  repulse  the  deserving  poor  because 
some  hypocritical  knave  has  disgusted  them  with  charity. 
All  this  is  horrible,  is  it  not?  But,  believe  me,  this  that  I 
have  told  you  is  the  history  of  many  another  woman." 

The  last  words  were  spoken  in  light  jesting  tones,  which 
recalled  the  flippant  woman  of  fashion.  D'Arthez  was  dazed. 
The  convict  sent  to  the  hulks  for  robbery  and  murder  with 
aggravating  circumstances,  or  for  forging  a  signature  on  a 
bill,  was  in  his  eyes  a  saintly  innocent  compared  with  men 
and  women  of  the  world.  The  atrocious  jeremiad  had  been 
forged  in  the  arsenal  of  falsehood,  and  dipped  in  the  waters 
of  the  Parisian  Styx;  there  was  an  unmistakable  ring  of 
truth  in  the  Duchess'  tones.  D'Arthez  gazed  at  her  for  a 
while;  and  she  (adorable  woman)  lay  in  the  depths  of  her 
great  chair,  her  white  hands  resting  on  the  arms  like  drops 
of  dew  at  the  edge  of  a  flower-petal.  She  was  overcome  by 
her  own  revelations;  she  seemed  to  have  lived  again  through 
all  her  past  sorrows  as  she  spoke  of  them,  and  now  sank  ex- 
hausted. She  was  an  angel  of  melancholy  in  fact. 

Suddenly  she  sat  upright,  and  raised  her  hand,  while 
lightnings  blazed  in  the  eyes  that  were  supposed  to  be  purified 
by  twenty  years  of  chastity.  "Judge  of  the  impression  that 
your  friend's  love  must  have  made  on  me !"  she  cried,  "but  by 
the  savage  irony  of  fate — or  was  it  God's  irony? — he  died; 
he  died  when  (I  confess  it)  I  was  so  thirsty  for  love  that  if 
a  man  had  been  worthy  of  me,  he  would  have  found  me  weak ; 
he  died  to  save  the  life  of  another,  and  that  other  was — who 
but  M.  de  Cadignan?  Are  you  surprised  to  find  me  pen- 
sive?" '  ' 

It  was  the  last  stroke.  Poor  d'Arthez  could  bear  no  more. 
He  fell  on  his  knees  before  her,  he  hid  his  face  in  her  hands, 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  377 

and  his  tears  fell  fast — happy  tears,  such  as  angels  might 
shed,  if  angels  weep.  And  since  Daniel's  face  was  hidden, 
Mme.  de  Cadignan  could  allow  a  mischievous  smile  of  tri- 
umph to  steal  across  her  mouth,  a  smile  such  as  monkeys 
might  summon  up  over  a  piece  of  superlative  mischief,  if 
monkeys  laugh. 

"Aha !  I  have  him  fast !"  thought  she. 

And  true  enough,  she  had  him  fast. 

"Then  you  are —  ''  he  began,  raising  that  fine  head  of 
his  to  gaze  lovingly  into  her  eyes. 

"Virgin  and  martyr,"  she  finished  his  sentence  for  him, 
smiling  at  the  commonplace  phrase,  but  her  cruel  smile  lent 
an  enchanting  significance  to  the  words.  "I  laugh,"  she  said, 
"because  I  am  thinking  of  the  Princess  as  the  world  knows 
her,  of  that  Duchesse  de  Maufrigneuse  to  whom  the  world 
assigns  de  Marsay  as  a  lover;  and  the  villainous  political 
bravo,  de  Trailles ;  and  empty-headed  little  d'Esgrignon,  and 
Rastignac,  and  Rubempre,  and  ambassadors  and  Cabinet 
ministers  and  Russian  generals, — and  all  Europe,  for  any- 
thing I  know.  There  has  been  much  gossip  about  this  album 
that  I  have  made;  people  believe  that  all  my  admirers  were 
my  lovers.  Oh !  it  is  shocking !  I  cannot  think  how  I  can 
suffer  a  man  at  my  feet;  I  ought  to  despise  them  all;  that 
should  be  my  creed." 

She  rose  and  stood  in  the  window;  her  manner  of  going 
was  full  of  magnificent  suggestion. 

D'Arthez  stayed  on  the  hearth-stool  where  he  had  been 
sitting.  He  did  not  dare  to  follow  the  Princess,  but  he 
gazed  at  her,  he  heard  her  use  her  handkerchief.  It  was  a 
pure  matter  of  form ;  what  is  a  princess  that  blows  her  nose  ? 
Diane  tried  to  do  the  impossible  to  confirm  d'Arthez's  belief 
in  her  sensibility.  His  angel  was  in  tears !  He  flew  to  her, 
put  his  arm  about  her  waist,  and  held  her  tightly  to  him. 

"No,  no,  leave  me,"  she  murmured  faintly.  "I  have  toft 
many  doubts  to  be  good  for  anything.  The  task  of  recon- 
ciling me  with  life  is  beyond  a  man's  strength." 

"Diane !  I  will  give  you  love  for  all  the  life  that  you  have 
lost!" 


878  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

"No,  do  not  talk  to  me  like  that/'  she  answered.  "I  feel 
guilty;  I  am  trembling  at  this  moment  as  if  I  had  committed 
the  worst  of  sins." 

Diane  had  recovered  a  little  maid's  innocence,  yet  never- 
theless she  stood  before  him  august  and  great  and  noble  as 
a  queen.  It  was  a  clever  manoeuvre,  so  clever  that  she  had 
wheeled  round  from  seeming,  and  reached  the  actual  truth ; 
and  as  for  d'Arthez,  no  words  will  describe  the  effect  produced 
by  it  upon  his  inexperience  and  open  nature.  Great  man  of 
letters  as  he  was,  he  stood  dumb  with  admiration,  a  passive 
spectator  waiting  for  a  word,  while  the  Princess  waited  for 
a  kiss.  But  she  had  grown  too  sacred  to  him  for  that.  Diane 
felt  cold  in  the  window ;  her  feet  were  freezing ;  she  went  back 
to  her  old  position  in  the  chair. 

"He  will  be  a  long  while  about  it,"  thought  she,  looking 
at  Daniel  with  a  proud  forehead  and  face  sublime  with  virtue. 

"Is  she  a  woman?"  the  profound  observer  of  human  na- 
ture was  asking  of  himself.  "How  should  one  act  with  her?" 

They  spent,  their  time  till  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  in 
the  fond,  foolish  talk  that  such  women  as  the  Princess  can 
turn  into  adorable  discourse.  She  was  too  old,  she  said,  too 
faded,  too  much  of  a  wreck;  d'Arthez  proved  to  her  that  she 
had  the  most  delicate,  soft,  and  fragrant  skin;  delicious  to 
touch,  and  white  and  fair  to  see,  of  which  things  she  was 
fully  convinced  in  her  own  mind.  She  was  young;  she  was  in 
her  flower.  Her  beauty  was  disputed,  charm  by  charm,  detail 
by  detail,  with — "Do  you  think  so? — You  are  raving! — This 
is  desire. — In  a  fortnight  you  will  see  me  as  I  am. — In  truth. 
I  am  verging  on  forty;  how  should  any  one  love  a  woman  of 
my  age?" 

D'Arthez  was  impetuous  as  a  schoolboy,  his  eloquence  was 
sown  thickly  with  the  most  extravagant  words.  And  the  Prin- 
cess, listening,  laughed  within  herself,  while  she  heard  the 
ingenious  writer  talking  like  a  love-sick  sub-lieutenant,  and 
seemed  to  drink  in  the  nonsense,  and  to  be  quite  touched  by 
it. 

Out  in  the  street  d'Arthez  asked  himself  whether  he  ought 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  379 

not  to  have  been  less  in  awe  of  her.  As  he  went  through  the 
strange  confidences  that  had  been  made  to  him — naturally, 
they  have  been  much  abridged  and  condensed  here,  for  the 
mellifluous  utterances  given  in  full,  with  their  appropriate 
commentary  of  expression  and  gesture,  would  fill  a  volume — 
as  he  looked  through  his  memory,  the  plausibility  of  the 
romance,  the  depths  below  the  surface,  and  the  Princess' 
tones,  all  combined  to  foil  the  retrospective  sagacity  of  an 
acute  but  straightforward  man. 

"It  is  true,"  he  told  himself  as  he  lay  wide  awake,  "it  is 
true  that  there  are  tragedies  in  society.  Society  hides  such 
horrors  as  this  beneath  the  flowers  of  delicate  luxury,  the  em- 
bellishments of  scandal,  and  the  sparkle  of  anecdotes.  We 
cannot  imagine  anything  that  has  not  happened.  Poor 
Diane !  Michel  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  enigma  when  he 
told  us  that  there  were  volcanic  fires  under  the  ice!  And 
Bianchon  and  Rastignac  are  right  too.  When  a  man  can  find 
his  high  ideals  and  the  intoxication  of  desire  both  blended  in 
the  love  of  a  woman — a  woman  of  quick  intelligence  and  re- 
finement and  dainty  ways — it  must  surely  be  unspeakable 
bliss." 

He  tried  to  fathom  the  love  in  his  heart,  and  found  no 
limits. 

Towards  two  o'clock  next  day,  Mme.  d'Espard  called  on 
the  Princess.  An  intense  curiosity  brought  her.  For  more 
than  a  month  she  had  neither  seen  her  friend  nor  received  a 
single  tell-tale  word.  Nothing  could  be  more  amusing  than 
the  first  half-hour  of  the  conversation  between  two  daughters 
of  Eve  endowed  with  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent.  Diane  de 
Cadignan  shunned  the  subject  of  d'Arthez  as  she  would  avoid 
a  yellow  dress.  And  the  Marquise  wheeled  about  the  question 
as  a  Bedouin  Arab  might  hover  about  a  rich  caravan.  Diane 
enjoyed  the  situation;  the  Marquise  grew  furious.  Diane 
was  watching  her  opportunity;  she  meant  to  turn  her  dear 
friend  to  account  as  a  sporting  dog.  And  one  of  the  two 
celebrated  women  was  more  than  a  match  for  the  other.  The 
Princess  rose  a  head  above  the  Marquise ;  and  Mme.  d'Espard 


380  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

in  her  own  mind  admitted  her  inferiority.  Herein,  possibly, 
lay  the  secret  of  the  bond  between  them.  The  weaker  spirit 
of  the  two  lay  low,  feigning  an  attachment,  watching  for  the 
moment  so  long  looked  for  by  the  weak,  the  chance  of  spring- 
ing at  the  throat  of  the  strong,  and  leaving  the  impress  of  one 
joyous  bite.  Diane  saw  this  perfectly  well.  The  rest  of  the 
world  was  completely  deceived  by  the  amenities  that  passed 
between  the  two  dear  friends. 

The  Princess  waited;  and  as  soon  as  she  saw  the  question 
rise  to  her  friend's  lips,  she  said,  "Well,  dear ;  I  owe  a  great, 
complete,  and  boundless  happiness  to  you." 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

"Do  you  remember  our  ruminations  three  months  ago, 
as  we  sat  out  in  the  garden  on  the  bench  under  the  jessamine 
in  the  sun?  Ah!  well;  no  one  can  love  like  a  man  of  genius. 
I  would  willingly  say  of  my  great  Daniel  d'Arthez  as 
Catherine  de'  Medici  said  of  the  Duke. of  Alva,  'One  salmon's 
head  is  worth  all  the  frogs'  heads  in  the  world.'  * 

"I  am  not  at  all  surprised  that  you  do  not  come  to  me," 
said  Mme.  d'Espard. 

"Promise  me,  my  angel,  if  he  goes  to  see  you,  not  to  say 
a  word  of  me,"  continued  the  Princess,  as  she  took  the  Mar- 
quise's hand.  "I  am  happy — oh!  happy  beyond  words — and 
you  know  how  far  an  epigram  or  a  jest  may  go  in  society. 
A  word  can  be  fatal ;  some  people  can  put  so  much  poison  in  a 
word.  If  you  only  knew  how  I  have  wished  during  the  past 
week  that  you  too  might  find  such  a  passionate  love !  And, 
indeed,  it  is  sweet;  it  is  a  glorious  triumph  for  us  women  if 
we  may  finish  our  lives  as  women  thus,  with  an  ardent,  pure, 
complete,  whole-hearted,  and  devoted  love  to  soothe  us  at  last 
after  so  long  a  quest." 

"Why  ask  me  to  be  true  to  my  best  friend?"  said  Mme, 
d'Espard.  "Can  you  think  me  capable  of  playing  you  a  vile 
trick?" 

"When  a  woman  possesses  such  a  treasure,  it  is  so  natural 
to  fear  to  lose  it,  that  the  thought  of  fear  occurs  to  her  at 
once.  I  am  absurd.  Forgive  me,  dear." 


THE  SECRETS  OP  A  PRINCESS  381 

A  few  moments  later,  the  Marquise  took  leave. 

"What  a  character  she  will  give  me!"  thought  the  Prin- 
cess as  she  watched  her  departure.  "But  I  will  save  her  the 
trouble  of  tearing  Daniel  away;  I  will  send  him  to  her  at 
once." 

Daniel  came  in  a  few  minutes  afterwards.  In  the  middle 
of  an  interesting  conversation  the  Princess  suddenly  inter- 
rupted him,  laying  her  beautiful  hand  on  his  arm. 

"Forgive  me,  my  friend,  but  I  might  forget  to  mention 
something;  it  seems  a  silly  trifle,  yet  it  is  a  matter  of  the 
utmost  importance.  You  have  not  set  foot  in  Mme.  d'Espard's 
house  since  that  day — a  thousand  times  blessed ! — when  I 
met  you  for  the  first  time.  Go  to  her;  not  out  of  politeness, 
but  for  my  sake.  Perhaps  she  may  be  offended  with  me ;  she 
may  possibly  have  chanced  to  hear  that  you  have  scarcely 
left  my  house,  so  to  speak,  since  her  dinner-party.  And  be- 
sides, my  friend,  I  should  not  like  you  to  give  up  your  con- 
nections and  society,  nor  your  work  and  occupations.  I  should 
be  more  outrageously  slandered  than  ever.  What  would  they 
not  say  of  me? — 'That  I  am  holding  you  in  a  leash,  that  I 
am  monopolizing  you,  that  I  am  afraid  of  comparisons, 
that  I  want  to  be  talked  about  even  now,  and  I  am  taking 
good  care  to  keep  my  conquest,  for  I  know  that  it  will 
be  the  last' — and  so  on  and  so  on.  Who  could  guess  that  you 
are  my  one  and  only  friend?  If  you  love  me  as  you  tell  me 
you  do,  you  will  make  people  believe  that  we  are  to  each 
other  as  a  brother  and  sister  and  nothing  more. — Go  on." 

There  was  an  ineffable  sweetness  in  the  way  in  which  this 
charming  woman  arranged  her  robes  so  as  to  fall  gracefully; 
it  always  schooled  d'Arthez  into  obedience.  A  vague,  subtle 
refinement  in  her  discourse  touched  him  even  to  tears.  Other 
women  might  haggle  and  dispute  the  way  inch  by  inch,  in 
sofa-converse ;  the  Princess  rose  at  once  above  all  ignoble  and 
vulgar  bargainings  to  a  height  of  greatness  unknown  before. 
She  had  no  need  to  utter  a  word,  they  understood  their  union 
nobly.  It  should  be  wben  they  willed  it  upon  either  side; 
there  was  no  yesterday,  to-day,  or  to-morrow  for  them :  there 


382  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

should  be  none  of  the  interminable  hoisting  of  the  pennon 
styled  "sacrifice"  by  ordinary  women,  doubtless  because  they 
know  how  much  they  are  certain  to  lose,  while  a  woman  who 
has  everything  to  gain  knows  that  the  festival  will  be  her 
day  of  triumph. 

Diane's  words  had  been  vague  as  a  promise,  sweet  as  hope, 
and  binding,  nevertheless,  as  a  pledge.  Let  it  be  admitted 
at  once,  the  only  women  who  can  rise  thus  high  are  illustrious 
and  supreme  deceivers  like  Diane;  they  are  queens  still  when 
other  women  find  a  lord  and  master.  By  this  time  d'Arthez 
had  learned  to  measure  the  distance  that  separates  these  few 
from  the  many.  The  Princess  was  always  beautiful,  never 
wanting  to  herself.  Perhaps  the  secret  lies  in  the  art  wit'li 
which  a  great  lady  can  lay  veil  after  veil  aside,  till  in  this 
position  she  stands  like  an  antique  statue.  To  retain  a  single 
shred  would  be  indecent.  The  bourgeoise  always  tries  to 
clothe  herself. 

Broken  to  the  yoke  by  tenderness,  and  sustained  by  the 
noblest  virtues,  d'Arthez  obediently  went  to  Mme  d'Espard's. 
On  him  she  exerted  her  most  charming  coquetry.  She  was 
very  careful  not  to  mention  the  Princess'  name;  she  merely 
asked  him  to  dine  with  her  at  an  early  date. 

On  that  day  d'Arthez  found  a  large  party  invited  to  meet 
him.  The  Marquise  had  asked  Rastignac,  Blondet,  the  Mar- 
quis d'Ajuda-Pinto,  Maxime  de  Trailles,  the  Marquis 
d'Esgrignon,  the  two  Vandenesses,  du  Tillet  (one  of  the 
richest  bankers  in  Paris),  the  Baron  de  jSTucingen,  Nathan, 
Lady  Dudley,  one  or  two  of  the  wiliest  attaches  from  the  em- 
bassy, and  the  Chevalier  d'Espard.  The  Chevalier,  be  it 
Baid,  was  one  of  the  most  astute  personages  in  the  room,  and 
counted  for  a  good  half  in  the  schemes  of  his  sister-in-law. 

Maxime  de  Trailles  turned  to  d'Arthez. 

"You  see  a  good  deal  of  the  Princesse  de  Cadignan,  don't 
you?"  he  asked,  with  a  laugh. 

D'Arthez  replied  with  a  stiff  inclination  of  the  head. 
Maxime  de  Trailles  was  a  bravo  of  a  superior  order;  he  feared 
neither  God  nor  man ;  he  shrank  from  nothing.  Women  had 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  383 

loved  him,  he  had  ruined  them,  and  made  them  pledge  their 
diamonds  to  pay  his  debts ;  but  his  shortcomings  were  covered 
by  a  brilliant  veneer,  by  charming  manners,  and  a  diabolical 
cleverness.  Everybody  feared  him,  everybody  despised  him; 
but  nobody  was  bold  enough  to  treat  him  with  anything  short 
of  extreme  civility.  He  could  see  nothing  of  all  this,  or  pos- 
sibly he  lent  himself  to  the  general  dissimulation.  De  Mar- 
say  had  helped  him  to  reach  the  highest  elevation  that  he 
could  attain.  De  Marsay,  having  known  Maxime  from  of 
old,  judged  him  capable  of  fulfilling  certain  diplomatic 
functions  in  the  secret  service  of  which  Maxime  had,  in  fact, 
acquitted  himself  to  admiration.  D'Arthez  had  been  mixed 
up  in  political  affairs  for  some  time  past ;  he  knew  enough 
of  the  man  to  fathom  his  character;  and  he  alone,  it  may 
be,  was  sufficiently  high  minded  to  say  aloud  what  others 
.thought. 

"It  is  for  her,  no  tout,  dat  you  neklect  de  Chaimper,"  put 
in  the  Baron  de  Nucingen. 

"Ah!  a  man  could  not  set  foot  in  the  house  of  a  more 
dangerous  woman,"  the  Marquis  d'Esgrignon  exclaimed, 
lowering  his  voice.  "My  disgraceful  marriage  is  entirely 
owing  to  her." 

"Dangerous?"  repeated  Mme.  d'Espard.  "You  must  not 
say  such  things  of  my  best  friend.  Anything  that  I  have 
ever  heard  or  seen  of  the  Princess  seemed  to  me  to  be 
prompted  by  the  highest  motives." 

"Pray,  let  the  Marquis  say  his  say,"  said  Rastignac. 
"When  a  man  has  been  thrown  by  a  mettled  horse,  he  will 
pick  faults  in  the  animal  and  sell  it." 

The  Marquis  d'Esgrignon  was  nettled  by  the  speech.  He 
looked  across  at  Daniel  d'Arthez. 

"Monsieur  is  not  on  such  terms  with  the  Princess  that  we 
may  not  speak  of  her,  I  hope?" 

D'Arthez  was  silent;  and  d'Esgrignon,  who  did  not  lack 
wit,  retorted  to  Eastignac  with  an  apologetic  portrait  of 
Mme.  de  Cadignan.  His  sketch  set  the  table  in  good-humor; 
but  as  d'Arthez  was  absolutely  in  the  dark,  he  bent  over  to 
Mme.  de  Montcornet  and  asked  her  to  explain  the  joke. 


384  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

"Well,  judging  by  the  good  opinion  that  you  have  of  the 
Princess,  you  are  an  exception;  but  all  the  other  guests,  it 
would  seem,  have  been  in  her  good  graces." 

"I  can  assure  you  that  that  view  is  totally  false,"  returned 
Daniel. 

"Yet  here  is  M.  d'Esgrignon,  of  a  noble  Perche  family, 
who  was  utterly  ruined  for  her  twelve  years  ago,  and  all  but 
went  to  the  scaffold  besides." 

"I  know  about  it,"  said  d'Arthez.  "Mme.  de  Cadignan 
rescued  M.  d'Esgrignon  from  the  Assize  Court,  and  this  ia 
how  he  shows  his  gratitude  to-day." 

Mme.  de  Montcornet  stared  at  d'Arthez ;  she  looked  almost 
dazed  with  astonishment  and  curiosity.  Then  she  glanced  at 
Mme.  d'Espard,  as  who  should  say,  "He  is  bewitched!" 

During  this  short  conversation  Mme.  d'Espard  had  de- 
fended her  friend;  but  her  defence,  after  the  manner  of  a 
lightning  conductor,  had  drawn  down  the  tempest.  When 
d'Arthez  gave  his  attention  to  the  general  conversation,  Max- 
ime  de  Trailles  brought  out  his  epigram. 

"In  Diane's  case,  depravity  is  not  the  effect  but  the  cause ; 
perhaps  her  exquisite  naturalness  is  due  to  this;  she  does  not 
try  after  studied  effects;  she  invents  nothing.  She  brings 
you  out  the  most  subtle  refinements  as  the  sudden  inspira- 
tion of  the  most  artless  love;  and  you  cannot  help  believing 
her  too." 

The  phrase  might  have  been  prepared  for  a  man  of  d'Ar- 
thez's  calibre;  it  came  out  with  such  effect  that  it  was  like  a 
conclusion.  Nobody  said  any  more  of  the  Princess;  she 
seemed  to  be  disposed  of.  But  d'Arthez  looked  first  at  de 
Trailles  and  then  at  d'Esgrignon,  with  a  sarcastic  expres- 
sion. 

"She  took  a  leaf  out  of  a  man's  book,  that  has  been  her 
greatest  mistake,"  he  said.  "Like  a  man,  she  squanders  mar- 
riage jewels,  she  sends  her  lovers  to  the  money-lenders,  she 
ruins  orphans,  she  devours  dowries,  she  melts  down  old  cha"- 
teaux,  she  inspires  crimes — and  perhaps  commits  them  her- 
self—but  " 


THE  SECRETS  OP  A  PRINCESS  385 

Never  in  their  lives  had  either  of  the  two  personages  ad- 
dressed heard  language  so  much  to  the  purpose.  When  d'Ar- 
thez  came  to  a  pause  on  that  but,  the  whole  table  was  dum- 
founded;  the  spectators  sat,  fork  in  hand,  looking  from  the 
intrepid  man  of  letters  to  the  Princess'  treacherous  enemies. 
There  was  an  awful  pause;  they  waited  to  see  what  would 
come  next. 

"But"  pursued  d'Arthez,  with  satirical  flippancy,  "Mme. 
de  Cadignan  has  this  one  advantage  over  men.  If  any  one 
risks  himself  for  her,  she  comes  to  the  rescue,  and  says  no 
ill  of  any  man  afterwards.  Why  should  not  one  woman, 
among  so  many,  amuse  herself  with  men,  as  men  play  with 
women?  Why  should  not  the  fair  sex  take  a  turn  at  that 
game  from  time  to  time? " 

"Genius  is  more  than  a  match  for  cleverness,"  said  Blondet, 
addressing  Nathan. 

And,  indeed,  d'Arthez's  avalanche  of  epigrams  was  like  a 
reply  from  a  battery  to  a  discharge  of  musketry.  They 
hastened  to  change  the  subject.  Neither  the  Comte  de  Trailles 
nor  the  Marquis  d'Esgrignon  felt  disposed  to  try  conclusions 
with  d'Arthez.  When  coffee  was  served,  Blondet  and  Nathan 
went  over  to  him  with  an  alacrity  which  no  one  cared  to  imi- 
tate, so  difficult  was  it  to  reconcile  admiration  of  his  behavior 
with  the  fear  of  making  two  powerful  enemies. 

"We  knew  before  to-day  that  your  character  is  as  great  as 
your  talent,"  said  Blondet.  "You  bore  yourself  just  now 
not  like  a  man,  but  rather  as  a  god.  Not  to  be  carried  away 
by  one's  feelings  or  imagination,  not  to  blunder  into  taking 
up  arms  in  the  defence  of  the  woman  one  loves  (as  people 
expected  you  to  do),  a  blunder  which  would  have  meant  a  tri- 
umph for  these  people,  for  they  are  consumed  with  jealousy 
of  celebrated  men  of  letters — ah  !  permit  me  to  say  that  this  is 
the  supreme  height  of  statecraft  in  private  life." 

"You  are  a  statesman/'  added  Nathan.  "It  is  as  clever 
as  it  is  difficult  to  avenge  a  woman  without  defending  her." 

"The  Princess  is  one  of  the  heroines  of  the  Legitimist 
party,"  d'Arthez  returned  coolly;  "surely  it  is  the  duty  of 


386  THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS 

every  gentleman  to  champion  her  on  those  grounds?  Her 
-services  to  the  cause  would  excuse  the  most  reckless  life." 

"He  will  not  show  his  hand,"  said  Nathan  to  Blondet. 

"Just  as  if  the  Princess  were  worth  the  trouble,"  added 
Rastignac,  as  he  joined  the  group. 

"  D'Arthez  went  to  the  Princess.  She  was  waiting  for  him 
in  an  agony  of  anxiety.  She  had  authorized  an  experiment 
which  might  prove  fatal.  For  the  first  time  in  her  life  she 
suffered  at  heart,  and  a  perspiration  broke  out  over  her. 
Others  would  tell  d'Arthez  the  truth,  she  had  told  him  lies; 
if  he  should  believe  the  truth,  she  did  not  know  what  she 
should  do ;  for  a  character  so  noble,  a  man  so  complete,  a  soul 
so  pure,  a  conscience  so  ingenuous,  had  never  passed  through 
her  hands  before.  It  was  because  she  longed  to  know  a  pure 
love  that  she  had  woven  such  a  tissue  of  cruel  lies.  She  felt 
that  poignant  love  in  her  heart,  she  loved  d'Arthez,  and  she 
was  condemned  to  deceive  him,  for  him  she  must  always  be 
the  sublime  actress  who  had  played  this  comedy  for  his  benefit. 
She  heard  d'Arthez's  step  in  the  dining-room  with  a  great 
agitation;  a  shock  quivered  through  the  very  springs  of  ex- 
istence. Then  she  knew  that  her  happiness  was  at  stake ;  she 
had  never  felt  such  emotion  before,  yet  hers  had  been  a  most 
adventurous  life  for  a  woman  of  her  rank.  With  eyes  gazing 
into  space,  she  saw  d'Arthez  in  one  complete  vision,  saw 
through  the  outward  form  into  his  inmost  soul.  Suspicion 
had  not  so  much  as  brushed  him  with  her  bat's  wing!  The 
reaction  set  in  after  the  terrible  throes  of  fear,  and  joy  almost 
overcame  Diane ;  for  every  creature  is  stronger  to  bear  pain 
than  to  stand  the  extreme  of  happiness. 

"Daniel !"  she  cried,  rising  to  her  feet  and  holding  out  her 
arms,  "I  have  been  slandered,  and  you  have  avenged  me." 

Daniel  was  utterly  astounded  by  the  words,  for  the  roots  of 
them  lay  far  down  out  of  his  sight.  He  felt  two  beautiful( 
hands  clasp  his  face,  and  the  Princess  kissed  him  reverently 
on  the  forehead. 

"How  did  you  know? " 


THE  SECRETS  OF  A  PRINCESS  387 

"Oh,  illustrious  simpleton !  do  you  not  see  that  I  love  you 
madly?" 

From  that  day  there  was  no  more  question  of  the  Princesse 
de  Cadignan  or  of  d'Arthez.  The  Princess  has  since  inherited 
some  property  from  her  mother ;  she  spends  her  summers  with 
the  great  man  of  letters  in  a  villa  at  Geneva,  returning  to 
Paris  for  a  few  months  during  the  winter.  D'Arthez  only 
shows  himself  at  the  Chamber.  What  is  still  more  signifi- 
cant, he  very  rarely  publishes  anything.  , 

Is  this  the  catastrophe  of  the  story,?  Yes,  for  those  that 
can  understand,  but  not  for  people  who  must  have  everything 
told. 

LES  JARDIES,  June,-1839. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 


COPYRIGHT,  1898, 
&Y  3.  M.  DENT  &  COMPANY 


INTRODUCTION 

A  MAIN — I  should  myself  be  disposed  to  say  the  main — in- 
terest of  Les  Petits  Bourgeois  arises  from  the  fact  that  it  was 
not  only  the  last  published,  except  scraps,  of  Balzac's  works, 
but  was  actually  never  included  in  the  various  editions  of  the 
Comedie  Humaine  till  the  appearance  of  the  so-called  edition 
definitive  a  few  years  ago.  In  the  famous  collection  of  five- 
and-fifty  squat  volumes  in  which  most  people  have  made  ac- 
quaintance with  him  it  does  not  appear,  and  M.  de  Lovenjoul 
himself  speaks  of  it  as  "too  little  known."  It  is  supposed  to 
have  been,  as  Le  Depute  d'Arcis  certainly  was,  finished  by 
Charles  Eabou;  but  the  extent  of  his  contribution  does  not 
appear  to  be  known.  The  critic  just  referred  to  thinks  that 
it  cannot  have  been  great,  because  Balzac,  some  years  before 
his  death,  speaks  of  the  book  as  "nearly  finished."  It  is  al- 
ways wise  to  differ  with  M.  de  Lovenjoul  extremely  cautiously 
and  diffidently,  for  his  knowledge  of  Balzac  is  as  boundless  as 
his  absence  of  pretension  or  dictatorship  on  the  subject  is  re- 
markable. But  I  venture  to  observe  that  there  are  several 
other  books  of  which  Balzac  at  different  times  speaks  as  hav- 
ing been  far  advanced,  if  not  actually  ready  for  publication, 
yet  of  which  no  trace  seems  to  exist  even  in  M.  de  Lovenjoul's 
own  extensive  collection  of  unprinted  "Remains."  Still,  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  the  later  parts  of  Les  Petits  Bourgeois 
exhibit  far  less  mark  of  an  alien  hand  than  the  later  parts  of 
the  Depute  d'Arcis.  And  though,  if  the  book  was  actually  fin- 
ished, or  nearly  so,  by  the  author  himself,  it  seems  strange 
that  he  should  not  have  issued  it,  anxious  as  he  always  was 
to  make  money ;  yet  his  absence  from  France,  his  illnesses,  his 
unlucky  devotion  to  the  theatre,  and  other  things  during 

(ix) 


X  INTRODUCTION 

the  last  three  or  four  years  of  his  life,  supply  not  altogether 
insufficient  explanations  of  the  failure. 

If  we  suppose  that  he  actually  finished  it,  or  that  he  left 
with  it  and  with  the  Depute  distinct  instructions  to  Rabou 
for  its  completion,  we  may  observe  some  things  of  interest 
about  the  pair.  One  is  their  very  great  length  as  compared 
with  most  of  their  fellows.  Only  three  other  numbers  of  the 
Comedie — Illusions  Perdues,  Les  Celibataires,  and  Splendeurs 
et  Miser es  des  Courtisanes — equal  them  in  general  length,  and 
all  these  three  are  practically  collections  of  separate  tales,  with 
a  certain  community  of  subject.  But  it  must  also  be  remem- 
bered that  La  Cousine  Bette,  their  greatest  and  most  im- 
mediate forerunner,  is  much  longer  than  any  other  undivided 
single  book.  And  from  this,  I  think,  it  is  not  improper  to 
infer  that  Balzac  was  experiencing  a  leaning  towards  longer 
stories,  which  might  have  had  distinct  results  if  he  had  gone 
on. 

Secondly,  in  both  stories,  and  here  particularly  in  parts 
where  there  is  no  reason  to  question  the  appearance  of  his 
own  work,  we  note  not  merely  an  apparent  desire  to  wind  up 
the  clue  of  the  histories  of  divers  important  personages,  but 
also  a  tendency  to  refer  and  cross-refer  to  the  earlier  numbers 
of  the  Comedie  in  a  way  which  may  be  found  slightly  irritat- 
ing, but  which  is  significant.  For  we  know  that  in  the 
magnificent  dreams,  the  "lordly  keeps  of  Spain,"  which  Bal- 
zac cherished  and  dwelt  in,  the  present  Comedie,  huge  as  it  is, 
was,  to  keep  the  Dantean  phrase,  not  an  entire  Commedia  but 
only  a  Cantica  of  one — that  there  were  to  be  other  collections 
standing  to  it  as  the  whole  of  the  present  mass  stands  to  the 
divisions  or  Scenes.  It  was  therefore  natural  that  this  task 
of  winding  up  the  clues  should  seem  desirable  to  him.  As  in 
the  Depute  d'Arcis  we  see  the  last  of  Vautrin,  so  here  we  part 
with  an  old — it  is  impossible  to  say,  friend,  but  acquaintance, 
in  Corentin.  And  it  may  be  a  slight  bribe  to  the  belief  that 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

the  thing  is  really  Balzac's  if  we  note  that  thus  we  leave  off 
as  we  began;  that  as  in  Les  Chouans,  the  revelation  of  the 
author,  we  heard  of  the  spy's  first  exploits,  so  here  we  leave 
him  breaking  his  wand,  or  rather  transferring  it  to  la  Peyrade, 
with  the  exulting  but  ominous  declaration  that  "all  things  pass 
except  the  police  and  the  necessity  for  it,"  a  sort  of  transla- 
tion, in  Balzac's  key,  of  Joseph  de  Maistre's  famous  theory 
that  society  rests  on  the  executioner.  One  may  sigh  for  a 
little  poetical  justice,  and  wish  that  the  manes  of  Montauran 
and  Mile,  de  Verneuil,  of  Michu  and  others,  had  not  remained 
unavenged;  but  that  would  have  counter-worked  Balzac's 
principles,  sound  enough  if  not  pushed  too  far,  that  the  solus 
reipublicae  has  precedence  of  all  private  rights  and  wrongs. 

Not  a  very  great  deal  need  be  said  of  the  book  itself.  It 
has  a  certain  resemblance  to  its  great  predecessor  or  con- 
temporary or  follower  (for  the  dates  are  not  certain),  La 
Cousine  Bette;  but  is  almost  entirely  destitute  of  tragedy, 
except  in  the  painful  but  happily-ending  episode  of  Lydie 
de  la  Peyrade.  In  the  minuteness  of  its  attention  to  mu- 
nicipal matters,  it  shows  almost  as  strongly  as  Le  Depute 
d'Arcis  how  Balzac's  mind,  under  the  conditions  of  the  later 
July  Monarchy,  had  been  drawn  to  the  subject  of  public  life. 
I  do  not  know  whether  it  would  be  going  too  far  to  assume 
that  it  also  shows,  taken  with  La  Cousine  Bette,  a  certain 
tendency  to  exchange  the  technically  "high"  life  in  which  the 
author  had  earlier  delighted  for  the  financial  andbourgeois  ele- 
ment which  (as,  to  do  him  justice,  he  had  long  ago  foreseen) 
was  overtaking  it  hand  over  hand  in  point  of  political  and 
social  importance,  and  was,  as  he  anticipated,  to  supersede  it 
mainly  under  the  Second  Empire,  and  almost  wholly  under 
the  Third  Republic.  The  details,  scenes,  and  characters,  if 
not  for  Balzac  extraordinarily  brilliant,  show  at  least  no  fall- 
ing off.  The  Thuillier  and  Colleville  households  are  ignoble, 
but  not  absolutely  disgusting,  and  the  intrigues  of  Cerizet 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

and  others  about  the  "succession  Thuillier,"  though  something 
of  a  double  on  Le  Cousin  Pons,  are  sufficiently  different.  But 
the  author  no  doubt  meant  the  main  interest  to  centre  on 
Theodose  de  la  Peyrade  and  his  amateur  performance  of  some- 
thing like  the  same  honorable  offices  to  which  his  uncle's 
Mephistophelian  friend  destined  and  devoted  him.  La  Pey- 
rade is  of  that  class  of  persons  who,  as  the  Scotch  judge  re- 
marked, "are  clever  chiels,  but  would  be  nane  the  waur  of  a 
hanging."  But  he  repents  and  makes  such  amends  as  are 
possible  for  his  chief  overt  crime,  and  he  too  is  not  disgust- 
ing. 

The  book,  when  in  his  letters  Balzac  spoke  of  it  as  first 
nearly  finished  and  then  actually  "set  up,"  bore  the  title  of 
Les  Petits  Bourgeois  de  Paris,  but  nobody  seems  to  have  seen 
the  MS.  or  the  proofs.  It  actually  appeared  in  the  Pays  dur- 
ing the  autumn  of  1854,  and  was  afterwards  issued  as  a  book 
by  the  publisher  de  Potter  in  eight  volumes — four  bearing  the 
present  title  in  1856,  and  the  other  four  as  Les  Parvenus  in 
1857.  The  first  part  had  twenty-seven,  and  the  second  twen- 
ty-five chapter  divisions  with  headings.  M.  de  Lovenjoul 
does  not  mention  whether  there  was  any  special  authority  for 
the  suppression  of  these  when  the  book  was  at  last,  a  few  years 
ago,  made  part  of  the  Comedie,  or  whether  it  was  done  in  ac- 
cordance with  Balzac's  usual  practice. 

G.  S. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

To  Constance  Victoire. 

This,  Madame,  is  one  of  the  works  which  drop  in  on  the  author's 
mind,  we  know  not  whence,  and  please  him  before  he  can  foresee 
what  welcome  they  may  receive  from  the  public — the  supreme 
judge  in  our  day.  Feeling  almost  sure  that  you  will  look  kindly  on 
my  infatuation,  I  dedicate  this  book  to  you:  is  it  not  yours  by 
right,  as  of  old  a  tithe  was  due  to  the  Church,  in  memory  of  God 
who  makes  all  things  grow  and  ripen  in  the  fields  and  in  the  mind? 

Some  lumps  of  clay  left  by  Moliere  at  the  foot  of  his  colossal 
statue  of  Tartuffe  have  here  been  moulded  by  a  hand  less  skilful 
than  bold ;  still,  however  far  I  must  remain  beneath  the  greatest  of 
comic  writers,  I  shall  be  satisfied  to  have  utilized  these  fragments, 
picked  up  from  before  the  curtain  of  his  stage, to  show  the  modern 
hypocrite  at  work. 

What  has  been  most  disheartening  in  this  difficult  task  was  find- 
ing it  incompatible  with  any  religious  question,  since  for  you,  who 
are  so  pious,  I  had  to  avoid  them,  apart  from  what  a  great  writer 
calls  the  ' '  general  indifference  to  matters  of  religion. ' ' 

May  the  meaning  of  your  two  names  be  prophetic  of  the  fortunes 
of  the  book!  And  regard  this,  I  entreat  you,  as  an  expression  of 
respectful  gratitude  from  one  who  ventures  to  sign  himself  your  most 
devoted  servant, 

DJJ  BALZAC. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 


PART   I. 

THE  Tourniquet  (or  Turnstile)  Saint-Jean,  of  which  a 
description  seemed  at  the  time  so  superfluous  in  the  tale  en- 
titled A  Second  Family,  was  a  primitive  relic  of  old  Paris 
which  has  ceased  to  exist  but  in  that  record.  The  building  of 
the  Hotel  de  Ville  in  its  modern  form  has  cleared  a  whole 
quarter  of  the  city. 

In  1830  the  passers-by  could  still  see  the  Turnstile  repre- 
sented as  the  sign  of  a  wine-shop,  but  that  house,  its  last  ref- 
uge, has  since  been  demolished.  Old  Paris,  alas !  is  vanishing 
with  terrible  rapidity.  Here  and  there,  in  these  books  of 
mine,  something  will  survive;  a  typical  house  of  mediaeval 
times  like  that  described  in  the  beginning  of  The  Cat  and 
Racket — a  few  such  specimens  may  still  be  seen ;  or  the  house 
in  the  Rue  du  Fouarre  inhabited  by  Judge  Popinot,  an  ex- 
ample of  old  citizen  dwellings.  Here,  the  remains  of  the  Ful- 
bert's  house;  there,  the  Port  of  the  Seine  in  the  time  of 
Charles  IX.  Why  should  not  the  chronicles  of  French  social 
life,  like  another  Old  Mortality,  rescue  these  remarkable  rec- 
ords of  the  past,  as  Walter  Scott's  old  man  restored  the  tomb- 
stones ? 

The  protests  of  literature  during  these  ten  years  past  were 
certainly  not  superfluous ;  art  is  again  beginning  to  cover  with 
its  flowers  the  squalid  fronts  of  the  houses  built  for  trade  pur- 
poses, which  one  of  our  writers  has  compared  to  cupboards. 

It  may  here  be  incidentally  remarked  that  the  creation  of  a 
municipal  board  del  Ornamento  such  as,  in  Milan,  regulates 
the  architecture  of  streets,  every  proprietor  having  to  submit 
his  plans  to  its  arbitration,  dates  from  the  twelfth  century. 
And  who  can  have  failed  to  recognize  in  that  charming  capital 
the  effects  of  patriotism  in  the  nobles  and  citizen  class  alike, 
and  to  admire  the  character  and  originality  of  the  private 
buildings? 

The  hideous  and  delirious  spirit  which,  year  after  year, 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  3 

lowers  the  stories  of  our  houses,  squeezes  a  whole  set  of  rooms 
into  the  space  of  a  single  drawing-room,  and  wages  war  to 
the  death  against  town  gardens,  must  inevitably  react  on 
Paris  habits.  We  shall  soon  be  obliged  to  live  out  of  our 
houses  much  more  than  in  them.  The  sacredness  of  private 
life,  the  liberty  of  home — where  are  they?  They  are  not  to 
be  had  for  less  than  fifty  thousand  francs  a  year.  And,  in- 
deed, few  millionaires  even  allow  themselves  the  luxury  of  a 
whole  small  house  protected  by  a  courtyard  from  the  street, 
and  sheltered  from  the  curiosity  of  the  neighbors  by  a  shady 
garden-plot. 

The  Code,  which  regulates  the  distribution  of  inherited  for- 
tunes by  equalizing  incomes,  has  led  to  this  building  of  brick 
and  mortar  phalansteries  to  lodge  thirty  families,  and  yield  a 
hundred  thousand  francs  a  year. 

And  so,  fifty  years  hence,  we  may  easily  count  the  houses 
that  will  be  left  of  the  class  inhabited  by  the  Thuillier  family 
at  the  time  when  this  story  opens;  a  really  curious  house  de- 
serving the  honor  of  a  detailed  description,  if  it  were  only 
for  the  sake  of  comparing  the  citizen  class  of  the  past  with 
its  representatives  to-day.  And  the  situation  and  appearance 
of  this  residence,  the  setting  of  this  picture  of  daily  life,  had 
a  stamp,  an  aroma  of  middle-class  existence,  which  may  prove 
attractive  or  repulsive,  as  the  reader  may  take  it. 

To  begin  with,  the  house  did  not  belong  to  Monsieur  or  to 
Madame  Thuillier,  but  to  Mademoiselle  Thuillier,  Monsieur 
Thuillier's  elder  sister.  This  house,  purchased  by  Made- 
moiselle Marie-Jeanne-Brigitte  Thuillier  in  the  course  of  the 
six  months  immediately  following  the  revolution  of  1830, 
stands  about  half-way  down  the  Hue  Saint-Dominique  d'En- 
fer,  on  the  right-hand  side  coming  from  the  Eue  d'Enfer,  so 
that  the  house  in  which  Monsieur  Thuillier  lived  faces  the 
south. 

The  steady  migration  of  the  Paris  population  towards  the 
higher  ground  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Seine,  deserting  the 
left  bank,  had  for  some  time  damaged  the  sale  of  property  in 
the  so-called  quartier  Latin,  where  certain  reasons,  which 


4  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

will  appear  from  the  character  and  habits  of  Monsieur 
Thuillier,  made  his  sister  decide  on  the  purchase  of  a  free- 
hold. She  was  able  to  buy  this  one  for  the  merely  nominal 
price  of  forty-six  thousand  francs;  additional  items  mounted 
up  to  six  thousand  francs;  fifty-two  thousand  francs  in  all. 
A  detailed  description  of  the  property  in  the  style  of  an  ad- 
vertisement, and  of  the  improvements  effected  by  Monsieur 
Thuillier,  will  explain  the  way  in  which  some  fortunes  were 
made  in  July  1830,  while  others  were  undermined. 

Towards  the  street  the  house  showed  a  front  of  stucco 
masonry,  eaten  by  the  weather,  furrowed  by  the  rain,  and 
grooved  by  the  plasterer's  tool  to  imitate  stone.  This  sort  of 
fagade  is  so  common  in  Paris,  and  so  ugly,  that  the  munici- 
pality ought  to  offer  prizes  to  owners  who  would  build  new 
fronts  in  carved  stone.  This  drab  wall,  pierced  by  seven  win- 
dows, was  three  stories  high,  and  crowned  by  attics  and  a  tiled 
roof.  The  carriage  gateway,  wide  and  strong,  showed  by  its 
etyle  and  structure  that  the  side  towards  the  street  had  been 
first  built  at  the  time  of  the  Empire,  to  utilize  part  of  the 
courtyard  of  an  extensive  older  house,  surviving  from  the 
time  when  this  quarter  was  in  some  favor  as  a  residence. 

On  one  side  of  the  gateway  was  the  porter's  lodge;  on  the 
other  the  stairs  went  up  of  this  front  half  of  the  house.  Two 
wings  adjoining  the  neighboring  houses  on  each  side  had  for- 
merly been  the  coach-houses,  stabling,  kitchens,  and  servants' 
quarters  for  the  house  at  the  back  of  the  courtyard ;  but  these, 
since  1830,  had  been  rented  as  warehouses.  The  right-hand 
side  was  occupied  by  a  wholesale  stationer,  Monsieur  Metivier 
nephew;  the  left  side  by  a  bookseller  named  Barbet.  Their 
offices  were  over  the  storerooms  and  shops,  the  bookseller  oc- 
cupying the  first  floor,  and  the  stationer  the  second  floor,  of 
the  house  on  the  street.  Metivier,  a  paper  broker  rather  than 
a  merchant,  and  Barbet,  more  busied  in  discounting  bills 
than  in  selling  books,  used  these  extensive  premises  for  stor- 
ing job  lots  of  stationery  purchased  from  manufacturers  in 
difficulties  in  Metivier's  half,  and  in  Barbet's,  the  editions  *of 
books  he  had  taken  in  security  for  loans.  The  shark  of  the 


THE  MIDDLE  GLASSES  5 

bookselling  trade  and  the  pike  of  the  paper  business  lived  on 
very  friendly  terms,  and  their  transactions,  having  none  of 
the  bustle  of  a  retail  trade,  brought  but  few  carriages  into  that 
quiet  courtyard,  where  there  was  so  little  traffic  that  the 
porter  had  to  weed  the  grass  out  now  and  again  from  between 
the  stones.  Messieurs  Barbet  and  Metivier,  who  hardly  figure 
even  as  supernumeraries  in  this  tale,  paid  rare  visits  to  their 
landlord,  and  their  punctuality  in  paying  their  rent  placed 
them  in  the  category  of  excellent  tenants:. the  Thuillier  cir- 
cle regarded  them  as  very  honest  folks. 

The  third  floor  facing  the  street  was  divided  into  two  sets 
of  rooms,  one  occupied  by  Monsieur  Dutocq,  clerk  to  a  justice 
of  the  peace,  a  retired  official  who  frequented  the  Thuilliers' 
drawing-room;  the  other  was  tenanted  by  the  hero  of  this 
tale.  For  the  present,  however,  we  must  be  satisfied  to  know 
the  amount  of  his  rent — seven  hundred  francs — and  the  posi- 
tion he  had  taken  up  in  the  heart  of  the  citadel  three  years 
before  the  curtain  rises  on  this  domestic  drama. 

Of  these  two  sets  of  rooms  the  clerk,  a  bachelor  of  fifty,  oc- 
cupied the  larger;  he  kept  a  cook  and  paid  a  rent  of  a  thou- 
sand francs. 

Two  years  after  buying  the  house  and  ground,  Mademoiselle 
Thuillier  was  getting  seven  thousand  two  hundred  francs  a 
year  in  rents ;  the  former  owner  had  left  it  fitted  with  outside 
shutters,  had  redecorated  the  interior,  and  finished  it  with 
mirrors,  without  ever  succeeding  in  selling  or  letting  it ;  and 
the  Thuilliers  themselves,  very  handsomely  housed  as  will  be 
seen,  had  one  of  the  best  gardens  in  that  part  of  Paris,  the 
trees  shading  the  deserted  little  street  called  the  Eue  Neuve- 
Sainte-Catherine. 

That  part  of  the  house  which  they  inhabited,  between  the 
forecourt  and  garden,  seemed  to  have  been  built  to  gratify 
the  whim  of  some  wealthy  citizen  in  the  time  of  Louis  XIV., 
or  that  perhaps  of  a  president  of  the  Parlement,  or  of  some 
peace-loving  and  learned  student.  There  was  a  certain  im- 
posing Louis-quatorzian  air  in  the  handsome  masonry,  though 
the  stone  was  weather-worn;  the  courses  were  marked  out  by 


6  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

grooves;  the  paneling  in  red  brick  was  a  reminder  of  the 
stables  at  Versailles;  the  windows,  arched  above,  had  masks 
on  the  keystone  and  to  support  the  sill.  The  door,  the  upper 
half  of  glass  in  small  panes,  showing  the  garden  beyond,  was 
of  the  unpretending,  sound  style  frequently  seen  in  the 
lodges  of  royal  residences. 

This  dwelling,  with  five  windows  across,  had  but  two  stories 
above  the  ground  floor,  and  was  handsomely  capped  with  a 
four-sided  roof  ending  in  weathercocks,  and  broken  by  well- 
designed  chimneys  and  oval  garret  windows.  The  building, 
as  it  stood,  may  perhaps  have  been  the  surviving  portion  of 
some  larger  aristocratic  hotel ;  still,  after  consulting  the  plans 
of  Paris,  no  data  seem  to  confirm  this  conjecture;  moreover, 
the  title-deeds  in  Mademoiselle  Thuillier's  possession  mention 
Petitot,  the  famous  enamel  painter,  as  the  owner  in  Louis 
XIV.'s  time,  and  he  had  it  from  the  President  Lecamus.  It 
is  probable  that  the  President  lived  in  this  house  while  his 
famous  hotel  in  the  Eue  de  Thorigny  was  in  course  of 
building. 

Thus  Law  and  Art  alike  had  left  their  traces  there.  And 
how  liberal  a  view  of  necessity  and  pleasure  had  presided  over 
the  arrangements  of  the  dwelling !  To  the  right,  on  entering 
the  hall,  a  spacious  square  room,  was  a  stone  staircase,  with 
two  windows  to  the  garden;  under  the  stairs  was  a  door  to 
the  cellars.  From  the  hall  opened  the  dining-room  with 
windows  to  the  courtyard,  and  a  door  beyond  to  the  kitchens 
adjoining  Barbet's  stores.  Behind  the  stairs  on  the  garden 
side  was  a  splendid  study,  also  with  two  windows.  The  first 
and  second  floors  each  formed  a  separate  set  of  apartments; 
the  servants'  rooms  were  shown  by  the  dormer  windows  at 
each  side  of  the  roof. 

The  fine  square  hall  contained  a  magnificent  stove,  and  it 
was  amply  lighted  by  the  two  glass  doors,  front  and  back.  It 
was  paved  with  black  and  white  marble,  and  had  a  decorative 
coffered  ceiling  of  which  the  carved  beams  and  bosses  had  once 
6een  painted  and  gilt,  but,  under  the  Empire  no  doubt,  had 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  7 

since  been  whitewashed;  opposite  the  stove  was  a  red  marble 
cistern  with  a  marble  basin. 

Over  the  three  doors  of  the  drawing-room,  study,  and  din- 
ing-room were  oval  panels  with  pictures  that  cried  out  for 
much-needed  restoration;  the  mouldings  were  heavy,  but  the 
decoration  was  not  devoid  of  merit. 

The  drawing-room,  wainscoted  throughout,  was  remi- 
niscent of  the  age  of  magnificence  in  its  Languedoc  marble 
chimney-place,  in  its  ceiling  with  ornaments  in  the  corners,  i 
and  in  the  shape  of  the  windows  with  their  small  panes.  The 
dining-room,  parallel  with  the  drawing-room  with  double 
doors  between,  was  floored  with  marble;  the  paneling  en- 
tirely of  oak  and  unpainted;  but  the  tapestry  had  been  re- 
placed by  villainous  modern  paper.  The  colored  ceiling  of 
chestnut  wood  remained  unspoiled.  The  study,  modernized 
by  Thuillier,  was  wholly  discordant.  The  white  and  gold 
ornament  of  the  drawing-room  was  so  completely  faded  that 
only  red  lines  were  to  be  seen  in  the  place  of  the  gold,  and 
the  white  paint  had  turned  yellow  and  streaky,  and  was  flak- 
ing off. 

The  Latin  idea  Otium  cum  dignitate  has  never,  to  a  poet's 
eyes,  been  more  admirably  suggested  than  in  this  fine  old 
house.  The  ironwork  of  the  balustrade  to  the  stairs  was 
worthy  in  style  of  the  Judge  and  of  the  Artist ;  but  to  discern 
their  traces  in  these  relics  of  a  dignified  antiquity  the  observ- 
ing eye  of  an  artist  was  needed. 

The  Thuilliers  and  their  immediate  predecessors  had  done 
much  dishonor  to  this  gem  of  wealthy  citizenship  by  their 
middle-class  habits  and  tastes.  Imagine  walnut-wood  chairs 
with  horsehair  seats;  a  mahogany  table  with  an  oil-cloth  cover; 
lamps  in  stamped  metal;  a  cheap  paper  with  a  red  border; 
atrocious  black  and  white  prints  on  the  walls,  and  cotton  cur- 
tains with  a  red  binding — in  this  dining-room  where  Petitot's 
friends  had  feasted.  Conceive  of  the  effect  in  the  drawing- 
room  of  the  portraits  of  Monsieur,  Madame,  and  Mademoiselle 
Thuillier,  by  Pierre  Grassou,  the  painter  of  their  class;  of 
card-tables  that  had  done  twenty  years'  service;  consoles  of 


8  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

the  time  of  the  Empire,  and  a  tea-table  supported  on  a  huge 
lyre;  a  set  of  furniture  in  coarse  mahogany  covered  with 
printed  velvet  on  a  chocolate  ground !  On  the  chimney-piece 
stood  a  clock  with  a  figure  representing  Bellona,  and  candel- 
abra with  fluted  columns;  the  curtains  of  worsted  damask 
and  the  worked  muslin  curtains  were  looped  back  with 
stamped  brass  chains.  A  second-hand  carpet  covered  the  pol- 
ished floor. 

The  handsome  hall  was  furnished  with  benches  covered 
with  plush,  and  the  carved  paneling  was  hidden  behind  cup- 
boards and  wardrobes  of  various  dates,  removed  from  all  the 
places  where  the  Thuilliers  had  ever  lived.  The  cistern  was 
covered  by  a  shelf  to  carry  a  smoky  lamp  dating  from  1815. 
And  to  crown  all,  fear,  that  hideous  bogie,  had  led  to  the  ad- 
dition of  double  doors  both  to  the  garden  and  the  forecourt, 
strongly  sheathed  in  iron,  opened  back  against  the  wall  by 
day,  but  shut  by  night. 

It  is  easy  to  trace  the  deplorable  desecration  of  this  monu- 
ment of  domestic  life  in  the  seventeenth  century  by  the  do- 
mestic life  of  the  nineteenth.  When  Napoleon  first  was  Con- 
sul perhaps  some  master  builder,  having  purchased  this  little 
freehold,  thought  he  would  make  some  use  of  the  part  of  the 
forecourt  next  the  street ;  he  probably  destroyed  a  noble  gate- 
way flanked  by  lodges  which  gave  importance  to  this  elegant 
residence,  to  use  an  old-fashioned  word,  and  the  thrift  of  a 
Parisian  builder  stamped  its  blight  on  the  very  front  of  its 
elegance;  just  as  the  newspapers  and  their  printing-presses, 
the  manufactory  and  its  warehouses,  trade  and  its  counting- 
houses,  have  ousted  the  aristocracy,  the  old  citizen-class, 
finance  and  law,  wherever  they  had  displayed  their  magnifi- 
cence. 

A  very  curious  study  is  that  of  the  history  of  title-deeds  in 
Paris!  In  the  Rue  des  Batailles  a  madhouse  stands  where 
once  was  the  house  of  the  Chevalier  Pierre  Bayard  du  TPT- 
rail;  the  "third  estate"  has  built  a  whole  street  on  the  land 
occupied  by  the  Hotel  Necker.  Old  Paris  is  going — follow- 
ing the  kings  who  are  gone.  For  one  gem  of  architecture' 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  9 

saved  by  a  Polish  princess,*  how  many  smaller  palaces  have 
fallen,  like  Petitot's  house,  into  the  hands  of  such  as  the 
Thuilliers. 

The  incidents  which  led  to  Mademoiselle  Thuillier's  pur- 
chasing this  property  were  as  follows. 

At  the  fall  of  the  Villele  administration  Monsieur  Louis 
Jerome  Thuillier,  who  had  been  for  six-and-twenty  years  a 
clerk  in  the  civil  service,  found  himself  a  second  clerk,  but 
hardly  had  he  tasted  the  joys  of  such  deputy  authority — 
formerly  the  smallest  of  his  hopes — when  the  events  of  July 
1830  compelled  him  to  resign.  He  very  ingeniously  calcu- 
lated that  the  new  men,  only  too  glad  to  have  another  place  at 
their  command,  would  deal  promptly  and  handsomely  with 
the  question  of  his  pension;  and  he  was  right,  for  it  was  at 
once  fixed  at  seventeen  hundred  francs. 

When  the  cautious  second  clerk  first  mooted  the  idea  of  re- 
tiring, his  sister,  who  was  far  more  his  life's  partner  than  his 
wife  had  ever  been,  trembled  for  his  future  prospects. 

"What  would  Thuillier  do  with  himself?"  was  the  ques- 
tion the  two  women  asked  each  other  with  equal  fears;  they 
were  at  that  time  living  in  a  small  apartment  on  the  third 
floor  in  the  Rue  d'Argenteuil. 

"Settling  the  matter  of  his  pension  will  keep  him  busy  for 
some  time,"  said  Mademoiselle  Thuillier.  "But  I  am  think- 
ing of  investing  my  money  in  a  way  that  will  keep  his  hands 
full.  It  will  be  almost  as  good  as  being  in  an  office'  to  have 
an  estate  to  manage." 

"Oh,  my  dear  sister,  we  will  save  his  life !"  cried  Madame 
Thuillier. 

"Well,  I  have  always  foreseen  this  critical  moment  in 
Jerome's  life,"  said  the  old  maid  with  a  patronizing  air. 

Mademoiselle  Thuillier  had  too  often  heard  her  brother 
say :  "Such  an  one  is  dead ;  he  only  lived  two  years  after  retir- 
ing !" — she  had  too  often  heard  Collcville,  Thuillier's  intimate 

*The  Hotel  Lambert,  He  Saint-Louis,  in  i:l-«»h  the  Princess  Czartoriska  took  up 
her  abode. 


10  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

friend  and,  like  him,  a  government  clerk,  jesting  about  the 
grand  climacteric  of  office  life,  saying:  "We  shall  come  to  it 
too,  all  in  good  time!" — not  to  appreciate  the  risk  for  her 
brother. 

The  transition  from  routine  to  idleness  is  in  fact  the  crit- 
ical time  for  the  civil  servant.  The  men  who  are  incapable 
of  substituting  some  occupation  for  the  business  they  have 
left  change  very  much;  some  die,  a  great  many  take  to  fish- 
ing— a  vacuous  employment  not  unlike  their  office  work; 
others,  of  more  active  habits,  buy  shares  in  a  business,  lose 
their  savings,  and  are  glad  at  last  to  take  a  place  in  the  work- 
ing of  the  concern  which,  after  the  first  failure  and  bank- 
ruptcy, succeeds  in  the  hands  of  cleverer  men  on  the  lookout 
for  it;  then  the  clerk  can  rub  his  now  empty  hands  and  say, 
"I  always  knew  there  was  a  future  before  us." 

But  most  of  them  struggle  against  their  old  habits. 

"Some,"  said  Colleville,  "are  victims  to  depression  of  a  kind 
peculiar  to  government  clerks.  They  die  of  suppressed  cir- 
culars; they  suffer  from  red-tape-worm.  Little  old  Poiret 
could  ne.ver  see  a  white  letter  folio  edged  with  blue  without 
changing  color  at  the  beloved  sight ;  he  turned  yellow  instead 
of  green/' 

Mademoiselle  Thuillier  was  regarded  as  the  genius  of  her 
brother's  household;  she  had  plenty  of  force  and  decision,  as 
her  persgnal  history  will  show.  This  superiority,  which  was 
but  relative,  enabled  her  to  gauge  her  brother,  though  she 
worshiped  him.  After  seeing  the  wreck  of  the  hopes  she 
had  founded  on  her  idol,  there  was  too  much  of  the  mother 
in  her  feeling  to  allow  her  to  overestimate  the  social  calibre 
of  the  retired  clerk. 

Thuillier  and  his  sister  were  the  children  of  the  head  porter 
at  the  Exchequer  office.  Jerome,  being  very  short-sighted, 
had  escaped  every  form  of  requisition  and  conscription.  The 
father's  ambition  was  to  see  his  son  a  clerk.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  century  there  were  so  many  places  to  fill  in  the  army 
that  the  vacancies  in  the  offices  were  many,  and  the  death  o* 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  11 

Tinder-clerks  enabled  burly  old  Thuillier  to  see  his  son  mount 
the  lowest  steps  of  the  official  ladder. 

The  old  man  died  in  1814,  when  Jerome  was  about  to  be 
made  second  clerk;  but  this  hope  was  all  the  fortune  he  had 
to  leave  him.  Old  Thuillier  and  his  wife  who  died  in  1810, 
had  retired  in  1806,  their  life  pension  all  their  wealth,  hav- 
ing spent  their  income  in  giving  Jerome  his  education  and  in 
keeping  him  and  his  sister. 

The  effect  of  the  Eestoration  on  government  offices  is  well 
known.  A  mass  of  clerks  were  turned  out  of  employment  by 
the  suppression  of  forty-one  government  departments,  honest 
men  ready  to  take  places  below  those  they  had  been  deprived 
of.  The  ranks  of  these  men,  who  had  earned  their  claims, 
were  swelled  by  the  members  of  exiled  families  ruined  by  the 
Revolution.  Jerome,  squeezed  between  these  two  bodies  of 
recruits,  thought  himself  lucky  not  to  be  dismissed  on  some 
frivolous  pretext.  He  quaked  till  the  day  when  by  good 
chance  he  was  made  second  clerk  and  saw  himself  sure"  of  a 
decent  pension. 

This  brief  sketch  accounts  for  Monsieur  Thuillier's  limited 
purview  and  lack  of  general  knowledge.  He  had  learned 
such  Latin,  arithmetic,  history,  and  geography  as  boys  are 
taught  at  school,  but  he  had  not  risen  above  what  was  called 
the  second  class  because  his  father  seized  the  opportunity  of 
getting  him  into  the  office,  boasting  of  his  son's  "splendid 
hand."  So,  though  little  Thuillier  wrote  the  first  list  of 
names  in  the  State  ledger,  he  missed  his  course  of  rhetoric 
and  philosophy. 

Once  made  a  wheel  of  the  official  machinery  he  troubled 
himself  little  about  letters,  and  still  less  about  art;  he  im- 
bibed an  empirical  knowledge  of  his  own  line  of  business ;  and 
when,  under  the  Empire,  he  rose  to  mix  with  the  superior 
class  of  clerks,  he  caught  the  superficial  manners  that  hid  the 
porter's  son,  but  he  failed  to  catch  even  the  semblance  of  ready 
wit.  His  ignorance  warned  him  to  be  silent,  and  his  t;ici- 
turnity  did  him  good  service.  Under  the  Imperial  system  he 
trained  himself  to  the  passive  obedience  which  superiors  ap- 


12  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

predate,  and  it  was  to  this  qualification  that  he  subsequently 
owed  his  advancement  to  be  second  clerk.  The  fruit  of  rou- 
tine was  great  experience;  his  manner  and  his  silent  habits 
concealed  his  want  of  education. 

These  negative  merits  constituted  a  recommendation  when 
a  cipher  was  needed.  There  was  the  risk  of  offending  one  of 
two  parties  in  the  Chamber,  each  anxious  to  place  a  man,  and 
the  authorities  got  out  of  the  difficulty  by  falling  back  on  the 
rule  of  seniority.  That  was  how  Thuillier  became  a  second 
clerk. 

Mademoi&elle  Thuillier,  knowing  that  her  brother  abhorred 
reading,  and  could  not  go  into  any  business  as  a  substitute 
for  the  task-work  of  the  office,  had  wisely  determined  to  give 
him  the  cares  of  property,  the  management  of  a  garden,  the 
minute  trivialities  of  middle-class  life,  and  the  trifling  in- 
trigues of  neighborly  gossip. 

So  the  removal  of  the  household  from  the  Rue  d'Argen- 
teuil  to  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique  d'Enfer,  the  business  in- 
volved in  the  purchase,  the  selection  of  a  porter,  the  search  for 
tenants,  all  kept  Thuillier  busy  through  1831-1832.  When 
this  great  transplantation  was  achieved,  when  the  sister  saw 
that  Jerome  had  survived  the  uprooting,  she  gave  him  fur- 
ther employment,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  for  which  she 
found  a  basis  in  her  brother's  nature;  this  may  at  once  be  de- 
scribed. 

Though  only  a  superior  porter's  son,  Jerome  was  what  is 
called  a  fine  man;  above  the  medium  height,  slightly  built, 
not  bad  looking  with  his  spectacles  on,  but,  like  many  short- 
sighted persons,  hideous  as  soon  as  he  took  them  off,  for  the 
habit  of  seeing  through  glasses  had  induced  a  sort  of  mist 
over  his  eyes.  Between  the  age  of  eighteen  and  thirty  young 
Thuillier  was  a  favorite  with  women  in  the  social  sphere  that 
rests  on  the  middle  class  and  ends  below  the  head  clerks  of 
Departments;  but,  as  is  well  known,  under  the  Empire  the 
wars  left  Paris  society  somewhat  bereft  by  taking  every  man 
of  any  energy  out  to  the  battlefield;  and  to  this,  perhaps,  as  a 
groat  physician  ha?  surmised,  the  decadence  of  the  generation 
living  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  may  be  due. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  13 

Thuillier,  compelled  to  attract  attention  by  some  accom- 
plishments other  than  intellectual,  learned  to  dance  and  waltz 
BO  well  as  to  be  noted;  he  was  called  "handsome  Thuillier"; 
he  played  billiards  to  perfection;  he  cut  out  paper  very  in- 
geniously; his  friend  Colleville  taught  him  so  well  that  he 
could  sing  some  fashionable  ballads.  These  little  accomplish- 
ments procured  him  the  spurious  success  which  deceives  the 
young,  and  deludes  them  as  to  the  future.  Mademoiselle 
Thuillier,  from  1806  till  1814,  believed  in  her  brother  as 
Mademoiselle  d'Orleans  believed  in  Louis-Philippe;  she  was 
proud  of  Jerome ;  she  pictured  him  the  head  of  an  office, 
thanks  to  the  popularity  which  at  that  time  gave  him  access  to 
a  few  drawing-rooms  where  he  certainly  never  would  have 
been  sent  but  for  the  circumstances  which  made  society  under 
the  Empire  a  perfect  hotchpotch. 

However,  handsome  Thuillier's  triumphs  were  not  usually 
of  long  duration ;  women  no  more  cared  to  keep  him  than  he 
cared  to  be  perpetually  faithful;  he  might  have  served  as  the 
hero  of  a  comedy  called  "Don  Juan  in  spite  of  himself."  This 
business  of  being  handsome  bored  Thuillier  till  it  made  him 
look  old ;  and  his  face,  covered  with  wrinkles  like  that  of  an 
antiquated  beauty,  credited  him  with  twelve  years  more  than 
the  baptismal  register.  He  had  retained  a  habit  of  glancing 
at  himself  in  the  glass,  putting  his  hands  on  his  hips  to  set 
off  his  figure,  and  assuming  the  attitudes  of  a  dancing  mas- 
ter, all  of  which  prolonged  the  lease  of  the  nickname  "hand- 
some Thuillier"  beyond  the  advantages  which  had  bestowed  it 
on  him. 

What  was  true  in  1806  was  sarcastic  in  1826.  He  still  pre- 
served some  vestiges  of  the  dress  of  the  dandy  of  the  Empire, 
nor  were  they  unbecoming  to  the  dignity  of  a  retired  second 
clerk.  He  wore  the  full  plaited  neckcloth  burying  his  chin, 
with  ends  that  imperiled  the  passers-by  projecting  from  a 
neatly  smart  knot,  tied  of  yore  by  fairer  hands.  Following 
the  fashions  at  a  respectful  distance  he  adapted  them  to  his 
own  style,  wore  his  hat  very  far  back,  shoes  in  summer  and 
fine  stockings.  His  long  overcoat  was  a  reminiscence  of  the 


14  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Uvite  of  the  Empire ;  he  would  not  give  up  pleated  shirt-frills 
and  white  waistcoats,  he  was  always  playing  with  his  switch, 
a  fashion  of  1810,  and  held  himself  very  upright.  No  one, 
seeing  Tlmillier  walking  on  the  boulevards,  would  have  taken 
him  for  the  son  of  a  man  who  served  the  clerks'  breakfasts 
at  the  office  of  the  Exchequer;  he  looked  like  a  diplomate  of 
the  Empire,  or  a  sous-prefet. 

Now  not  only  did  Mademoiselle  Thuillier  very  innocently 
encourage  her  brother's  vanity  by  inciting  him  to  the  utmost 
care  of  his  person,  which  was  but  the  outcome  of  her  wor- 
ship, but  she  gave  him  all  the  joys  of  family  life  by  trans- 
planting close  to  him  a  household  whose  existence  had  run 
almost  parallel  with  theirs. 

Its  head  was  Monsieur  Colleville,  Thuillier's  intimate 
friend ;  but  before  describing  Pylades  it  is  all  the  more  neces- 
sary to  have  done  with  Orestes,  since  it  must  be  explained  why 
Thuillier,  handsome  Thuillier,  found  himself  without  a  fam- 
ily, for  without  children  the  family  is  not,  and  here  must  be 
revealed  one  of  those  deep  mysteries  which  lie  buried  among 
the  arcana  of  private  life,  a  few  symptoms  only  rising  to  the 
surface  when  the  anguish  of  a  hidden  sorrow  becomes  too 
acute;  the  life,  namely,  of  Madame  and  Mademoiselle  Thuil- 
lier; for  so  far  we  have  seen  only  the  public  life,  so  to  speak, 
of  Jerome  Thuillier. 

Marie-Jeanne-Brigitte  Thuillier,  four  years  older  that  her 
brother,  was  immolated  for  his  benefit;  it  was  easier  to  give 
him  a  profession  than  to  give  her  a  marriage  portion.  To 
some  natures  ill-fortune  is  a  pharos  lighting  up  the  dark  and 
squalid  places  in  social  life.  Superior  to  her  brother  both  in 
energy  and  intelligence,  Brigitte  had  a  character  which  the 
sledge-hammer  of  persecution  makes  dense,  compact,  and 
highly  resistant,  not  to  say  inflexible.  Eager  for  independ- 
ence, she  determined  to  escape  from  her  life  in  the  porter's 
lodge  and  be  mistress  of  her  own  fate.  At  the  age  of  fourteen 
she  established  herself  in  an  attic  not  far  from  the  Treas- 
ury, which  was  then  in  the  Hue  Vivienne,  and  near  the  Rue 
de  la  Vrilliere  where  the  Bank  still  stands.  There  she  coura- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  15 

geously  set  up  in  a  little  unfamiliar  business  under  the  privi- 
lege and  patronage  of  her  father's  masters:  the  manufacture 
of  money-bags  for  the  Bank,  the  Treasury,  and  certain  great 
banking-houses.  By  the  end  of  three  years  she  employed  two 
workwomen. 

Investing  her  savings  in  consols,  by  1814  she  found  herself 
possessed  of  three  thousand  six  hundred  francs  a  year,  the 
results  of  fifteen  years'  earnings.  She  spent  but  little,  she 
dined  with  her  father  every  day  as  long  as  he  lived,  and,  as 
is  known,  French  consols  during  the  dying  struggles  of  the 
Empire  went  down  to  forty  odd  francs,  so  this  sum,  appar- 
ently exaggerated,  is  easily  accounted  for. 

At  the  old  man's  death,  Brigitte  and  Jerome,  aged  respec- 
tively twenty-seven  and  twenty-three,  set  up  house  together. 
The  brother  and  sister  were  most  affectionately  attached. 
When,  in  the  days  of  his  splendor,  Jerome  was  at  any  time  in 
need  of  money,  his  sister,  dressed  in  coarse  stuff  and  her  fingers 
skinned  by  the  thread  she  sewed  with,  always  had  some  louis 
to  offer  him.  In  Brigitte's  eyes  Jerome  was  the  handsomest 
and  most  charming  man  in  all  the  French  Empire.  To  keep 
house  for  this  adored  brother,  to  be  admitted  to  the  secrets  of 
this  Lindoro  and  Don  Juan,  was  Brigitte's  day-dream ;  she 
sacrificed  herself  almost  passionately  to  an  idol  whose  egoism 
she  could  magnify  and  hold  sacred.  She  sold  her  business 
to  her  forewoman  for  fifteen  thousand  francs,  and  went  to 
settle  with  Jerome  in  the  Eue  d'Argenteuil,  making  herself 
the  mother,  protector,  and  slave  of  this  pet  of  the  ladies. 

Brigitte,  with  the  instinctive  prudence  of  a  woman  who 
owed  all  she  had  to  her  own  prudence  and  toil,  hid  the  amount 
of  her  property  from  her  brother;  she  was  afraid,  no  doubt, 
of  the  prodigalities  of  a  man  so  much  in  favor,  and  only 
brought  six  hundred  francs  a  year  to  the  common  stock ;  this, 
added  to  Jerome's  eighteen  hundred,  enabled  her  to  make 
both  ends  meet  at  the  close  of  the  year. 

From  the  very  first  day  of  their  partnership  Thuillier  lis- 
tened to  his  sister  as  to  an  oracle,  consulted  her  on  even  the 
most  trifling  matters,  had  no  secrets  from  her,  thus  giving 


16  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

her  a  taste  of  the  fruit  of  despotism  which  became  her  be- 
setting sin.  And,  indeed,  the  sister  had  sacrificed  everything 
to  the  brother,  she  had  staked  her  all  on  his  affection,  she 
lived  in  and  for  him. 

Her  ascendency  over  Jerome  was  singularly  confirmed  by 
the  marriage  she  contrived  for  him  in  1814. 

Witnessing  the  nipping  squeeze  in  government  offices  that 
resulted  from  the  newcomers  under  the  Restoration,  and  more 
especially  from  the  return  of  the  old  society  which  trampled 
down  the  citizen  class,  Brigitte  understood,  and  indeed  her 
brother  explained  to  her,  the  bearing  of  the  crisis  that  was  ex- 
tinguishing all  their  hopes.  There  could  be  no  further  suc- 
cesses for  handsome  Thuillier  among  the  nobility  who  were 
succeeding  to  the  plebeians  of  the  Empire. 

Thuillier  was  not  capable  of  taking  up  a  political  opinion ; 
he  felt,  as  did  his  sister,  that  he  must  make  the  best  of  his  re- 
maining youth  to  end  with  credit.  In  these  circumstances  an 
old  maid  as  ambitious  as  Brigitte  wished  and. determined  to 
see  her  brother  marry,  as  much  for  her  own  sake  as  for  his, 
since  she  alone  would  make  him  happy,  and  Madame  Thuil- 
lier would  be  but  an  accessory  indispensable  for  the  produc- 
tion of  a  child  or  two. 

Though  Brigitte's  mind  was  hardly  adequate  to  her  will,  at 
any  rate  she  had  the  instinct  that  served  her  despotic  tem- 
per; she  had  no  education,  she  simply  went  straight  onward, 
with  the  persistency  of  a  character  accustomed  to  succeed. 
She  had  a  genius  for  home  management,  the  spirit  of  thrift, 
the  talents  of  a  housekeeper,  and  tha  love  of  work.  She  fully 
understood  that  she  could  never  succeed  in  finding  a  wife  for 
Jerome  in  a  class  above  their  own',  a  family  who  would  make 
inquiries  as  to  their  mode  of  life  and  perhaps  be  scared  at 
finding  a  mistress  already  established  in  the  home;  so  she 
looked  in  a  rank  below  for  the  people  she  might  dazzle,  and 
she  found  a  suitable  match  under  her  hand. 

The  senior  messenger  of  the  Bank  of  France,  named  Lem- 
prun,  had  a  daughter,  an  only  child,  Celeste.  Mademoiselle 
Celeste  Lemprun  would  inherit  her  mother's  fortune,  she  also 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  17 

being  the  only  child  of  a  market-gardener  whose  property 
consisted  of  some  acres  of  land  near  Paris  which  the  old  man 
still  cultivated.  Then  there  would  be  the  savings  left  by  the 
worthy  Lemprun,  a  man  who,  after  being  employed  in  the 
houses  of  Thellusson  and  of  Keller,  had  entered  service  at  the 
Bank  when  it  was  first  started.  Lemprun,  now  a  head  ser- 
vant, enjoyed  the  respect  and  esteem  of  the  government  offi- 
cials and  inspectors.  Hence  the  Board  of  Directors,  on  hear- 
ing that  Celeste  was  to  be  married  to  a  respectable  clerk  in 
the  civil  service,  promised  a  donation  of  six  thousand  francs; 
and  this  sum,  added  to  twelve  thousand  given  by  her  father 
and  twelve  thousand  from  old  Galard,  the  market-gardener  at 
Auteuil,  raised  the  marriage  portion  to  thirty  thousand  francs. 
Old  Galard  and  Monsieur  and  Madame  Lemprun  were  de- 
lighted by  this  alliance;  the  head  messenger  knew  Mademoi- 
selle Thuillier  to  be  one  of  the  most  upright  and  respectable 
women  in  Paris.  Brigitte  gave  lustre  .to  her  investments 
in  the  funds  by  assuring  Lemprun  that  she  would  never 
marry,  and  neither  he  nor  his  wife,  figures  from  the  Golden 
Age,  would  have  made  so  bold  as  to  criticise  Brigitte.  They 
were  especially  struck  by  the  handsome  Thuillier's  brilliant 
position,  and  the  marriage  was  concluded  to  the  satisfaction 
of  all  parties. 

The  governor  and  secretary  of  the  Bank  signed  the  docu- 
ments as  witnesses  for  the  bride;  Monsieur  de  la  Billardiere, 
head  of  his  department,  and  Monsieur  Eabourdin,  a  head 
clerk,  did  the  same  for  Thuillier. 

Six  days  after  the  wedding  old  Lemprun  was  the  victim  of  a 
very  daring  robbery,  mentioned  in  the  papers  of  the  time,  but 
quickly  forgotten  in  the  exciting  events  of  1815.  The  thieves 
having  entirely  evaded  pursuit,  Lemprun  wished  to  pay  for 
the  loss ;  and  though  the  Bank  in  fact  charged  the  sum  to  the 
account  of  bad  debts,  the  poor  old  man  died  of  grief  caused 
by  this  disaster.  He  regarded  it  as  a  blow  to  his  honesty  of 
seventy  years'  standing. 

Madame  Lemprun  gave  the  whole  of  her  husband's  money 
to  her  daughter,  Madame  Thuillier,  and  went  to  live  with  her 


18  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

father  at  Auteuil,  where  the  old  man  died  of  an  accident  in 
1817. 

Alarmed  at  the  thought  of  managing  or  letting  her  father's 
fields  and  gardens,  Madame  Lemprun,  amazed  at  Brigitte's 
capabilities  and  honesty,  begged  her  to  realize  the  property, 
and  so  arrange  matters  that  her  daughter  should  take  every- 
thing into  her  own  hands,  allowing  her  fifteen  hundred  francs 
a  year  and  leaving  her  the  house  at  Auteuil.  The  old  man's 
land,  sold  in  lots,  realized  thirty  thousand  francs.  Lemprun 
had  left  as  much,  and  the  two  fortunes,  added  to  Celeste's 
marriage  portion,  amounted  in  1818  to  ninety  thousand 
francs. 

Celeste's  money  had  been  invested  in  Bank  shares  at  a  time 
when  they  stood  at  nine  hundred  francs.  With  the  sixty 
thousand  francs  Brigitte  secured  five  thousand  francs  a  year, 
for  five  per  cents  were  at  sixty,  and  she  charged  this,  with  fif- 
teen hundred  francs  a  year  of  life  interest,  to  the  Widow  Lem- 
prun. Thus,  at  the  beginning  of  1818,  with  Thuillier's  salary 
of  three  thousand  four  hundred  francs,  Celeste's  income  of 
three  thousand  five  hundred,  and  the  dividends  on  thirty- 
four  shares  in  the  Bank  of  France,  the  annual  sum  passing 
through  Brigitte's  uncontrolled  hands  amounted  to  eleven 
thousand  francs. 

It  was  necessary  to  set  forth  this  financial  position  from 
the  beginning,  not  only  to  anticipate  difficulties,  but  to  clear 
thes  stage  for  the  drama. 

Brigitte  in  the  first  place  allowed  her  brother  five  hundred 
francs  a  month,  and  so  managed  the  house  that  five  thousand 
a  year  paid  all  expenses;  she  allowed  her  sister-in-law  fifty 
francs  a  month,  demonstrating  that  she  for  her  part  was  sat- 
isfied with  forty.  To  secure  her  dominion  by  the  power  of 
money  Brigitte  hoarded  the  surplus  of  her  private  dividends ; 
she  was  a  money  lender,  it  was  said  in  the  offices,  her  brother 
acting  as  her  agent  and  discounting  bills.  Still,  though  Bri- 
gitte accumulated  a  capital  of  sixty  thousand  francs  between 
1813  and  1840,  the  existence  of  such  a  sum  can  be  accounted 
for  by  transactions  on  'change,  the  funds  varying  as  much  aa 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  19 

forty  per  cent,  without 'having  recourse  to  accusations  more 
or  less  veracious,  of  which  the  truth  would  add  nothing  to  the 
interest  of  this  story. 

From  the  very  first  Brigitte  broke  in  the  hapless  Madame 
Thuillier  by  a  free  use  of  the  spurs  and  the  sawing  of  the  bit 
which  she  made  her  feel.  But  this  luxury  of  tyranny  was 
wasted;  the  victim  yielded  at  once.  Celeste,  justly  gauged 
by  Brigitte,  devoid  of  spirit  and  education,  accustomed  to  a 
sedentary  life  and  tranquil  atmosphere,  was  excessively  placid 
by  nature,  pious  in  the  widest  sense  of  the  word,  and  ready 
to  expiate  by  the  hardest  penance  the  most  involuntary  fault 
that  could  inflict  pain  on  another.  She  was  absolutely  igno- 
rant of  life,  accustomed  to  be  waited  on  by  her  mother,  who 
did  all  the  work  herself,  and  compelled  to  keep  very  quiet  by  a 
lymphatic  constitution,  which  made  the  least  exertion  a  fa- 
tigue. She  was  a  typical  child  of  the  Paris  middle  class, 
where  such  children  are  constantly  seen,  rarely  gifted  with 
beauty, — the  product  of  poverty,  of  overwork,  of  airless 
dwellings,  bereft  of  freedom  and  of  all  the  conveniences  of 
life. 

At  the  time  of  her  marriage  Celeste  was  a  little  woman, 
nauseatingly  fair  and  colorless,  fat,  slow,  and  very  stupid- 
looking.  Her  forehead,  too  high  and  prominent,  suggested 
water  on  the  brain,  and  under  that  dome  a  face  evidently  too 
small  and  ending  in  a  point  like  a  mouse's  snout,  led  some  of 
the  guests  to  hint  that  she  might  sooner  or  later  go  out  of  her 
mind.  Her  pale  blue  eyes,  and  lips  set  in  a  perpetual  smile, 
did  not  contradict  the  idea.  On  her  wedding-day,  a  solemn 
occasion,  she  had  the  look,  the  manner,  and  the  attitude  of  a 
person  condemned  to  death,  and  only  hoping  it  will  be  soon 
over. 

"She  is  a  little  soft !"  said  Colleville  to  Thuillier. 

Brigitte  was  the  knife  that  would  stab  this  nature,  the  ut- 
most contrast  to  her  own.  She  had  a  stamp  of  beauty  in  her 
regular  and  classic  features,  but  destroyed  by  the  toil  which 
from  her  infancy  had  kept  her  bent  over  coarse  and  unbeau- 
tiful  work,  and  by  the  privations  she  voluntarily  endured  to 


20  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

amass  her  little  hoard.  Her  complexion,  washed  to  a  polish 
at  a  very  early  age,  had  the  hue  of  steel.  Her  dark  eyes  were 
set  in  black,  or  rather  in  bruised  circles;  her  upper  lip  was 
marked  with  dark  down,  a  sort  of  sootiness;  her  lips  were 
thin,  and  her  imperious  forehead  was  crowned  by  hair  that 
had  been  black,  but  was  fast  turning  to  chinchilla.  She  was 
as  upright  as  any  handsome  woman  could  be,  and  everything 
about  her  betrayed  a  hard  life,  suppressed  fires,  and  the  cost 
of  her  gains. 

To  this  woman  Celeste  was  simply  a  fortune  to  absorb,  a 
mother  to  mate,  one  more  subject  in  her  empire.  She  soon 
found  fault  with  her  for  being  so  flabby, — a  word  constantly 
on  her  tongue, — and  the  acrid  old  maid,  who  would  have  been 
heartbroken  if  she  had  had  a  managing  sister-in-law,  found 
a  savage  pleasure  in  stinging  this  helpless  creature  to  activity. 
Celeste,  ashamed  of  seeing  her  sister-in-law  display  her 
housewifely  energy  and  do  the  housework,  tried  to  help  her; 
then  she  fell  ill;  at  once  Brigitte  was  devoted  in  caring  for 
her;  she  nursed  her  like  a  sister,  and  would  say  before 
Jerome : 

"You  are  not  strong  enough;  well,  then,  do  nothing,  poor 
child !"  emphasizing  Celeste's  incapacity  with  the  display  of 
pity  by  which  the  strong,  affecting  gentle  compassion  for  the 
weak,  contrive  to  insinuate  their  own  praises. 

But  as  all  such  despotic  natures  love  to  use  their  strength 
and  show  great  tenderness  for  physical  suffering,  she  nursed 
her  sister-in-law  so  well  that  Celeste's  mother  was  quite  satis- 
fied when  she  came  to  see  her. 

When  Madame  Thuillier  was  well  again  Brigitte  would 
say,  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  heard :  "Limp  rag !  of  no  use  what- 
ever !"  and  the  like.  Celeste  retired  to  her  room  to  weep,  and 
when  Thuillier  found  her  in  tears  he  would  make  excuses 
for  his  sister. 

"She  is  as  good  as  gold,  but  she  is  hot-tempered.  She  loves 
you  after  her  own  fashion ;  she  is  just  the  same  to  me." 

And  Celeste,  remembering  her  sister-in-law's  motherly  care, 
forgave  her. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  21 

Brigitte  regarded  her  brother  as  king  of  the  household ;  she 
praised  him  up  to  Celeste  and  treated  him  as  an  autocrat,  a 
Ladislas,  an  infallible  Pope.  Madame  Thuillier,  bereft  of 
her  father  and  her  grandfather,  and  almost  deserted  by  her 
mother  who  came  to  see  her  on  Thursdays,  while  they  went  to 
her  on  Sundays  in  the  summer,  had  no  one  to  love  but  her 
ihusband;  in  the  first  place  because  he  was  her  husband,  and 
also  because  to  her  he  was  always  "handsome  Thuillier."  Be- 
sides, he  sometimes  behaved  to  her  as  if  she  were  his  wife,  and 
for  all  these  reasons  combined  she  worshiped  him.  He  seemed 
to  her  all  the  more  perfect  when  he  often  took  her  part,  and 
scolded  his  sister,  not  out  of  regard  for  Celeste  but  from  sheer 
selfishness,  to  secure  peace  in  the  house  during  the  few  min- 
utes he  spent  there.  In  fact  Thuillier  dined  at  home,  and 
came  in  to  bed  very  late;  he  went  to  balls  in  his  own  circle, 
alone  and  exactly  as  though  he  were  still  a  bachelor. 

Thus  the  two  women  were  always  together.  Celeste  un- 
consciously adopted  a  passive  attitude,  and  became,  as  Brigitte 
wished,  a  perfect  slave.  The  Queen'  Elizabeth  of  the  house- 
hold went  through  a  change  from  domineering  to  a  sort  of 
pity  for  this  perpetually  crushed  victim.  She  finally  set  aside 
her  haughty  airs,  her  cutting  words,  her  tone  of  contempt, 
feeling  sure  that  she  had  bent  her  sister-in-law  to  the  yoke. 

As  soon  as  she  realized  that  her  slave's  neck  was  bruised  by 
the  collar,  she  took  care  of  her  as  of  a  piece  of  personal  prop- 
erty, and  Celeste  knew  better  days.  Then,  comparing  the  end 
with  the  beginning,  she  felt  a  sort  of  affection  for  her  tor- 
mentor. 

The  poor  soul  had  but  one  chance  that  might  have  given 
her  spirit  to  defend  herself,  to  become  something — some- 
body— in  the  household  that  lived  on  her  money,  though  she 
did  not  know  it,  while  she  got  nothing  but  the  crumbs  from 
the  table;  but  that  chance  never  favored  her. 

At  the  end  of  six  years  Celeste  had  no  child. 

This  misfortune,  over  which,  month  after  month,  she  shed 
torrents  of  tears,  did  much  to  add  fuel  to  Brigitte's  scorn; 
ghe  pronounced  her  of  no  use  at  all,  not  even  to  bear  children. 


22  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

The  old  maid,  who  had  dreamed  of  loving  her  brother's  chil- 
dren as  if  they  were  her  own,  was  slow  in  getting  used  to  the 
idea  of  this  irremediable  misfortune. 

At  the  time  when  this  story  opens,  in  1840,  at  the  age  of 
forty-six,  Celeste  had  ceased  to  weep,  for  she  was  mournfully 
certain  that  she  would  never  be  a  mother.  Strange  to  say, 
after  twenty-five  years  of  a  life  in  which  victory  had  finally 
blunted  and  broken  the  knife,  Brigitte  was  as  fond  of  Celeste 
as  Celeste  was  of  her.  Time,  ample  means,  the  incessant 
friction  of  daily  life  which  had  no  doubt  rubbed  off  the  cor- 
ners and  smoothed  down  asperities,  with  Celeste's  lamblike 
resignation  and  sweetness,  had  led  to  a  serene  autumn.  And 
the  two  women  were  united  by  the  one  feeling  they  had  ever 
known :  their  adoration  for  the  fortunate  and  selfish  Thuillier. 

And  then  these  two  women,  both  childless,  had  each,  like 
every  woman  who  has  longed  in  vain  to  be  a  mother,  devoted 
herself  to  a  child.  This  spurious  motherhood,  quite  as  ab- 
sorbing as  real  motherhood,  needs  an  explanation  which 
brings  us  to  the  main  action  of  the  drama,  and  will  account 
for  the  abundant  occupation  found  by  Mademoiselle  Thuil- 
lier for  her  brother. 

Thuillier  had  entered  the  office  as  supernumerary  clerk  at 
the  same  time  as  Colleville,  who  has  already  been  mentioned 
as  his  intimate  friend.  Compared  to  the  dull  and  methodical 
rule  of  Thuillier's  house,  social  nature  had  created  Colleville's 
as  a  complete  contrast,  and  while  it  is  impossible  not  to  re- 
mark that  this  fortuitous  contrast  is  far  from  moral,  it  must 
be  added  that  before  jumping  to  a  conclusion  it  will  be  well 
to  read  the  story  to  the  end — a  story  for  which,  being  but  too 
true,  the  author  cannot  be  held  responsible. 

This  Colleville  was  the  son  of  a  clever  musician,  formerly 
first  violin  at  the  opera  in  the  days  of  Francreur  and  Rebel. 
At  least  six  times  a  month,  as  long  as  he  lived,  he  would  re- 
late anecdotes  about  the  performances  of  Le  Devin  du  Vil- 
lage, imitating  Jean-Jacques  Rousseau  with  wonderful  exact- 
itude. Colleville  and  Thuillier  were  inseparable ;  they  had  no 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  23 

secrets  from  each  other,  and  their  friendship,  begun  at  the 
age  of  fifteen,  had  known  no  cloud  in  1839.  .  . 

Colleville  was  one  of  the  clerks  called  "pluralists"  in  gov- 
ernment offices.  Such  men  are  always  distinguished  by  their 
industry.  Colleville,  who  was  a  good  musician,  held  by  favor 
of  his  father's  name  and  influence  the  place  of  first  clarinet 
player  at  the  Opera  Comique,  and  as  long  as  he  was  a  bache- 
lor, Colleville,  being  a  little  better  off  than  Thuillier,  often 
shared  with  his  friend.  But  Colleville,  unlike  Thuillier, 
married  to  please  himself:  Mademoiselle  Flavie,  the  illegiti- 
mate child  of  a  famous  opera-dancer  who  called  the  girl  du 
Bourguier,  asserting  that  she  was  the  daughter  of  a  rich  con- 
tractor of  that  name  who  was  ruined  in  1800,  and  who  for- 
got the  child  all  the  more  completely  because  he  had  doubts 
as  to  the  celebrated  lady's  fidelity. 

Flavie's  birth  and  appearance  had  destined  her  to  a  sorry 
fate  when  Colleville,  having  frequent  occasion  to  visit  her 
mother,  who  lived  in  luxury,  fell  in  love  with  the  girl  and 
married  her.  Prince  Galathionne,  the  dancer's  "protector" 
in  September  1815,  when  her  brilliant  career  was  drawing  to 
a  close,  gave  Flavie  twenty  thousand  francs  as  a  wedding  por- 
tion, and  her  mother  furnished  her  with  a  magnificent  trous- 
seau. The  visitors  to  her  house  made  her  presents  of  jewelry 
and  plate,  so  the  Collevilles  started  in  housekeeping  richer 
in  superfluities  than  in  capital. 

Flavie,  brought  up  in  luxury,  had  at  first  a  pretty  apart- 
ment furnished  by  her  mother's  decorator,  and  here  the  young 
wife  held  court,  airing  her  taste  for  art  and  artists,  amid  a 
certain  display  of  elegance. 

Madame  Colleville  was  pretty  and  piquante,  bright,  gay, 
and  gracious,  and  a  thorough  "good  fellow."  The  dancer, 
who  was  now  four-and-forty,  retired  from  the  stage  and  went 
to  live  in  the  country,  thus  depriving  her  daughter  of  the  ben- 
efit she  derived  from  her  mother's  wealth  and  extravagance. 
Madame  Colleville's  house  was  pleasant  enough  but  desper- 
ately expensive. 

Between  1816  and  1826  she  had  five  children.     Colleville, 


24  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

a  musician  at  night,  kept  a  merchant's  books  from  seven  till 
nine  every  morning.  By  ten  he  was  at  the  office.  And  so,  by 
blowing  into  a  wooden  pipe  in  the  evening,  and  writing  out 
accounts  by  double  entry  in  the  morning,  he  made  seven  or 
eight  thousand  francs  a  year. 

Madame  Colleville  played  the  real  lady ;  she  was  "at  home" 
on  Wednesdays,  she  gave  a  music  party  once  a  week,  and  a 
dinner  once  a  fortnight.  She  only  saw  her  husband  at  din- 
ner; in  the  evening,  when  he  came  in  towards  midnight,  she 
often  had  not  returned.  She  was  at  the  play,  for  she  some- 
times had  a  box  given  her,  or  she  left  word  for  Colleville  to 
fetch  her  from  some  house  where  she  was  at  a  dance  or  a  sup- 
per. 

Madame  Colleville's  dinners  were  excellent,  and  the  com- 
pany, if  mixed,  was  very  amusing ;  she  received  distinguished 
actresses,  painters,  men  of  letters,  and  some  men  of  wealth. 
Madame  Colleville  could  vie  in  elegance  with  Tullia,  the 
famous  opera-singer,  of  whom  she  saw  a  great  deal;  still, 
though  the  Colleville's  drew  on  their  capital,  and  often  found 
it  difficult  to  make  both  ends  meet  at  the  end  of  the  month, 
Flavie  was  never  in  debt. 

Colleville  was  very  happy;  he  still  loved  his  wife  and  was 
still  her  great  friend.  Always  welcomed  with  the  same  affec- 
tionate smile  and  infectious  good  spirits,  he  yielded  to  her  ir- 
resistible fascinations  and  ways. 

The  exhausting  toil  he  went  through  in  his  three  separate 
avocations  suited  his  character  and  temperament.  He  was  a 
good-natured,  burly  fellow,  florid,  jolly,  and  lavish,  and  full 
of  whims.  In  ten  years  there  was  never  a  squabble  in  the 
household.  In  the  office  he  was  regarded  as  a  scatterbrain, 
like  all  artists,  as  they  said;  but  they  were  superficial  judge? 
who  mistook  the  constant  haste  of  a  busy  man  for  the  hurry 
of  a  muddler. 

He  had  sense  enough  to  affect  a  certain  stupidity ;  he  would 
boast  of  his  domestic  happiness,  and  pretend  to  be  interested 
in  concocting  anagrams,  as  if  he  were  absorbed  by 'a  passion 
for  them.  The  clerks  of  his  division,  the  heads  of  divisions, 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  2& 

and  even  heads  of  offices  came  to  his  concerts;  from  time 
to  time,  at  fitting  moments,  he  would  offer  tickets  for  a  play, 
for  he  needed  much  indulgence  for  his  frequent  absence  from 
work.  Rehearsals  took  up  half  the  time  he  ought  to  have 
spent  at  the  office,  but  the  musical  gifts  he  had  inherited  from 
his  father  were  genuine,  and  his  knowledge  great  enough 
to  exempt  him  from  any  but  the  general  rehearsals.  Thanks 
to  Madame  Colleville's  influence,  the  theatre  and  the  authori- 
ties respectively  yielded  to  the  necessities  of  this  worthy  plu- 
ralist, who,  besides  all  this,  was  training  a  young  fellow 
earnestly  recommended  by  his  wife,  a  great  musician  of  the 
future,  who  sometimes  took  his  place  in  the  orchestra  with 
every  hope  of  succeeding  him. 

In  point  of  fact,  in  1827,  when  Colleville  retired,  the  said 
young  man  became  the  first  clarinet: 

As  to  Flavie,  she  was  summed  up  in  the  sentence :  "She  is 
a  bit  of  a  flirt !" 

The  eldest  Colleville  child,  born  in  1816,  was  the  very 
image  of  its  good  father.  In  1818  Madame  Colleville  thought 
everything  of  the  cavalry,  ranking  it  even  above  the  arts; 
she  smiled  on  a  lieutenant  of  the  Saint-Chamans  dragoons, 
Charles  de  Gondreville,  who  was  young  and  rich,  and  who 
died  afterwards  in  the  Spanish  war;  her  second  son,  then  a 
baby,  was  destined  to  a  soldier's  life.  In  1820  she  considered 
the  Bank  as  the  foster-mother  of  industry  and  the  mainstay 
of  the  State,  and  the  great  Keller,  the  famous  orator,  was 
her  idol.  Her  third  son  was  born,  Francois,  who  was  to  go 
into  business  and  would  never  lack  the  advantage  of  Keller's 
protection.  By  the  end  of  1820  Thuillier,  Monsieur  and 
Madame  Colleville's  intimate  friend  and  Flavie's  great  ad- 
mirer, felt  the  need  of  pouring  out  his  sorrows  in  that  ex- 
cellent woman's  heart,  and  expatiated  on  his  matrimonial 
troubles.  For  six  years  he  had  hoped  for  a  child,  but  God 
had  not  blessed  his  efforts;  in  vain  did  Madame  Thuillier  have 
masses  said;  she  had  even  been  to  Notre  Dame  de  Liesse! 
He  described  Celeste  under  every  aspect,  and  the  words  "Poor 
Thuillier"  fell  from  Madame  Colleville's  lips.  She,  for  her 


26  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

part,  was  just  then  rather  depressed;  she  had  no  predomi- 
nant opinion.  She  confided  her  sorrows  to  Thuillier.  The 
great  Keller,  the  hero  of  the  Left,  was  in  fact  horribly  mean ; 
she  had  seen  the  sunny  side  of  glory,  the  follies  of  finance, 
the  shallowness  of  an  orator.  He  never  would  say  a  word  ex- 
cepting in  the  Chamber,  and  he  had  behaved  very  badly  to 
her.  Thuillier  was  indignant. 

"Only  simpletons  know  how  to  love,"  said  he ;  "take  me !" 

And  handsome  Thuillier  was  said  to  be  making  up  to  Ma- 
dame Colleville,  paying  her  attentions,  as  the  phrase  was 
under  the  Empire. 

"So  you  are  sweet  on  my  wife,"  said  Colleville,  laughing. 
"You  had  better  beware ;  she  will  leave  you  in  the  lurch  like 
all  the  rest !" 

A  cunning  speech  by  which  Colleville  guarded  his  mari- 
tal dignity  in  the  office. 

In  1820-1821  Thuillier  availed  himself  of  his  position  as  a 
friend  of  the  family  to  help  Colleville,  who  had  so  often 
helped  him  of  old;  and  in  the  course  of  eighteen  months  he 
had  lent  the  Collevilles  nearly  ten  thousand  francs,  never  in- 
tending to  mention  it.  In  the  spring  of  1821  Madame  Colle- 
ville gave  birth  to  a  charming  little  girl  to  whom  Monsieur 
and  Madame  Thuillier  stood  sponsors ;  she  was  named  Celeste 
Louise  Caroline  Brigitte;  Mademoiselle  Thuillier  wished 
that  this  angel  should  bear  one  of  her  names.  The  name 
Caroline  was  given  in  compliment  to  Colleville. 

Old  Madame  Lemprun  undertook  to  put  the  child  out  to 
nurse  under  her  own  eye  at  Auteuil,  where  Celeste  and  her 
sister  went  to  see  her  twice  a  week. 

As  soon  as  Madame  Colleville  was  strong  again  she  said  to 
Thuillier  quite  frankly  and  seriously : 

"My  dear  friend,  if  we  are  to  continue  good  friends,  we 
must  be  nothing  more.  Colleville  is  greatly  attached  to  you ; 
well,  one  in  the  family  is  enough." 

"Pray  tell  me,"  said  Thuillier  to  Tullia,  the  dancer,  who 
was  calling  on  Madame  Colleville,  "why  women  are  so  little 
attached  to  me.  I  am  not  the  Belvedere  Apollo,  but  on  the 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  27 

other  hand  I  am  not  a  Vulcan;  I  am  fairly  good-looking,  I 
can  talk,  I  am  constant " 

"Do  you  want  to  know  the  truth?"  asked  Tullia. 

"Yes,"  said  handsome  Thuillier. 

"Well,  then,  though  we  sometimes  love  an  .idiot,  we  never 
can  love  a  fool." 

This  speech  crushed  Thuillier;  he  could  not  get  over  it. 
He  had  a  fit  of  melancholy  and  accused  womankind  of 
caprice. 

"Did  not  I  warn  you?"  said  Colleville;  "I  am  not  a  Na- 
poleon, my  dear  fellow ;  I  should  even  be  very  sorry  if  I  were, 
but  I  have  my  Josephine — a  jewel !" 

The  chief  Secretary  in  her  husband's  office,  des  Lupeaulx, 
whom  Madame  Colleville  supposed  to  have  more  influence 
than  he  had — she  used  to  say  later :  "He  was  one  of  my  mis- 
takes"— was  for  a  time  the  great  man  of  the  Colleville 
drawing-room;  but  as  he  had  not  power  enough  to  get  Colle- 
ville promoted  to  the  division  of  Bois-Levant,  Flavie  had 
wit  enough  to  take  umbrage  at  the  attentions  he  paid  Ma- 
dame Eabourdin,  the  wife  of  a  head-clerk,  a  minx,  as  she 
said,  to  whose  house  she  had  never  been  invited,  and  who 
had  twice  been  so  impertinent  as  not  to  come  to  her  music 
parties. 

Flavie  was  dreadfully  shocked  by  young  Gondreville's 
death ;  she  was  quite  inconsolable ;  she  saw  in  it,  she  said,  the 
hand  of  God.  In  1824  she  mended  her  ways,  talked  about 
economizing,  received  no  more  company,  devoted  herself  to 
her  children,  and  set  up  for  being  a  virtuous  wife  and  mother ; 
her  friends  did  not  know  of  any  favorite  in  attendance.  But 
she  went  much  to  church,  she  corrected  her  dress,  wearing 
sober  grays;  she  talked  of  religion  and  the  proprieties;  and 
this  mysticism  resulted  in  the  birth,  in  1825,  of  a  pretty  little 
boy,  named  Theodore,  the  gift  of  God. 

In  1826,  when  the  Congregation  was  all-powerful,  Colle- 
ville was  made  second  clerk  in  Clergeot's  division,  and  in 
1828  promoted  to  be  revenue  collector  in  a  Paris  district., 

Colleville  also  obtained  the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor, 
VOL.  14—28 


28  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

to  entitle  him,  by  and  by,  to  have  his  daughter  educated  at 
Saint-Denis.  The  half-scholarship  which  Keller  had  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  in  1823  for  Charles,  the  eldest  of  Colle- 
ville's  boys,  was  given  to  the  second;  Charles  secured  a 
whole  scholarship  at  the  College  Saint-Denis,  and  the  third, 
to  whom  Madame  the  Dauphiness  extended  her  protection, 
had  three-quarters  of  a  scholarship  at  the  College  Henri  IV. 

In  1830  Colleville's  attachment  to  the  Legitimate  branch 
compelled  him  to  retire ;  all  his  children  were  happily  living. 
He  was  so  fortunate  as  to  be  able  to  get  something  for  his 
place,  a  pension  of  two  thousand  four  hundred  francs  as  the 
reward  of  long  service  and  an  indemnity  of  ten  thousand 
francs  from  his  successor;  he  was  also  promoted  to  be  an 
officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  He  nevertheless  found  him- 
self in  straitened  circumstances,  and  in  1832  Mademoiselle 
Thuillier  advised  him  to  settle  near  them,  hinting  that  he 
might  obtain  a  clerkship  at  the  Mairie,  as,  in  fact,  he  did 
within  a  fortnight,  with  a  salary  of  a  thousand  crowns. 

Charles  Colleville  had  just  entered  the  Naval  School.  The 
schools  to  which  the  other  boys  went  were  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. The  seminary  of  Saint-Sulpice,  where  the  youngest 
was  one  day  to  be  educated,  was  close  to  the  Luxembourg. 
Finally,  Thuillier  and  Colleville  really  ought  to  end  their 
days  together. 

In  1833  Madame  Colleville,  now  five-and-thirty,  settled 
in  the  Eue  d'Enfer  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  des  Deux- 
Eglises  with  Celeste  and  little  Theodore;  thus  Colleville 
was  about  equally  far  from  his  Mairie  and  the  Rue  Saint- 
Dominique.  The  family,  after  leading  a  life  at  first  of 
show  and  dissipation  and  constant  festivities,  and  then  of 
quiet  retirement,  was  now  reduced  to  middle-class  obscurity 
with  a  total  income  of  five  thousand  four  hundred  francs. 

Celeste  was  now  twelve  years  old;  she  promised  to  be 
pretty;  she  required  masters;  she  would  cost  at  least  two 
thousand  francs  a  year.  Her  mother  felt  'that  she  must  be 
placed  under  the  eye  of  her  godfather  and  godmother.  So 
she  acted  on  Mademoiselle  Thuillier's  suggestion,  in  every 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  29 

way  a  wise  one;  and  Brigitte,  without  in  any  way  pledging 
herself,  made  Madame  Colleville  understand  pretty  clearly 
that  her  fortune,  with  her  brother's  and  Madame  Thuillier's, 
was  to  be  settled  on  Celeste.  The  little  girl  had  lived  at 
Auteuil  till  the  age  of  seven,  worshiped  by  kind  old  Madame 
Lemprun,  who  died  in  1829,  leaving  twenty  thousand  francs 
in  savings,  and  her  house,  which  sold  for  the  enormous  sum 
of  twenty-eight  thousand. 

The  little  girl  had  seen  but  little  of  her  mother  and  a 
great  deal  of  Madame  and  Mademoiselle  Thuillier  since 
going  home  to  her  father's  house  in  1829.  In  1833  she 
fell  more  exclusively  under  Flavie's  management,  and  the 
mother  then  tried  conscientiously  to  do  her  duty,  overdoing 
it  indeed,  as  women  do  who  are  tortured  by  remorse.  Fla- 
vie,  without  being  hard,  was  very  strict  with  the  little  girl; 
she  looked  back  on  her  own  early  training  and  vowed  to 
herself  that  she  would  make  an  honest  woman,  and  not  a 
light  woman,  of  Celeste.  She  took  her  to  church  and  made 
her  take  her  first  communion  under  the  direction  of  a  Paris 
cure  who  has  since  been  made  a  bishop.  Celeste  was  all 
the  more  genuinely  pious  because  Madame  Thuillier,  her 
godmother,  whom  she  adored,  was  a  perfect  saint.  Celeste 
felt  that  she  was  better  loved  by  this  poor,  lonely  woman 
than  by  her  own  mother. 

Between  1833  and  1840  she  had  the  most  brilliant  edu- 
cation, according  to  the  ideas  of  her  world.  The  best 
music-masters  made  her  a  very  tolerable  performer ;  she  could 
wash  in  a  water-color  drawing  very  neatly;  she  danced  to 
perfection;  she  had  learned  her  own  language  and  history, 
geography,  English,  Italian — in  short,  everything  that  con- 
stitutes a  lady-like  education.  Of  medium  height  and  rather 
flat,  she  was  unfortunately  short-sighted;  neither  pretty  nor 
plain,  she  had  a  fair,  bright  complexion,  but  she  had  not 
a  notion  of  fine  manners.  She  had  a  good  deal  of  restrained 
feeling,  and  her  godfather,  godmother,  Mademoiselle  Thuil- 
lier, and  Colleville  himself  were  unanimous  on  this  point — 
a  mother's  anchor  of  hope — that  Celeste  could  feel  a  strong 


80  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

attachment.  One  of  her  chief  beauties  was  magnificent  light- 
brown  hair;  but  her  hands  and  feet  showed  common  blood. 

The  girl  was  engaging  for  her  admirable  virtues;  she 
was  genuinely  kind,  simple,  and  sweet;  she  loved  her  father 
and  mother,  and  would  have  sacrificed  herself  for  them. 
Brought  up  in  the  deepest  admiration  for  her  godparents, 
alike  by  Brigitte, — who  made  her  call  her  Aunt  Brigitte, 
— by  Madame  Thuillier,  and  by  her  mother,  who  was  on 
constantly  intimate  terms  with  the  old  "buck"  of  the  Em- 
pire, Celeste  had  the  loftiest  ideas  of  the  retired  second  clerk. 
The  house  in  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique  impressed  her  as  much 
as  the  Chateau  of  the  Tuileries  impresses  a  courtier  of  the 
new  dynasty. 

Thuillier  had  not  withstood  the  rolling-mill  action  of 
administrative  routine  which  wears,  the  brains  thin  in  pro- 
portion as  they  are  beaten  out.  Exhausted  by  monotonous 
•work  as  well  as  by  his  successes  as  a  "lady's  man,"  he  had 
lost  his  best  faculties  by  the  time  he  settled  in  the  Rue 
Saint-Dominique;  but  his  drawn  features,  bearing  a  slightly 
arrogant  expression  mixed  with  the  self-satisfaction  that 
might  have  been  the  fatuity  of  a  superior  clerk,  made  the 
deepest  impression  on  Celeste.  She  alone  adored  that  color- 
less face.  She  knew  that  she  was  the  delight  of  the  Thuillier 
household. 

The  Collevilles  and  their  children  very  naturally  formed 
the  nucleus  of  the  society-  which  Mademoiselle  Thuillier's 
ambition  aimed  at  collecting  about  her  brother.  A  retired 
clerk  of  la  Billardiere's  division,  who  had  for  thirty  years 
been  living  in  the  Saint-Jacques  quarter  of  the  city,  Mon- 
sieur Phellion,  now  a  major  of  the  National  Guard,  was 
recognized  at  the  first  review  by  the  retired  collector  and 
second  clerk.  Phellion  was  one  of  the  most  highly  re- 
spected men  in  the  district.  He  had  one  daughter,  for- 
merly a  teacher  in  the  Lagrave  school  for  girls,  and  now 
married  to  Monsieur  Barniol,  a  professor  in  the  Rue  Saint- 
Hyacinthe. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  31 

Phellion's  eldest  son  was  mathematical  master  in  a  public 
school.  He  gave  lessons,  coached  pupils,  and  devoted  himself, 
as  his  father  expressed  it,  to  pure  mathematics.  The  second 
son  was  studying  in  the  Civil  Engineering  College. 

Phellion  had  a  pension  of  nine  hundred  francs,  and  a  few 
hundred  francs  of  interest  on  his  savings  and  his  wife's 
during  thirty  years  of  hard  work  and  privations.  He  was 
also  the  owner  of  the  little  house,  with  a  garden  attached, 
in  which  he  lived  in  the  Impasse  des  Feuillantines.  In 
thirty  years  he  had  never  once  spoken  of  this  alley,  which 
was  no  thoroughfare,  by  the  old-fashioned  term,  cul-de-sac. 

Dutocq,  clerk  to  a  justice  of  the  peace,  had  been  an 
employe  in  the  Exchequer  office.  He  had  been  the  victim 
on  one  of  those  occasions  which  now  and  then  are  a  necessity 
under  a  representative  government,  and  had  consented  to  be 
the  scapegoat  in  a  scandalous  case  discovered  by  the  commis- 
sioners of  the  budget,  for  which  he  was  secretly  paid  a  fairly 
round  sum;  this  had  enabled  him  to  purchase  his  place  as 
a  clerk  of  the  Court.  This  man,  whose  credit  was  low  as  an 
office  spy,  was  not  received  as  he  thought  was  his  due  by 
the  Thuilliers;  but  the  coldness  of  his  landlord  was  just 
what  made  him  persist  in  his  visits. 

.He  was  unmarried,  and  indulged  his  vices;  he  carefully 
concealed  his  mode  of  life  and  knew  how  to  flatter  his 
superiors.  The  magistrate,  his  master,  had  a  high  opinion 
of  Dutocq.  This  shameless  individual  made  himself  tol- 
erated by  the  Thuilliers  by  mean  and  gross  adulation, 
which  never  fails  of  its  effect.  He  knew  every  detail  of 
Thuillier's  life,  of  his  intimacy  with  Colleville,  and  yet 
more  with  Madame  Colleville.  They  were  afraid  of  that 
formidable  tongue,  and  the  Thuilliers  endured  him  without 
admitting  him  to  familiarity. 

The  family  that  presently  became  the  flower  of  the 
Thuillier's  drawing-room  was  that  of  a  poor  clerk  who  had 
been  the  object  of  pity  in  the  office,  and  who,  driven  by 
penury,  had  thrown  up  his  place  in  1827  to  go  into  trade — 
with  an  idea. 


92  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Minard  foresaw  a  fortune  in  one  of  those  atrocious  de- 
vices which  disgrace  French  trade,  but  which  in  1827  had 
not  yet  been  blown  on  by  publicity.  Minard  bought  tea 
and  mixed  it  with  dried  tea  leaves  that  had  already  been 
used ;  then  he  adulterated  chocolate  to  an  extent  that  al- 
lowed of  his  selling  it  cheap.  This  retail  business  in  colonial 
produce,  first  started  in  the  Saint-Marcel  quarter,  set  Minard 
up  in  trade;  he  established  a  factory,  and  through  his  con- 
nections was  now  able  to  procure  the  unmanufactured  article 
from  the  producer;  thus  he  could  carry  on  honestly  and  on 
an  extensive  scale  the  business  he  had  begun  in  such  a  shady 
way. 

He  set  up  ,a  distillery;  vast  quantities  of  imported  raw 
material  passed  through  his  hands,  and  in  1835  he  was 
considered  to  be  one  of  the  richest  traders  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Place  Maubert.  He  had  bought  one  of  the  hand- 
some residences  in  the  Rue  des  Magons  Sorbonne;  he  had 
already  been  the  deputy  mayor,  and  in  1 839  was  elected  mayor 
of  that  district  and  assessor  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
He  kept  a  carriage  and  had  a  country  house  near  Lagny ;  his 
wife  wore  diamonds  at  the  Court  balls,  and  he  flaunted  the 
rosette  of  an  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  in  his  button- 
hole. 

Minard  and  his  wife  were  moreover  exceedingly  liberal  to 
the  poor;  perhaps  they  wished  to  restore  to  them  retail  all 
they  extracted  wholesale  from  the  public. 

Phellion,  Colleville,  and  Thuillier  came  across  Minard  at 
election  time,  and  the  result  was  an  acquaintance  which 
soon  became  intimate  because  Madame  Zelie  Minard  seemed 
enchanted  to  introduce  her  "young  lady"  to  Celeste  Colle- 
ville. 

Ce'leste  made  her  entry  into  society  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
and  a  half,  at  a  fine  ball  given  by  the  Minards,  dressed  as 
beseemed  her  name,  which  seemed  of  good  augury  for  her 
life.  Delighted  to  be  the  friend  of  Mademoiselle  Minard, 
who  was  four  years  her  senior,  she  persuaded  her  godfather 
and  her  father  to  cultivate  the  Minards,  in  whose  gilded 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  33 

and  gorgeous  rooms  many  political  celebrities  of  the  "Juste 
Milieu"  (the  Happy  Medium)  were  wont  to  meet:  Mon- 
sieur Popinot,  afterwards  Minister  of  Commerce;  Cochu, 
now  Baron  Cochu,  previously  a  clerk  in  the  Clergeot  division 
of  the  Exchequer  office,  and  a  large  shareholder  in  a  grocery 
business,  was  as  much  the  oracle  of  the  Lombards  and  the 
Bourdonnais  quarters  as  his  ally,  Monsieur  Anselme  Popinot. 

Minard's  eldest  son  was  a  pleader,  whose  ambition  it  was 
to  step  into  the  shoes  of  those  advocates  whose  political 
opinions  should  have  weaned  them  from  appearing  in  Court' 
since  1830;  he  was  the  genius  of  the  family,  and  his  mother, 
no  less  than  his  father,  hoped  to  see  him  well  married.  Zelie 
Minard,  once  an  artificial-flower  maker,  was  filled  with  an 
ardent  yearning  towards  higher  social  spheres,  and  hoped 
to  enter  there  by  the  marriage  of  her  son  and  daughter ;  while 
Minard,  more  prudent  than  his  wife,  and  imbued  with  a 
sense  of  the  power  of  the  middle  classes  in  the  state  which 
had  resulted  from  the  revolution  of  July,  looked  only  for 
fortune.  He  haunted  the  Thuilliers'  house  to  pick  up  in- 
formation as  to  Celeste's  prospects  as  an  heiress. 

He,  like  Dutocq  and  Phellion,  had  heard  the  scandal  that 
had  been  rumored  as  to  the  Thulliers'  intimacy  with  Flavie, 
and  he  had  not  failed  to  note  their  devotion  to  their  god- 
daughter. 

Dutocq,  eager  to  be  received  by  the  Minards,  toadied  them, 
grossly.  When  Minard,  the  Rothschild  of  his  arrondisse- 
ment,  came  first  to  the  Thuilliers',  he  compared  him,  almost 
wittily,  to  Napoleon,  seeing  him  now  burly,. fat,  and  flourish- 
ing, when  he  had  last  known  him,  in  the  office,  lean,  pale, 
and  sickly. 

"When  you  were  in  la  Billardiere's  division/'  said  he,  "you 
were  like  Napoleon  before  the  18th  Brumaire;  now  I  see  a 
Napoleon  of  the  Empire." 

Minard,  however,  met  him  coldly  and  did  not  ask  him  to 
his  house;  thus  he  made  a  mortal  enemy  of  the  malignant 
law  clerk. 

Monsieur  and  Madame  Phellion,  worthy  couple  as  they 


34  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

were,  could  not  help  indulging  in  calculations  and  hopes. 
It  struck  them  that  Celeste  was  the  very  thing  for  their  son, 
the  professor;  so  to  make  a  little  faction  in  the  Thuil- 
lier  drawing-room,  they  introduced  their  son-in-law,  Mon- 
sieur Barniol;,  a  man  well  thought  of  in  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Jacques,  an  official  of  long  standing  in  the  Mairie,  and  their 
intimate  ally,  whom  Colleville  had  in  a  way  ousted  from  hi? 
place,  when  Monsieur  Laudigeois,  for  twenty  years  a  clerk  in 
the  Mairie,  was  hoping,  as  the  reward  of  his  long  services, 
for  the  secretaryship  obtained  by  Colleville. 

Thus  the  Phellions  formed  a  phalanx  of  seven,  all  fairly 
faithful  to  each  other;  the  Colleville  faction  was  not  less 
numerous,  so  that  sometimes,  on  a  Sunday,  there  would  be 
not  less  than  thirty  persons  in  the  Thuilliers'  drawing-room. 
Thuillier  renewed  his  acquaintance  with  the  Saillards,  the 
Baudoyers,  and  the  Falleix,  all  people  of  importance  in  the 
Place  Royale  quarter,  and  frequently  invited  them  to  dinner. 

Among  the  women  Madame  Colleville  was  the  most  im- 
portant personage  of  this  circle,  as  the  younger  Minard  and 
Phellion,  the  professor,  were  its  superior  men;  for  all  the 
rest,  men  devoid  of  ideas  or  culture  and  risen  from  the 
lower  ranks,  were  typical  of  the  absurdities  of  the  inferior 
middle  classes.  Although  a  fortune  made  in  the  past  seems 
to  imply  some  form  of  merit,  Minard  was  but  an  inflated 
balloon.  He  overflowed  in  long-drawn  sentences,  took  obse- 
quiousness for  politeness  and  ready-made  phrases  for  wit, 
and  would  utter  commonplaces  with  such  airs  and  mouthing 
as  got  them  accepted  as  eloquence.  A  certain  set  of  words 
which  mean  nothing  and  answer  every  purpose — progress, 
steam,  asphalt,  the  National  Guard,  order,  democratic  in- 
fluences, cooperative  spirit,  legality,  motion  and  resistance, 
intimidation — seemed  at  every  political  crisis  to  have  been  in- 
vented for  Minard,  who  then  paraphrased  the  text  of  his  news- 
paper. 

Julien  Minard,  the  lawyer,  suffered  under  his  father  as 
much  as  his  father  suffered  under  his  wife.  Zelie,  in  fact, 
with  improved  fortunes,  had  assumed  pretensions,  though 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  35 

<5he  could  never  learn  to  speak  her  own  language;  she  had 
grown  fat,  and  in  her  handsome  attire  she  looked  like  a  cook 
married  to  her  master. 

Phellion,  the  very  ideal  of  a  middle-class  citizen,  had  an 
equal  share  of  virtues  and  absurdities.  As  a  subordinate, 
during  his  official  career,  he  held  social  superiority  in  high, 
respect.  He  kept  silence  in  the  presence  of  Minard.  He 
had  weathered  the  crisis  of  superannuation  very  success- 
fully, and  this  was  how.  The  worthy  man  had  never  had  a 
chance  of  indulging  his  tastes.  His  love  was  for  the  city 
of  Paris;  he  took  the  utmost  interest  in  the  new  streets  and 
improvements;  he  was  the  man  to  stand  for  two  hours  on 
end  in  front  of  a  house  that  was  being  pulled  down.  He 
might  be  seen  planted  squarely  on  his  feet,  his  nose  in  the 
air,  watching  for  the  fall  of  a  stone  that  a  mason  was  dis- 
lodging with  a  crowbar  from  the  top  of  a  wall,  never  budg- 
ing till  the  block  came  down;  and  when  all  was  over  he 
would  go  off  as  pleased  as  an  academician  at  the  damning 
of  a  romantic  play.  Such  men — Phellion,  Laudigeois,  and 
the  like,  the  true  supernumeraries  of  the  world's  stage — 
fill  the  place  of  the  antique  chorus.  They  weep  when 
others  weep,  laugh  when  they  are  expected  to  laugh,  and 
sing  in  chorus  over  public  disasters  and  public  rejoicings, 
exulting  where  they  stand  apart  at  the  victories  of  Algiers, 
Constantine,  Lisbon,  and  Saint  Juan  de  Ulloa;  grieving 
impartially  over  the  death  of  Napoleon  and  the  fatal  dis- 
asters of  Saint-Merri  and  the  Eue  Transnonnain ;  mourn- 
ing for  the  famous  men  of  whom  they  know  least. 

Phellion,  however,  showed  two  faces;  he  was  conscien- 
tiously divided  between  the  reasoning  of  the  opposition  and 
that  of  the  government.  But  if  there  was  any  street  fight- 
ing, Phellion  was  brave  enough  to  declare  himself  in  the 
face  of  the  neighbors;  he  went  forth  to  the  Place  Saint- 
Michel,  the  parade-ground  of  his  regiment;  he  pitied  the 
government,  but  he  did  his  duty.  Before  and  during  a  riot 
he  would  support  the  reigning  dynasty,  the  outcome  of  the 
revolution  of  July;  but  when  the  political  trials  came  on  he 
was  on  the  side  of  the  culprits. 


SG  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

These  weather-cock  opinions,  harmless  enough,  also  per- 
vaded his  political  views:  the  "Colossus  of  the  North"  was 
answerable  for  everything;  England,  like  the  old  Const  it  n- 
tionnel  newspaper,  was  in  his  arguments  a  stalking-horse 
on  both  sides,  and  by  turn  "Machiavellian  Albion"  and  a 
model  country, — Machiavellian  with  regard  to  the  insulted 
interests  of  France  and  Napoleon;  a  model  country  when 
the  French  government  was  to  be  criticised.  Agreeing 
with  the  newspaper,  he  recognized  the  democratic  element, 
but  in  conversation  he  would  come  to  no  terms  with  the 
Republican  spirit — the  "Republican  Spirit"  meaning  1793, 
the  Revolution,  the  Reign  of  Terror,  the  agrarian  law;  the 
Democratic  Element  being  the  development  of  the  middle 
classes — the  reign  of  Phellion. 

This  excellent  old  man  was  always  dignified;  dignity 
was  the  keyword  of  his  life.  He  brought  up  his  children 
with  dignity;  he  was  always  the  father  in  their  eyes;  he 
insisted  on  being  respected  at  home,  as  he  honored  power  and 
the  authorities.  He  never  had  a  debt.  On  a  jury  his  con- 
science made  him  sweat  blood  and  water  while  following  the 
debates  on  a  trial,  and  he  never  laughed,  not  even  when  the 
Court  laughed,  and  the  bench,  and  the  public  authorities. 
Always  ready  to  oblige,  he  would  give  care,  time,  everything 
but  money. 

Felix  Phellion,  his  son,  the  professor,  was  his  idol;  he 
believed  him  capable  of  winning  a  seat  in  the  Academy  of 
Sciences. 

Thuillier,  between  the  impudent  stupidity  of  Minard  and 
the  blunt  imbecility  of  Phellion,  was  like  a  neutral  ele- 
ment, but  there  was  something  of  both  in  him  from  his 
melancholy  experience.  He  hid  the  vacuity  of  his  brain  under 
the  commonplace,  just  as  he  covered  the  parchment  skin  of 
his  head  under  the  thin  wisps  of  gray  hair  that  were  artfully 
brought  over  from  the  back  by  the  hairdresser's  comb. 

"In  any  other  walk  of  life/'  he  would  say,  speaking  of 
official  work,  "I  should  have  made  infinitely  more  money." 

He  had  seen  what  was  right  and  possible  in  theory  and 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  37 

• 

impossible  in  practice;  he  had  seen  results  contradict  the 
premises;  he  would  relate  all  the  injustice  and  intrigues  of 
the  Rabourdin  affair. 

"After  that/'  he  would  say,  "what  is  one  to  believe  ?  every- 
thing or  nothing?  A  very  queer  thing  is  government,  and 
I  am  happy  in  not  having  a  son,  so  that  I  cannot  see  him 
going  through  the  rush  for  place." 

Colleville,  always  cheerful,  jovial,  good-fellow-well-met, 
always  joking  and  inventing  anagrams,  always  in  a  bustle, 
the  typical  citizen  meddler  and  mocker,  represented  ability 
that  cannot  succeed,  and  perristent  hard  work  without  any 
result,  but  also  a  sort  of  rollicking  resignation,  narrow  views, 
art  wasted — for  he  was  a  capital  musician,  and  now  no  longer 
played  but  to  please  his  daughter. 

So  the  Thuilliers'  drawing-room  was  a  sort  of  provincial 
Salon,  lighted  up  by  reflections  from  the  perpetual  Paris 
glare;  its  mediocrity  and  platitude  kept  pace  behind  the 
torrent  of  the  age.  The  word  and  the  thing  in  fashion — 
for  in  Paris  the  word  and  the  thing  are  like  the  horse  and 
its  rider — were  never  felt  there  but  by  a  ricochet.  Monsieur 
Minard  was  impatiently  awaited  as  a  man  who,  on  great  oc- 
casions, would  certainly  know  the  truth. 

The  women  of  the  Thuillier  circle  were  all  for  the  Jesuits ; 
the  men  defended  the  University;  generally  the  women  were 
content  to  listen.  A  man  of  any  wit,  if  he  could  have  endured 
the  tedium  of  these  evenings,  would  have  laughed  as  heartily 
as  at  a  comedy  by  Moliere  to  hear  a  long  discussion  ending 
in  some  such  speech  as  this: 

"Could  the  Revolution  of  1789  have  been  averted?  Louis 
XIV.'s  loans  had  prepared  the  way  for  it.  Louis  XV.,  an 
egoist,  a  man  devoted  to  ceremonial — (it  was  he  who  said, 
'If  I  were  at  the  head  of  the  Police  I  would  prohibit 
cabriolets'),  a  dissolute  king  (you  know  all  about  his  Pare 
aux  Cerfs),  contributed  largely  to  open  the  yawning  gulf  of 
revolution.  Monsieur  de  Necker,  a  malignant  Genevese, 
gave  the  last  shock.  Foreigners  have  always  owed  France 
a  grudge.  The  Maximum  did  infinite  mischief.  In  equity 


38  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

• 

Louis  XVI.  ought  not  to  have  been  condemned;  a  jury 
would  have  acquitted  him.  Why  was  Charles  X.  Overthrown? 
Napoleon  was  a  great  man  and  the  details  that  prove  his 
genius  belong  to  the  domain  of  anecdote:  he  would  take 
five  pinches  of  snuff  per  minute,  and  kept  it  loose  in  his 
waistcoat  pockets,  which  were  lined  with  leather.  He  looked 
over  all  the  bills;  he  used  to  go  to  the  Eue  Saint-Denis  to 
learn  the  price  of  things.  Talma  was  his  friend;  Talma 
taught  him  all  his  gestures,  and  yet  he  always  refused  to 
give  Talma  the  Legion  of  Honor.  The  Emperor  once  stood 
sentry  for  a  soldier  who  had  fallen  asleep,  and  so  saved  him 
from  being  shot.  Such  things  as  that  made  his  men  adore 
him.  Louis  XVIII.,  though  he  was  a  clever  man,  showed 
a  great  want  of  justice  towards  him  when  he  called  him 
Monsieur  de  Bonaparte.  The  fault  of  the  present  government 
is  that,  instead  of  leading,  it  submits  to  be  led.  It  has  taken 
its  stand  too  low ;  it  is  afraid  of  men  of  energy ;  it  ought  to 
have  torn  the  treaties  of  1815  across  and  demanded  the  Rhine 
of  Europe.  They  shift  the  same  men  too  often  in  the  min- 
istry." 

"There,  you  have  been  clever  enough  for  one  time,"  Made- 
moiselle Thuillier  would  say  at  the  end  of  these  brilliant  re- 
flections. "The  altar  is  prepared;  come  and  play  your  little 
game." 

And  the  old  maid  always  closed  these  discussions,  which 
bored  the  women,  by  making  this  suggestion. 

If  all  these  facts  and  generalizations  had  not  been  given 
by  way  of  "argument"  to  afford  an  idea  of  the  setting  of 
this  drama  and  the  spirit  of  this  little  world,  the  drama 
itself  would  perhaps  have  suffered.  The  sketch  is  histori- 
cally accurate,  and  depicts  a  social  stratum  of  no  small  im- 
portance in  the  chronicle  of  manners,  especially  when  we 
remember  that  the  youngest  branch  of  the  dynasty  took  it  for 
its  fulcrum. 

The  winter  of  1839  was,  in  some  ways,  the  culminating 
hour  of  glory  for  the  Thuilliers'  salon.  The  Minards  ap- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  39 

peared  there  almost  every  Sunday;  they  began  by  spend- 
ing an  hour  there  when  they  were  obliged  to  go  on  to  other 
friends,  and  then  Minard  commonly  left  his  wife  there,  tak- 
ing his  daughter  with  him  and  his  eldest  son,  the  lawyer. 
This  constant  civility  on  the  Miuards'  part  was  the  direct 
outcome  of  a  meeting,  long  postponed,  between  Metivier, 
Barbet,  and  Minard,  one  evening  when  these  two  important 
tenants  had  remained  later  than  usual  to  chat  with  Made- 
moiselle Thuillier.  Minard  then  heard  from  Barbet  that 
the  old  maid  took  from  him  about  thirty  thousand  francs  in 
bills  at  six  months,  at  seven  and  a  half  per  cent  per  an- 
num ;  and  that  she  took  as  much  paper  from  Metivier,  so  that 
she  must  have  at  least  a  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  francs 
in  her  hands. 

"I  lend  on  books  at  twelve  per  cent  and  take  none  but  the 
best  names;  nothing  can  suit  me  better,"  said  Barbet  in 
conclusion.  "I  say  she  must  have  a  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  francs,  for  she  can  only  give  bills  at  ninety  days 
at  the  Bank." 

"Then  she  has  an  account  at  the  Bank  ?" 

"I  think  so,"  said  Barbet. 

Minard,  who  had  a  friend  on  the  Board,  learned  that 
Mademoiselle  Thuillier  had  an  account  there  to  the  extent 
of  about  two  hundred  thousand  francs,  guaranteed  by  a 
deposit  of  forty  shares.  This  security,  it  was  added,  was  in 
fact  unnecessary;  the  Bank  would  be  willing  to  oblige  a 
person  so  well  known  there,  and  the  responsible  manager 
for  Celeste  Lemprun,  the  daughter  of  a  clerk  who  had  seen 
as  many  years'  service  as  the  Bank  had  existed.  In  twenty 
years  Mademoiselle  Brigitte  had  never  overdrawn  her  ac- 
count. She  always  paid  in  sixty  thousand  francs  a  month 
in  bills  at  three  months,  which  came  to  about  a  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand.  The  securities  in  shares  deposited 
represented  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  francs;  there 
was  therefore  no  risk,  for  the  bills  were  always  worth  sixty 
thousand  francs.  "Indeed,"  the  bank  director  said,  "if  she 
should,  in  the  third  month,  send  us  in  a  hundred  thousand 


40  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

francs'  worth  of  bills  we  would  not  refuse  one.  She  has  a 
house  of  her  own  which  is  not  mortgaged  and  is  worth  more 
than  a  hundred  thousand  francs.  And  all  the  bills  come 
through  Barbet  or  Metivier,  and  have  four  names  on  the 
back  including  hers." 

"Why  does  Mademoiselle  Thuillier  work  so  hard?"  Mi- 
nard  asked  Metivier.  "Why,  she  is  the  very  wife  for  you/* 
he  added. 

"Oh,  I  can  do  better  by  marrying  one  of  my  cousins,"  said 
Metivier.  "My  Uncle  Metivier  has  promised  me  the  good- 
will of  his  concern;  he  has  a  hundred  thousand  francs  a  year 
in  the  funds,  and  only  two  daughters.'' 

However  secret  Mademoiselle  Thuillier  might  be,  saying 
nothing  to  anybody  of  her  investments;  and  although  she 
absorbed  into  one  lump  sum  all  she  saved  out  of  Madame 
Thuillier's  fortune  as  well  as  her  own,  it  was  hardly  pos- 
sible but  that  a  ray  of  light  should  at  last  pierce  through  the 
bushel  under  which  she  hid  her  treasure. 

Dutocq,  who  was  always  with  Barbet — and  there  was  more 
than  one  point  of  resemblance  in  their  characters  and 
physiognomy, — had  estimated  the  Thuilliers'  savings  more 
accurately  than  Minard,  at  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
francs  in  1838,  and  he  could  secretly  keep  a  keen  eye  on  their 
increase  by  calculating  the  profits  by  the  help  of  Barbet,  a 
practised  discounter. 

"Celeste  will  have  two  hundred  thousand  francs  from  us, 
money  down,"  said  the  old  maid  in  confidence  to  Barbet, 
"and  Madame  Thuillier  will  settle  on  her  at  her  marriage 
the  reversion  of  all  her  property.  My  will  is  made.  My 
brother  will  have  a  life-interest  in  everything,  but  Celeste 
will  have  the  reversion.  Monsieur  Cardot,  my  lawyer,  is  my 
executor." 

Mademoiselle  Thuillier  had  then  persuaded  her  brother 
to  renew  his  old  acquaintanceship  with  the  Saillards,  the 
Baudoyers,  and  the  Falleix,  who  held  a  position  analogous 
to  that  of  the  Thuilliers  and  the  Minards,  in  the  Saint-An- 
toine  quarter,  where  Monsieur  Saillard  was  mayor  of  the 
district. 


THE  MIDDLE  GLASSES  41 

Cardot,  the  notary,  had  introduced  a  suitor  for  the  hand 
of  Celeste  in  the  person  of  Maitre  Godeschal,  attorney-at- 
law,  and  Derville's  successor,  a  man  of  six-and-thirty,  a 
very  clever  fellow,  who  had  paid  a  hundred  thousand  francs 
on  account  for  his  connection,  a  debt  which  two  hundred 
thousand  francs  with  his  wife  would  clear  off.  But  Minard 
got  rid  of  Godeschal  by  telling  Mademoiselle  Thuillier  that 
Celeste's  sister-in-law  would  be  the  famous  opera-dancer, 
Mariette. 

"She  came  out  of  that,"  said  Colleville,  speaking  of  his 
wife,  "and  has  no  idea  of  going  back  again." 

"Besides,  Monsieur  Godeschal  is  too  old  for  Celeste,"  said 
Brigitte. 

"And  then,"  Madame  Thuillier  suggested  timidly,  "ought 
we  not  to  allow  her  to  marry  a  man  of  her  own  choice  and  to 
be  happy  ?" 

The  good  woman  had  discerned  in  Felix  Phellion  a  true 
affection  for  Celeste — love  such  as  a  woman  might  have 
dreamed  of,  who  had  been  crushed  by  Brigitte  and  hurt  by 
Thuillier's  indifference,  for  he  cared  no  more  for  his  wife 
than  for  one  of  the  servant-girls;  love,  bold  at  heart  but 
shy  on  the  surface,  strong  in  itself  but  timid,  concentrated 
before  men  and  expanding  in  the  skies.  At  three-and- 
twenty  Felix  Phellion  was  a  gentle,  simple-minded  man,  as 
learned  men  are  who  cultivate  knowledge  for  its  own  sake. 
He  had  been  wholesomely  brought  up  by  his  father,  who, 
taking  everything  very  seriously,  had  set  him  a  good  ex- 
ample in  all  respects,  supporting  it  by  trivial  axioms.  He 
was  a  youth  of  medium  height,  with  light,  chestnut-brown 
hair,  gray  eyes,  and  a  much-freckled  complexion;  his  voice 
was  charming,  his  demeanor  quiet,  his  manner  rather 
dreamy;  he  gesticulated  very  little,  never  talked  nonsense, 
contradicted  nobody,  and  was  incapable  of  a  sordid  thought 
or  a  selfish  speculation. 

"That  is  the  sort  of  man  I  should  have  liked  my  husband  to 
be !"  Madame  Thuillier  had  often  said  to  herself. 

One  evening  in  the  month  of  February  1840  the  various 


42  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

persons  whose  figures  have  just  been  sketched  were  assembled 
in  the  Thuilliers'  drawing-room.  It  was  near  the  end  of 
the  month.  Metivier  and  Barbet,  who  each  wanted  to  bor- 
row thirty  thousand  francs  from  Mademoiselle  Timelier, 
were  playing  whist  with  Phellion  and  Monsieur  Minard. 
At  another  table  sat  Julien — "Julien  the  Advocate/'  as 
Colleville  called  the  younger  Minard — Madame  Colleville,- 
Monsieur  Barniol,  and  Madame  Phellion.  A  game  of 
"bouttlotte,  at  five  sous  points,  engaged  the  attention  of  Ma- 
dame Minard,  who  knew  no  other  game,  of  Colleville,  old 
Saillard,  and  his  son-in-law,  Baudoyer.  Laudigeois  and  Du- 
tocq  looked  on  to  cut  in  in  the  place  of  the  losers ;  Mesdames 
Falleix,  Baudoyer,  and  Barniol  were  playing  boston  with 
Mademoiselle  Minard;  Celeste  and  Prudence  Minard  were 
sitting  together.  Young  Phellion,  while  listening  to  Ma- 
dame Thuillier,  could  gaze  at  Celeste. 

At  the  other  side  of  the  fireplace  the  Queen  Elizabeth  of 
the  family  sat  enthroned,  as  plainly  dressed  as  when  she 
was  thirty,  for  prosperity  could  not  make  her  alter  any  of 
her  habits.  On  her  chinchilla-gray  hair  she  wore  a  black 
gauze  cap  with  a  spray  of  Charles  X.  geranium  flowers;  her 
gown  of  plum-red  stuff  had  cost  perhaps  fifteen  francs;  an 
embroidered  collar  worth  six  francs  scarcely  covered  the  deep 
hollow  left  between  the  muscles  that  attach  the  head  to  the 
spine.  Monvel,  when  he  acted  the  part  of  Augustus  in  his 
later  days,  had  not  a  sterner  profile  than  this  autocrat  who 
eat  knitting  socks  for  her  brother. 

In  front  of  the  fire  stood  Thuillier,  ready  to  receive  all 
newcomers,  and  by  his  side  stood  a  young  man  who  had 
produced  a  great  effect  when  the  porter,  arrayed  on  Sundays 
in  his  best  coat  to  play  the  man-servant,  announced  "Mon- 
sieur Olivier  Vinet." 

A  confidential  hint  from  Cardot  to  the  famous  public 
prosecutor,  the  young  lawyer's  father,  had  led  to  this  visit. 
Olivier  Vinet  had  just  been  promoted  from  the  assize  court 
of  Arcis-sur-Aube  to  a  place  in  Paris  as  the  attorney-gen- 
eral's deputy.  Cardot,  the  notary,  had  invited  Thuillier  to 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  43 

dinner  to  meet  the  public  prosecutor,  who  seemed  likely  to 
be  made  Minister  of  Justice,  and  his  son.  Cardot  estimated 
the  present  value  of  the  money  to  be  left  to  Celeste  at  seven 
hundred  thousand  francs  at  least.  Vinet  junior  had  seemed 
delighted  at  the  prospect  of  being  admitted  as  a  Sunday 
guest  at  the  Thuilliers'.  Large  fortunes  lead  to  great  and 
unblushing  follies  nowadays. 

Ten  minutes  later,  another  young  man  who  was  talking 
to  Thuillier  before  Vinci's  arrival  raised  his  voice  in  the 
heat  of  a  vehement  political  discussion,  compelling  the  law- 
yer to  do  the  same  in  the  eagerness  of  the  debate.  The  sub- 
ject in  question  was  the  vote  which  had  led  to  the  overthrow 
by  the  lower  Chamber  of  the  Ministry  of  the  12th  May,  by 
their  refusal  to  grant  the  sum  of  money  asked  for  the  Due 
de  Nemours. 

"I  am  most  decidedly  very  far  from  being  an  adherent 
of  the  dynastic  view,"  said  this  young  man,  "and  I  am  far 
from  approving  the  advent  to  power  of  the  citizen  class. 
The  middle  classes  have  no  more  right  now  to  exclusive 
pre-eminence  in  the  state  than  the  aristocracy  had  of  old. 
However,  the  French  middle  classes  took  upon  themselves 
to  create  a  new  dynasty,  a  royal  family  of  their  own,  and 
this  is  how  they  treat  it !  When  the  nation  allowed  Na- 
poleon to  raise  himself,  he  created,  with  himself,  a  magnifi- 
cent and  monumental  edifice;  he  was  proud  of  its  greatness, 
and  generously  spent  his  blood  and  the  sweat  of  his  brow  to 
constitute  the  Empire.  'The  citizen  classes,  between  the 
splendors  of  aristocratic  sovereignty  and  of  the  Imperial  pur- 
ple, are  squalid;  they  drag  down  the  powers  that  be  to  their 
own  level  instead  of  rising  to  them.  They  practise  the ' 
same  economy  of  candle-ends  on  their  princes  as  they  do 
in  their  back-shops;  but  what  is  a  virtue  there  is  a  blunder 
and  a  crime  in  high  places.  There  are  many  things  I  could 
desire  for  the  people,  but  I  would  not  have  cut  ten  millions 
off  the  new  civil  list.  The  citizen  class,  now  that  it  is 
almost  all-powerful  in  France,  ought  to  secure  the  happiness 
of  the  people, — splendor  without  lavishness  and  grandeur 
without  privilege." 


44  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Olivier  Vinet's  father  was  at  that  time  out  of  conceit  with 
the  government :  the  robes  of  a  Keeper  of  the  Seals,  his  great 
ambition,  had  not  yet  fallen  on  his  shoulders.  So  the  young 
deputy  judge  did  not  know  what  to  answer,  and  he  thought 
it  would  be  wise  to  take  up  one  side  of  the  question. 

"You  are  right,  monsieur,"  said  he.  "But  before  it  thinks 
of  display  the  citizen  class  has  a  duty  to  the  country.  The 
luxury  of  which  you  speak  comes  after  duty.  The  decision 
you  think  so  wrong  was  a  necessity  at  the  moment.  The 
Chamber  is  far  from  having  its  fair  share  of  influence;  the 
Ministers  work  less  for  France  than  for  the  Crown,  and  Par- 
liament wished  to  see  a  Ministry  which,  as  in  England,  had 
a  power  of  its  own,  not  a  mere  borrowed  weight.  As  soon 
as  the  Ministry  acts  independently,  and  represents  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commons  in  the  executive  power  of  the  country,  as 
the  Chamber  represents  the  people,  Parliament  will  be  very 
liberal  to  the  Crown.  That  is  the  marrow  of  the  matter,  and 
I  merely  state  it  without  any  expression  of  personal  opinion, 
since  my  duty  in  my  office  requires  a  sort  of  fealty  to  the 
Sovereign  in  political  questions." 

"Apart  from  the  political  question,"  replied  the  other, 
whose  accent  betrayed  him  as  a  son  of  Provence,  "it  cannot  be 
disputed  that  the  middle  classes  have  misunderstood  their 
task.  We  see  public  prosecutors,  presidents  of  the  law  courts, 
peers  of  the  upper  Chamber  riding  in  omnibuses,  judges  liv- 
ing on  their  salaries,  prefets  without  any  private  means, 
Ministers  in  debt.  Now  the  citizen  class,  having  taken  pos- 
session of  all  these  places,  ought  to  do  honor  to  them,  as  the 
aristocracy  did;  and  instead  of  holding  them  as  a  means  to 
making  a  fortune,  as  many  scandalous  trials  have  proved, 
they  should  fill  them  with  dignity  and  due  expenditure " 

"Who  can  this  young  fellow  be?"  Olivier  Vinet  wondered 
as  he  listened.  "Is  he  a  relation?  Cardot  really  ought  to 
have  come  with  me  the  first  time." 

"Who  is  that  little  man?"  Minard  asked  Barbet.  "I  have 
seen  him  here  several  times." 

"A  tenant,"  replied  Metivier,  dealing  the  cards. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  45 

"An  advocate,"  said  Barbet,  in  an  undertone.  "He  has 
small  rooms  on  the  third  floor,  to  the  front.  Oh !  he  is  no 
great  things,  and  he  has  no  money." 

"What  is  that  young  maoi's  name?"  Vinet  inquired  of 
Thuillier. 

"Theodose  de  la  Peyrade,  an  advocate,"  whispered  Thuil- 
lier in  reply. 

At  this  moment,  every  one,  men  and  women  alike,  were 
looking  at  the  two  young  men,  and  Mme.  Minard  could  not 
help  saying  to  Colleville: 

"He  is  a  very  good-looking  young  fellow." 

"I  have  made  an  anagram  of  his  name,"  said  Celeste's 
papa,  "and  the  letters  of  Charles  Marie  Theodose  de  la  Pey- 
rade spell  his  prophecy :  Eh,  Monsieur  pay  era  de  la  dot,  des 
oies  et  le  char. — Take  care,  my  dear  Madame  Minard,  not  to 
give  him  your  daughter  !" 

"People  think  that  young  fellow  better  looking  than  my 
son,"  said  Madame  Phellion  to  Madame  Colleville.  "What 
do  you  think  ?" 

"Oh,  so  far  as  looks  go,"  replied  Madame  Colleville,  "a 
woman  might  hesitate  before  making  a  choice." 

At  this  stage  Olivier  Vinet,  looking  round  at  this  room- 
ful of  middle-class  citizens,  thought  it  would  be  clever  to 
cry  up  the  class,  and  he  threw  himself  into  agreement  with 
the  young  Provencal,  saying  that  the  men  who  enjoyed  the 
confidence  of  the  Government  ought  certainly  to  imitate 
the  King,  whose  splendor  far  surpassed  that  of  the  old 
Court;  and  that  to  try  to  save  out  of  the  emoluments  of 
an  appointment  was  monstrous.  Besides,  how  was  it  pos- 
sible in  Paris,  where  everything  cost  three  times  as  much,  as 
of  old,  where,  for  instance,  rooms  fit  for  a  judge  to  live  in 
cost  three  thousand  francs  in  rent  ? 

"My  father,"  said  he  in  conclusion,  "allows  me  a  thou- 
sand crowns  a  year,  and  with  my  salary  I  can  scarcely  make 
both  ends  meet  decently."  As  the  young  lawyer  cantered 
off  on  this  treacherous  ground,  the  Provengal,  who  had  so 
ingeniously  led  him  up  to  it,  gave  Dutocq  an  undetected 


46  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

wink  just  as  he  was  about  to  take  his  turn  at  the  game  of 
bouillotte. 

"And  there  is  such  a  demand  for  places,"  said  Dutoeq, 
"that  there  is  some  talk  of  appointing  two  magistrates  to 
each  arrondissement,  so  as  to  have  twelve  more  courts.  As 
if  they  could  tamper  with  our  dues,  with  our  offices  so  ex- 
orbitantly paid  for !" 

"I  have  not  yet  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  you  speak  in 
Court,"  said  Vinet  to  Monsieur  de  la  Peyrade. 

"I  am  the  advocate  of  the  poor.  I  only  plead  in  the  lower 
courts,"  replied  the  Provengal. 

On  hearing  the  young  lawyer's  views  as  to  the  necessity 
for  spending  one's  income,  Mademoiselle  Thuillier  had  as- 
sumed a  primly  ceremonious  look,  of  which  the  Provengal 
and  Dutocq  well  knew  the  meaning.  Vinet  presently  left, 
with  Minard  and  Julien,  so  that  the  field  of  battle  in  front 
of  the  hearth  was  left  to  la  Peyrade  and  Dutocq. 

"The  upper  citizen  class,"  said  Dutocq  to  Thuillier,  "will 
act  as  the  aristocracy  were  wont  to  act.  The  nobility  looked 
for  rich  girls  to  improve  their  lands ;  the  parvenus  of  to-day 
want  handsome  settlements  to  feather  their  nest." 

"Just  what  Monsieur  Thuillier  was  saying  this  morning," 
said  the  Provengal  with  bold  mendacity. 

"Vinet's  father,"  said  Dutocq,  "married  a  Demoiselle 
de  Chargeboeuf  and  has  assumed  aristocratic  opinions;  he 
must  have  money  at  any  cost;  his  wife  keeps  up  a  princely 
style." 

"Oh !"  said  Thuillier,  roused  to  the  envy  of  his  class  of 
each  other,  "turn  such  folks  out  of  their  places,  and  down 
they  go  to  the  mud  they  rose  from !" 

Mademoiselle  Thuillier  was  knitting  at  such  a  pace  that  she 
might  have  been  a  machine  driven  by  steam. 

"Now  you  come  in,  Monsieur  Dutocq,"  said  Madame 
Minard,  rising.  "My  feet  are  cold,"  she  added,  coming  to 
the  fire,  the  gold  tinsel  in  her  turban  twinkling  like  fire- 
works in  the  light  of  the  hanging  lamp  that  vainly  strove 
to  illuminate  the  spacious  room. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  4T 

"He  is  but  an  innocent — that  sucking  judge,"  said  Ma- 
dame Minard,  glancing  at  Mademoiselle  Thuillier. 

"An  innocent !  did  you  say  ?"  observed  la  Peyrade.  "That, 
madame,  is  very  witty " 

"But  we  are  used  to  hearing  witty  things  from  Madame 
Minard,"  said  "handsome  Thuillier." 

Madame  Colleville  was  studying  the  ProvengaL,  and  com- 
paring him  with  young  Phellion,  who  was  talking  to 
Celeste,  neither  of  them  noticing  what  was  going  on  around 
them.  And  this  is  certainly  a  good  opportunity  for  describ- 
ing the  singular  man  who  was  destined  to  play  an  important 
part  in  the  Thuilliers'  circle,  and  who  certainly  deserves  to 
be  called  a  great  actor. 

There  is  in  Provence,  and  especially  in  the  river-port  of 
Avignon,  a  race  of  men  with  fair  or  chestnut-brown  hair, 
delicate  complexion,  and  almost  weak  eyes,  their  expression 
being  soft,  calm,  and  languishing,  rather  than  fiery,  eager, 
and  deep,  as  the  eyes  of  Southerners  so  commonly  are.  It 
may  be  observed  incidentally  that  among  the  Corsicans,  a 
race  peculiarly  subject  to  fits  of  fury  and  dangerous  rages, 
fair  men  are  often  to  be  seen,  of  apparently  passive  charac- 
ter. These  fair-complexioned  men,  apt  to  be  stout,  with  a 
somewhat  watery  eye,  greenish  or  blue,  are  the  worst  kind 
of  Provencal,  and  Charles  Marie  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade 
was  a  good  specimen  of  the  type  whose  constitution  would 
repay  careful  study  from  the  point  of  view  of  medical  sci- 
ence and  philosophical  physiology.  There  is  in  them  a  sort 
of  bile,  a  bitter  gall,  easily  stirred,  which  mounts  to  their 
brain  and  makes  them  capable  of  the  fiercest  deeds,  done  ap- 
parently in  cold  blood.  This  obscure  violence,  the  result 
of  a  sort  of  spontaneous  intoxication,  is  irreconcilable  with 
their  almost  lymphatic  exterior  and  the  tranquillity  of  their 
benign  expression. 

Young  la  Peyrade,  born  near  Avignon,  was  of  medium 
height  and  well  proportioned  if  rather  stout;  his  complex- 
ion was  dull — not  livid,  not  pale,  not  florid,  but' gelatinous 


48  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

for  that  is  the  only  word  that  can  give  a  clear  idea  of  the 
soft  colorless  material  that  covered  sinews  not  indeed  vig- 
orous but  capable  of  immense  endurance  under  certain  con- 
ditions; his  eyes,  coldly  blue,  commonly  wore  a  deceptive 
expression  of  melancholy  which  had,  no  doubt,  a  great 
charm  for  women.  His  well-shaped  forehead  did  not  lack 
nobleness,  and  was  agreeably  finished  by  fine,  light  chest- 
nut hair,  thin,  and  with  a  very  slight  natural  curl  at  the 
ends.  His  nose,  exactly  like  that  of  a  sporting  dog,  broad, 
cleft  at  the  tip,  inquisitive,  intelligent,  prying,  always  on 
the  alert,  had  no  touch  of  good-nature,  but  was  ironical  and 
sarcastic;  but  this  side  of  his  nature  was  rarely  seen;  it  was 
only  when  he  was  off  his  guard  and  flew  into  a  rage  that  the 
young  man  found  it  in  him  to  vent  the  wit  and  satire  that 
envenomed  his  diabolical  jesting. 

His  lips,  cut  in  a  pleasing  curve  and  as  red  as  a  pome- 
granate flower,  were  the  marvelous  instrument  of  a  voice 
of  which  the  medium  tones  were  almost  musical,  and  The- 
odose  generally  spoke  in  that  register;  the  higher  notes  rang 
out  like  a  gong.  That  falsetto  was  indeed  the  voice  of  his 
nerves,  of  his  anger.  His  face,  resolutely  expressionless,  was 
oval  in  shape;  and  his  manner,  in  harmony  with  the  priestly 
calm  of  his  features,  was  stamped  with  reserve  and  propriety. 
At  the  same  time  there  was  a  smooth  gentleness  in  his  de- 
meanor; and  without  being  servile  or  wheedling,  it  had  a 
certain  attraction  which  it  was  difficult  to  account  for  in  his 
absence.  Charm,  when  it  has  its  source  in  feeling,  leaves 
a  deep  impression ;  but  when  it  is  the  outcome  of  artifice,  like 
spurious  eloquence,  it  enjoys  but  a  temporary  triumph;  it 
strives  for  effect  at  any  cost.  But  how  many  philosophers 
are  there  in  the  world  who  can  compare  and  judge  ?  By  the 
time  ordinary  people  have  discovered  the  way  it  is  done,  the 
trick  is  played — to  use  a  vulgar  phrase. 

Everything  in  this  youth  of  seven-and-twenty  was  in 
harmony  with  the  part  and  character  he  had  assumed;  he 
carried  out  his  natural  bent  by  cultivating  philanthropy, 
the  only  expression  that  can  account  for  philanthropists. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  49 

Theodose  loved  the  populace;  for  he  particularized  his  love 
of  humanity.  Just  as  the  horticulturists  devote  themselves 
to  roses,  dahlias,  pinks,  or  geraniums,  caring  nothing  for 
any  species  which  is  not  their  special  hobby,  this  young  la 
Rochefoucauld-Lianeourt  was  the  slave  of  the  workmen, 
the  poorest  classes,  the  paupers  of  the  Saint- Jacques  and 
Saint-Ma rceau  quarters.  The  capable  men,  genius  at  bay, 
the  decent  poor  of  the  middle  class,  he  would  not  admit  into 
Charity's  fold. 

In  all  maniacs  the  heart  is  -very  like  the  boxes  with  di- 
visions in  which  sugar-plums  are  packed  in  sorted  colors. 
Suum  cuique  tribuere  is  their  motto.  They  dole  out  duty  by 
measure.  There  are  philanthropists  who  have  pity  only  on 
the  sins  of  condemned  criminals.  Vanity,  of  course,  is  at 
the  root  of  philanthropy,  but  in  our  Provengal  it  was  delib- 
erate calculation,  a  part  to  be  played,  a  form  of  hypocrisy, 
liberal  and  democratic,  and  affected  with  such  perfection  as 
no  actor  could  achieve.  He  did  not  attack  the  rich;  he 
was  content  simply  not  to  understand  them,  to  suffer  them 
to  exist;  every  man,  according  to  him,  must  enjoy  the  fruit 
of  his  labors.  He  had  been,  he  would  own,  a  fervent  disciple 
of  Saint-Simon,  but  this  was  an  error  to  be  ascribed  to  his 
extreme  youth;  modern  society  could  only  be  based  on 
heredity. 

Like  all  the  natives  of  his  province  he  was  a  devout  church- 
man; he  attended  early  Mass,  and  concealed  his  piety.  He 
was  sordidly  parsimonious,  as  almost  all  philanthropists  are, 
and  gave  nothing  to  the  poor  but  his  time,  his  advice,  his 
eloquence,  and  such  money  as  be  could  wring  for  them  from 
the  wealthy. 

He  wore  boots,  and  dressed  in  black,  which  he  wore  till 
the  seams  were  white. 

Nature  had  greatly  favored  Theodose  by  not  bestowing  on 
him  that  refined  and  manly  beauty  of  the  South,  which  leads 
the  world  to  imaginary  demands,  such  as  it  is  more  than 
difficult  for  any  man  to  fulfil.  He  found  it  so  easy  to  please, 


50  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

that,  as  the  mood  prompted  him,  he  could  be  delightfully  at- 
tractive or  quite  commonplace. 

Xever  before,  since  his  introduction  to  the  Thuilliers, 
had  he  ventured  to  raise  his  voice  and  assume  such  a  magis- 
terial air  as  he  had  done  this  evening  to  Olivier  Vinet;  but 
perhaps  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade  had  not  been  sorry  to  try 
to  get  out  of  the  shade  he  had  hitherto  sat  in ;  besides,  it  was 
necessary  to  shake  off  this  young  deputy  judge,  just  as  the 
Minards  had  previously  got  rid  of  Godeschal,  the  attorney. 
Like  all  superior  men — for  he  did  not  lack  intellect — Vinet 
had  not  stooped  low  enough  to  discern  the  threads  of  these 
vulgar  spider's  webs,  and  had  rushed  like  a  fly,  head  foremost, 
into  the  almost  invisible  snare  into  which  Theodose  had 
drawn  him  by  such  wiliness  as  a  cleverer  man  than  Olivier 
might  not  have  suspected. 

To  finish  this  portrait  of  the  "advocate  of  the  poor"  it 
will  be  well  to  relate  the  beginnings  of  his  intimacy  with 
the  Thuilliers. 

Theodose  had  come  to  Paris  towards  the  end  of  1837;  he 
had  been  practising  as  an  attorney  for  five  years,  and  he  now 
went  through  his  terms  to  become  a  pleader;  but  some  im- 
revealed  circumstances,  as  to  which  he  was  silent,  had  hin- 
dered him  from  getting  his  name  duly  registered  in  Paris, 
and  he  still  ranked  as  a  licentiate.  However,  having  estab- 
lished himself  in  his  little  rooms  on  the  third  floor,  with  the 
furniture  indispensable  to  the  practice  of  his  noble  profes- 
sion— for  the  order  of  advocates  will  not  recognize  a  new 
Brother  if  he  has  not  a  suitable  office,  a  library,  and  all 
things  seemly  and  ostensible — Theodose  de  la  Peyrade  became 
a  pleader  at  the  Court  of  Assize  in  Paris. 

The  whole  of  the  year  1838  was  devoted  to  effecting  this 
change  of  position,  and  he  led  a  perfectly  regular  life.  In 
the  morning  he  studied  at  home  till  dinner-time,  occasion- 
ally going  into  Court  to  listen  to  important  cases.  Having 
made  friends  with  Dutocq — with  great  difficulty  as  Dutocq 
declared, — he  helped  certain  poor  folks  in  the  Faubourg 
Saint- Jacques,  whom  Dutocq  recommended  to  his  charity, 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  51 

by  arguing  their  cases;  he  secured  them  the  interest  of  so- 
licitors, who,  in  accordance  with  the  statutes  of  their  associa- 
tion, take  it  in  turns  to  defend  the  cause  of  the  impecunious; 
and  by  never  taking  any  but  perfectly  secure  cases  he  won 
them  all.  Thus  making  a  connection  with  a  few  solicitors  he 
became  known  to  his  fellow-pleaders  by  these  praiseworthy 
efforts,  so  that  a  certain  degree  of  notoriety  attended  his  ad- 
mission first  to  the  debating  society  of  his  fellow-pleaders, 
and  then  as  a  registered  member  of  the  Paris  bar.  After  that 
he  was  the  regular  advocate  of  the  poor  in  the  lower  courts, 
and  always  the  protector  of  the  common  people. 

His  humble  clients  expressed  their  gratitude  and  admira- 
tion in  the  porter's  lodges  in  spite  of  the  young  lawyer's  in- 
junctions, and  a  good  many  facts  were  carried  up  to  the  mas- 
ters. The  Thuilliers,  delighted  to  have  so  excellent  and  char- 
itable a  man  as  a  tenant,  were  eager  to  attract  him  as  a  vis- 
itor, and  questioned  Dutocq  about  him.  Dutocq  spoke  in  the 
tone  of  the  envious,  and,  while  doing  the  young  man  justice, 
he  added  that  he  was  singularly  parsimonious,  though  that 
indeed  might  be  the  effect  of  his  poverty. 

"I  have,  however,  made  inquiries  about  him.  He  belongs 
to  the  de  la  Peyrades,  an  old  family  of  the  County  of  Avi- 
gnon; he  carne  to  Paris  at  the  end  of  1829  to  find  an  uncle 
who  was  supposed  to  have  a  large  fortune;  he  finally  discov- 
ered this  relative's  residence  three  days  after  the  old  man's 
death,  and  the  sale  of  the  furniture  just  sufficed  to  pay  the 
funeral  expenses  and  debts.  Some  friend  of  this  very  ineffi- 
cient uncle  presented  the  fortune-seeking  youth  with  a  hun- 
dred louis,  advising  him  to  study  for  the  bar  and  to  aim  at 
the  higher  walks  of  the  law.  On  those  hundred  louis  he  lived 
for  more  than  three  years  in  Paris,  faring  like  an  anchorite; 
but  as  he  could  never  see  nor  trace  his  unknown  benefactor, 
by  1833  he -was  in  the  greatest  distress. 

"Then,  like  all  licentiates  of  law,  he  dabbled  in  polities  and 
literature,  and  supported  himself  for  some  time  just  above 
utter  misery ;  for  lie  had  nothing  to  look  for  from  his  family, 
as  his  father,  the  youngest  brother  of  the  uncle  who  died  in 


52  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

the  Rue  des  Moineaux,  has  eleven  children,  all  living  on  a 
small  property  called  Canquoelles. 

"He  finally  got  on  the  staff  of  a  ministerial  journal  edited 
by  the  famous  Cerizet,  so  well  known  for  the  persecution  he 
endured  at  the  time  of  the  Restoration  for  his  liberal  views, 
while  the  men  of  the  Left  cannot  now  forgive  him  for  hav- 
ing gone  over  to  the  ministerialists.  Since  in  these  days  the 
authorities  do  little  enough  to  protect  even  their  most  devoted 
adherents,  as  was  seen  in  the  case  of  Gisquet,  the  republicans 
succeeded  at  last  in  ruining  Cerizet.  This  is  merely  to  ac- 
count for  Cerizet's  now  being  a  copying  clerk  in  my  office. 

"Well,  at  the  time  when  he  was  still  flourishing,  as  the 
editor  of  a  newspaper  controlled  by  the  Perier  Ministry  in 
antagonism  to  such  incendiary  papers  as  the  Tribune  and 
others,  Cerizet — who  is  really  a  very  good  fellow,  only  too 
fond  of  women,  good  living,  and  dissipation — was  very  helpful 
to  Theodose,  who  did  the  political  articles ;  and  but  for  Casi- 
mir-Perier's  death  the  young  lawyer  would  have  been  ap- 
pointed deputy  judge  in  Paris.  In  1834-1835  he  was  again 
in  very  low  water,  in  spite  of  his  talents,  for  his  employment 
on  a  ministerial  paper  told  against  him.  'But  for  my  reli- 
gious principles/  he  said  to  me  at  that  time,  'I  should  have 
thrown  myself  into  the  river.' 

"At  last  it  would  seem  that  his  uncle's  friend  heard  that  he 
was  in  want ;  money  enough  was  sent  to  him  to  enable  him  to 
pass  as  a  pleader;  but  even  now  he  knows  neither  the  name 
of  his  mysterious  patron  nor  his  place  of  residence.  After 
all,  in  such  circumstances  thrift  is  excusable,  and  a  man  must 
have  a  great  deal  of  character  to  refuse  the  payment  offered 
by  the  poor  devils  whose  causes  he  gains  by  his  assistance. 
It  is  disgraceful  to  see  men  speculating  on  the  impossibility 
for  the  poor  of  standing  the  costs  of  an  action  unjustly 
brought.  Yes,  he  will  get  on !  I  should  not  be  surprised  to 
see  that  young  fellow  rise  to  a  brilliant  position.  He  is  tena- 
cious, honest,  and  courageous.  He  studies — studies  hard." 

In  spite  of  the  favor  with  which  he  was  welcomed,  Mattre 
la  Peyrade  did  not  go  too  often  to  the  Thuilliers,  at  first 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  53 

Taxed  with  reserve,  he  went  more  frequently,  and  at  last  was 
a  regular  Sunday  visitor,  invited  to  all  their  dinners,  and  so 
intimate  in  their  house  that  if  he  happened  to  call  on  Thuil- 
lier  at  about  four  o'clock  he  was  always  kept  to  share  pot-luck, 
without  ceremony,  and  Mademoiselle  Thuillier  would  say  to 
herself : 

"Then  we  are  sure  of  his  having  a  good  meal,  poor  young 
man !" 

A  social  phenomenon,  which  must  certainly  have  been  ob- 
served, but  which  has  not  yet  been  formulated  and  published, 
though  it  deserves  to  be  recorded,  is  a  return  to  the  habits, 
jokes,  and  manners  of  their  original  state  in  life  in  certain 
folks,  who  from  youth  to  age  have  raised  themselves  above  it. 
Thus,  in  mind  and  manners,  Thuillier  had  relapsed  into  the 
porter's  son;  he  would  repeat  his  father's  jests,  and  at  last, 
in  his  declining  years,  allowed  some  of  the  mud  of  his  early 
youth  to  come  to  the  surface. 

About  five  or  six  times  a  year,  when  the  soup  was  good,  he 
would  say,  as  if  it  were  quite  a  new  remark,  as  he  placed  his 
spoon  in  the  empty  plate : 

"That  is  better  than  a  dig  in  the  eye  with  a  burned  stick !" 

The  first  time  Theodose  heard  this  speech,  which  was  new 
to  him,  it  upset  his  gravity,  and  he  laughed  so  heartily  ^that 
Thuillier,  handsome  Thuillier,  felt  his  vanity  more  tickled 
than  it  had  ever  been.  After  that,  Theodose  always  responded 
to  the  pleasantry  with  a  knowing  smile. 

This  little  detail  will  explain  how  it  was  that  on  the  very 
morning  of  the  day  when  he  had  his  sparring  match  with 
Olivier  Vinet,  he  had  happened  to  say  to  Thuillier,  as  they 
walked  round  the  garden  to  look  at  the  effects  of  the  frost : 

"You  are  far  wittier  than  you  fancy." 

And  had  received  this  answer: 

"In  any  other  career,  my  dear  Theodose,  I  should  have 
come  to  the  front;  but  the  Emperor's  overthrow  broke  my 
neck." 

"Time  is  yet  before  you,"  said  the  young  lawyer.  "Why, 
what  has  that  mountebank  Colleville  done  to  deserve  the 
Cross?" 


54  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

And  here  Maitre  de  la  Peyrade  had  laid  his  finger  on  the 
sore  that  Thuillier  hid  from  every  eye,  so  effectually  indeed 
that  even  his  sister  knew  it  not;  but  this  young  fellow,  whose 
interest  it  was  to  study  all  the  citizen  class,  had  guessed  the 
secret  envy  eating  into  the  ex-clerk's  heart. 

"If  you,  with  all  your  experience,  will  do  me  the  honor  of 
being  guided  by  my  advice,"  the  philanthropist  went  on,  "and 
above  all  will  never  breathe  a  word  of  our  compact  without 
my  consent,  not  even  to  your  admirable  sister,  I  will  under- 
take to  get  you  the  Legion  of  Honor  with  the  acclamations  of 
all  the  district." 

"Oh !  if  only  we  could  do  that,"  Thuillier  had  exclaimed, 
"you  cannot  think  what  I  would  not  do  for  you !" 

And  this  explains  why  Thuillier  had  drawn  himself  up 
pompously  when  Theodose  had  been  so  audacious  as  to  lend 
him  an  opinion. 

In  the  arts — and  Moliere,  perhaps,  ranked  hypocrisy  with 
the  arts,  by  placing  Tartuffe  for  ever  among  the  actor-tribe — 
there  is  a  pitch  of  perfection,  above  talent,  which  only  genius 
can  attain  to.  There  is  so  faint  a  line  between  a  work  of 
genius  and  a  work  of  talent  that  only  a  man  of  genius  can 
appreciate  the  distance  that  divides  Raphael  from  Correggio, 
Titian  from  Rubens.  Nay,  more:  the  vulgar  are  deceived; 
the  stamp  of  genius  is  a  certain  appearance  of  facility.  The 
work  of  genius,  in  fact,  must,  at  first  sight,  look  quite  ordi- 
nary, so  natural  is  it,  above  all  things,  even  in  the  loftiest 
subjects.  A  great  many  peasant-women  carry  a  baby  as  the 
famous  Madonna  of  Dresden  carries  hers. — Well,  and  the 
crowning  triumph  of  art,  in  a  man  of  such  ability  as  Theo- 
dose, is  to  have  it  said  of  him  later :  "He  would  have  taken  any 
one  in !" 

Now,  in  Thuillier's  room,  he  scented  the  dawn  of  contra- 
diction ;  he  discerned  in  Colleville  the  clear  and  critical  insight 
of  an  unsuccessful  artist. 

The  young  lawyer  knew  that  Colleville  did  not  like  him; 
Colleville,  as  a  result  of  various  coincidences,  useless  to  relate, 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  55 

had  really  been  led  to  believe  in  the  augury  of  anagrams. 
None  of  his  anagrams  had  failed.  He  had  been  well  laughed 
at  in  the  office,  when  on  being  asked  what  the  letters  of  Au- 
guste  Jean  Frangois  Minard  might  spell,  he  transposed  them 
into  J'amassai  une  si  grande  fortune  (I  amassed  such  a  great 
fortune).  Minard  was  very  poor,  but  ten  years  later  the  ana- 
gram was  justified. 

Now  that  of  Theodose  was  luckless.  His  wife's  made  him 
quake,  and  he  had  never  told  it  to  anybody,  for  Flavie  Minard 
Colleville  made  La  vielle  C.,  nom  fletri,  vole  (Old  Madame 
C.,  a  blighted  name,  steals) . 

On  various  occasions  Theodose  had  made  advances  to  the 
genial  official  of  the  Mairie,  and  had  felt  repelled  by  a  cold- 
ness hardly  natural  in  so  communicative  a  man. 

When  the  game  of  bouillotte  was  ended,  Colleville  drew 
Thuillier  for  a  moment  into  a  window-recess  and  said : 

"You  are  giving  that  young  lawyer  his  head  too  much ;  he 
quite  took  the  lead  in  the  conversation  this  evening." 

"Thank  you,  my  friend ;  forewarned  is  forearmed !"  replied 
Thuillier,  laughing  in  his  sleeve  at  Colleville's  caution. 

Theodose,  who  happened  to  be  talking  to  Madame  Colle- 
ville, kept  an  eye  on  the  two  friends;  and  by  the  same  instinct 
which  women  use  to  know  when  and  to  what  effect  they  are 
being  talked  about,  all  across  a  drawing-room,  he  guessed  that 
Colleville  was  trying  to  injure  him  in  the  opinion  of  that  weak 
and  simple  Thuillier. 

"Madame,"  said  he  in  the  pious  lady's  ear,  "believe  me,  if 
there  is  anybody  here  capable  of  appreciating  you,  it  is  I. 
Any  one  on  seeing  you  would  say :  here  is  a  pearl  fallen  in  the 
mire;  you  are  not  forty-two,  for  a  woman's  age  is  only  what 
it  seems,  and  many  a  woman  of  thirty,  not  to  compare  with 
you,  would  be  glad  indeed  to  have  your  figure  and  the  beauti- 
ful face  on  which  love  has  set  his  stamp  without  ever  having 
filled  your  heart.  You  have  dedicated  yourself  to  God,  I 
know,  and  I  am  too  religious  to  wish  to  be  anything  more 
than  your  friend;  but  you  have  given  yourself  to  Him  be- 
cause you  have  never  found  a  man  worthy  of  you.  You  have 


56  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

indeed  been  loved,  but  I  can  see  that  you  have  never  felt  your- 
self worshiped.  And  here  comes  your  husband,  who  has 
never  been  able  to  make  a  position  for  you  suitable  to  your 
merits, — he  hates  me  as  though  he  could  suspect  'that  I  love 
you,  and  just  prevents  my  telling  you  now  what  I  think  I  have 
hit  upon  to  place  you  in  the  sphere  for  which  nature  intended 
you. — No,  madame,"  he  went  on  in  a  louder  tone,  "it  is  not 
the  Abbe  Gondrin  who  is  the  Lent  preacher  this  year  in  our 
humble  church  of  Saint- Jacques  du  Haut-Pas ;  it  is  Monsieur 
d'Estival,  a  fellow-countryman  of  mine,  who  devotes  him- 
eelf  to  preaching  for  the  benefit  of  the  poorest  class,  and  you 
will  hear  one  of  the  most  cogent  preachers  I  know;  a  priest 
jof  an  unattractive  appearance,  but  such  a  soul ! " 

"Then  my  desires  will  be  fulfilled,"  said  poor  Madame 
ffhuillier.  "I  never  could  understand  our  famous  preachers." 

A  faint  smile  was  seen  on  Mademoiselle  Thuillier's  lips  and 
on  those  of  other  persons. 

"They  discourse  too  much  of  theological  demonstrations ;  I 
have  long  been  of  that  opinion,"  said  Theodose.  "But  I  never 
discuss  religion,  and  but  for  Madame  Colleville " 

"Are  there  demonstrations  then  in  theology?"  asked  the 
mathematical  professor  guilelessly  and  point  blank. 

"I  cannot  suppose,  monsieur,"  said  Theodose,  looking  up  at 
Felix  Phellion,  "that  you  ask  the  question  seriously." 

"Felix  divides  religion  into  two  categories,"  said  old  Phel- 
lion, coming  ponderously  to  his  son's  support,  as  he  saw  a 
pained  expression  on  Madame  Thuillier's  pale  face.  "He 
regards  it  from  the  human  and  from  the  divine  point  of  view 
— tradition  and  reason." 

"What  a  heresy,  monsieur !"  said  Theodose.  ''Religion  is 
indivisible;  it  insists  on  faith  above  all  else." 

Old  Phellion,  pinioned  by  this  speech,  looked  at  his  wife. 

"It  is  time,  my  dear "  and  he  glanced  at  the  clock. 

"Oh,  Monsieur  Felix,"  said  Celeste,  in  an  undertone,  to  the 
frank  mathematician,  "cannot  you,  like  Pascal  and  Bossuet, 
be  at  once  learned  and  pious?" 

The  Phellions  departing,  the  Collevilles  followed;  soon  no 
one  was  left  but  Dutocq,  Theodose,  and  the  Thuilliers. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  67 

The  flattery  lavished  on  Flavie  by  Theodose  was  of  the 
most  commonplace  type;  but  to  understand  this  narrative 
it  must  be  noted  that  the  advocate  kept  himself  in  tune  with 
these  ordinary  minds;  he  sailed  their  waters  and  spoke  their 
language.  Pierre  Grassou  was  his  painter,  not  Joseph  Bri- 
dau;  Paul  et  Virginie  was  his  romance.  The  greatest  living 
poet  to  him  was  Casimir  Delavigne;  in  his  eyes  utility  was 
the  aim  and  end  of  art.  Parmentin,  the  inventor  of  the  po- 
tato, was,  said  he,  better  than  thirty  Raphaels ;  the  man  in  the 
blue  cloak  was  to  him  "A  Sister  of  Charity."  These  phrases, 
which  were  Thuillier's,  he  would  occasionally  echo. 

"That  young  Felix  Phellion,"  said  he  now,  "is  just  the  col- 
lege man  of  our  day,  the  outcome  of  science  which  has  pen- 
sioned off  God.  Bless  me!  What  are  we  coming  to? 
Nothing  but  religion  can  save  France,  for  the  fear  of  hell 
alone  will  preserve  us  from  the  domestic  thieving  that  is  per- 
petually going  on  in  the  heart  of  every  household,  eating  into 
the  soundest  fortunes.  You  all  have  an  internecine  struggle 
in  your  very  midst." 

With  this  brilliant  harangue  he  went  away,  after  bidding 
the  Thuilliers  good-night,  leaving  Brigitte  greatly  impressed. 
Dutocq  accompanied  him. 

"That  is  a  young  fellow  of  great  talent !"  said  Thuillier  sen- 
tentiously. 

"Yes,  indeed,  on  my  word !"  replied  Brigitte,  as  she  put  the 
lamps  out. 

"He  is  religious,"  said  Madame  Thuillier,  leading  the  way. 

"Mosieur,"  said  Phellion  to  Colleville,  as  they  reached  the 
School  of  Mines,  looking  round  to  make  sure  that  they  were 
alone  in  the  street,  "I  am  in  the  habit  of  surrendering  to  the 
superior  knowledge  of  others,  but  I  cannot  help  seeing  that 
this  young  lawyer  lords  it  too  grandly  over  our  friends,  the 
Thuilliers." 

"It  is  my  private  opinion,"  replied  Colleville,  walking  with 
Phellion  behind  his  wife.  Celeste,  and  Madame  Phellion,  who 
hung  closely  together,  "he  is  a  Jesuit,  and  I  do  not  like  those 


58  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

people — the  best  of  them  are  good  for  nothing.  To  me. 
Jesuit  means  trickery,  and  trickery  with  intent ;  they  deceive 
for  the  pleasure  of  deceiving,  and  to  keep  their  hand  in,  as 
the  saying  goes.  That  is  my  opinion,  and  I  make  no  bones 
over  saying  so." 

"I  understand  you,  mosieur,"  replied  Phellion,  who  had 
Colleville's  arm. 

"No,  Monsieur  Phellion,"  said  Flavie,  in  a  high  little  voice, 
"you  do  not  understand  Colleville ;  but  I  know  what  he  means, 
and  he  had  better  say  no  more.  Such  matters  are  not  for  dis- 
cussion in  the  street  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  and  before  a 
young  girl." 

"You  are  right,  my  dear,"  said  Colleville. 

At  the  corner  of  the  Eue  des  Deux  Eglises,  which  was  the 
Phellions'  road,  they  said  good-night.  Felix  said  to  Colle- 
ville : 

"Monsieur,  your  son  Frangois,  if  he  were  pushed,  might  get 
into  the  Ecole  Polytechnique.  I  undertake  to  qualify  him 
for  passing  the  examinations  this  year." 

"That  is  too  good  an  offer  to  refuse;  thank  you,  my  good 
friend,"  said  Colleville.  "It  shall  be  seen  to." 

"Well  done,"  said  Phellion  to  his  son. 

"A  very  clever  idea,"  said  his  mother. 

"Why,  what  have  you  discovered  in  it  ?"  asked  Felix. 

"Why,  it  is  a  very  ingenious  way  of  doing  the  polite  to  06- 
leste's  parents." 

"May  I  never  solve  another  problem  if  I  thought  of  it!" 
cried  the  young  professor.  "I  found  out  by  talking  to  the 
boys  that  Frangois  has  a  turn  for  mathematics,  and  I  thought 
it  right  to  inform  his  father " 

"Quite  right,  my  son!"  repeated  Phellion.  "I  would  not 
have  you  different.  All  my  wishes  are  fulfilled,  and  I  find  my 
son  honest,  honorable,  possessed  of  all  the  public  and  private 
virtues  I  could  wish." 

As  soon  as  Celeste  had  gone  to  her  room  Madame  Colleville 
said  to  her  husband: 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  59 

"Colleville,  do  not  pronounce  judgment  on  people  so  crudely 
without  knowing  them  thoroughly.  When  you  speak  of 
Jesuits  I  know  you  are  thinking  of  priests,  and  you  will  oblige 
me  by  keeping  your  opinions  on  religion  to  yourself  when 
your  daughter  is  present:  We  may  sacrifice  our  own  souls  if 
we  please,  but  not  our  children's.  Do  you  want  your  daugh- 
ter to  be  a  creature  devoid  of  religion  ?  And  besides,  dear  old 
boy,  we  are  at  the  world's  mercy;  we  have  four  children  to 
provide  for,  and  can  you  say  that  sooner  or  later  you  may 
not  need  the  help  of  this  one  or  that  one?  So  do  not  make 
enemies;  you  have  none;  you  are  the  best  of  good  souls,  and 
thanks  to  that,  which  in  you  is  quite  a  charm,  we  have  got 
on  pretty  well  so  far !" 

"That  will  do  !"  said  Colleville,  who  had  flung  his  coat  into 
a  chair  and  was  taking  off  his  neck-cloth.  "I  was  wrong ;  you 
are  right,  my  beauty." 

"At  the  first  opportunity,  my  dear  old  fellow,"  said  the 
cunning  little  woman,  patting  her  husband's  cheeks,  "you  try 
to  do  the  civil  to  that  little  lawyer;  he  is  a  sharp  customer; 
we  must  have  him  on  our  side.  He  can  play  a  part?  Well, 
play  up  to  him.  Pretend  to  be  his  dupe,  and  if  he  is  clever,  if 
he  has  a  future  before  him,  make  him  your  friend.  Do  you 
suppose  that  I  want  you  to  stick  as  a  mayor  of  a  district  ?" 

"Come  here,  femme  Colleville,"  said  the  ex-clarinet  player, 
patting  his  knee  to  show  his  wife  the  place  where  she  was  to 
perch,  "let  us  toast  out  tootsems  and  talk.  When  I  look  at 
you  I  am  each  time  more  certain  that  the  youth  of  a  woman 
is  in  her  figure " 

"And  in  her  heart! " 

"In  both,"  replied  Colleville,  "a  light  figure  and  a  heavy 
heart " 

"No,  silly — a  deep  heart." 

"What  is  so  nice  in  you  is  that  you  have  kept  your  com- 
plexion without  having  to  grow  fat;  but  then  you  have  small 
bones.  I  tell  you,  Flavie,  if  I  had  to  begin  life  again  I  would 
not  choose  another  wife." 

"And  you  know  I  always  liked  you  better  than  the  others. 
VOL.  14—30 


€0  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

What  a  pity  it  is  that  monseigneur  is  dead!  Do  you  know 
what  I  should  like?" 

"No." 

"A  post  in  the  municipality  at  about  twelve  thousand 
francs,  as  a  cashier,  say  either  in  Paris,  or  at  Poissy — or  as  an 
agent." 

"Either  would  meet  my  views." 

"Well,  then,  supposing  that  monster  of  a  lawyer  could  do 
anything;  he  can  intrigue,  you  may  depend  on  it.  We  will 
be  civil  to  him ;  I  will  feel  my  way — -just  leave  it  to  me ;  and 
above  all  do  not  spoil  his  game  at  the  Thuilliers'." 

Theodose  had  touched  the  aching  spot  in  Flavie  Colleville's 
heart,  and  this  needs  an  explanation  which  may  perhaps  afford 
a  synthetical  survey  of  women's  lives. 

At  the  age  of  forty  a  woman,  especially  if  she  has  tasted  the 
poisoned  apple  of  passion,  is  aware  of  a  solemn  dread ;  she  per- 
ceives that  two  deaths  await  her — that  of  the  body  and  that 
of  the  heart.  If  we  divide  women  into  the  two  great  classes 
which  answer  to  the  commonest  view  of  them :  the  virtuous 
and  the  guilty,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  all  alike,  after  that  ter- 
rible date  in  life,  are  aware  of  an  acute  pain. 

If  virtuous  and  cheated  of  the  craving  of  their  nature, 
whether  they  have  been  brave  enough  for  resignation,  or  have 
buried  their  rebelliousness  in  their  souls  or  at  the  foot  of  the 
altar,  they  feel  some  horror  as  they  say  to  themselves,  "All  is 
over !"  The  thought  has  such  strange  and  infernal  depths 
that  we  find  in  it  the  cause  of  some  of  the  apostasies  that  now 
and  then  startle  and  appall  the  world. 

If  guilty,  they  find  themselves  at  a  dizzy  height  in  one  of 
those  positions  which  sometimes,  alas,  find  expression  in  mad- 
ness or  end  in  death  or  in  some  passion  as  tremendous  as  the 
situation. 

This  is  the  fallacy  that  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  crisis: 
Either  a  woman  has  been  happy,  has  made  a  virtue  of  happi- 
ness and  can  breathe  no  other  than  this  atmosphere  of  in- 
cense, can  move  only  in  the  blossom-laden  air  where  flattery  is 


61 

a  perpetual  caress — and  so  how  can  she  give  it  up  ?  Or  else — 
which  is  even  more  strange  than  rare — in  her  pursuit  of  the 
happiness  that  eluded  her  she  has  found  none  but  fatiguing 
pleasures,  while  sustained  in  the  ardor  of  her  pursuit  by  the 
incitements  of  satiated  vanity,  spurred  to  the  chase  like  a 
gambler  doubling  his  stakes,  for,  to  her,  the  last  days  of  her 
beauty  are  the  last  thing  she  risks  on  the  cards  of  despair. 

"You  have  been  loved  but  never  worshiped."  This  speech 
of  la  Peyrade's,  emphasized  by  a  look  which  read,  not  her 
heart,  but  her  life,  was  the  solution  of  an  enigma,  and  Flavie 
felt  herself  explained. 

The  lawyer  had  repeated  certain  sentiments  which  books 
have  made  commonplace;  but  it  matters  not  of  what  make 
or  material  the  whip  is  that  stings  the  sore  of  a  thoroughbred 
horse.  The  poetry  was  in  Flavie,  not  in  the  verse,  just  as  the 
noise  is  not  in  the  avalanche  though  it  brings  it  down. 

A  young  officer,  two  coxcombs,  a  banker,  a  clumsy  lad,  and 
poor  Colleville  were  a  melancholy  set  of  experiences.  Once  in 
her  life,  indeed,  Madame  Colleville  had  dreamed  of  happiness, 
but  she  had  not  felt  it,  and  death  had  hastily  cut  short  the 
only  passion  in  which  Flavie  had  found  any  real  charm.  For 
two  years  now  she  had  been  obedient  to  the  voice  of  religion, 
which  had  taught  her  that  neither  the  Church  nor  the  world 
speaks  of  happiness  and  love,  but  only  of  duty  and  submis- 
sion; that  in  the  eyes  of  those  two  great  powers  happiness 
dwells  in  the  satisfaction  obtained  from  painful  or  costly 
sacrifice  for  which  there  is  no  reward  in  this  life.  But  she 
still  heard  a  shriller  voice;  and  as  her  religion  was  but  a 
necessary  mask  she  wore  and  not  a  conversion,  as  she  could 
not  take  it  off  because  she  regarded  it  as  a  resource  in  the  fu- 
ture, since  devotion,  true  or  feigned,  was  a  way  of  living  not 
unfitted  to  her  future  years,  she  clung  to  the  Church,  seated  as 
it  were  on  a  bench  in  a  forest-glade,  reading  the  guide-posts 
to  the  ways,  and  awaiting  what  might  happen  as  she  felt  night 
closing  in. 

Then  her  curiosity  was  greatly  excited  when  she  heard 
Theodose  plainly  state  her  secret  position,  without  any  as- 


62 

sumption  of  taking  advantage  of  it,  but  attacking  the  inner 
side  only  of  her  nature  by  holding  out  a  hope  of  the  realiza- 
tion of  an  airy  vision  already  seven  or  eight  times  destroyed. 

Ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  winter  she  had  understood 
that  Theodose  was  surreptitiously  watching  her  and  studying 
her  through  and  through.  More  than  once  she  had  put  on 
her  gray  watered-silk  gown,  her  black  lace,  and  her  little  head- 
dress of  flowers  twisted  in  with  Mechlin,  to  make  the  best 
of  herself;  and  a  man  always  knows  when  a  woman  has 
dressed  for  him.  The  dreadful  dandy  of  the  Empire  smoth- 
ered her  with  vulgar  flattery ;  she  was  the  queen  of  the  even- 
ing— but  the  Provengal  said  much  more  by  a  subtle  glance. 

Sunday  after  Sunday  Flavie  had  expected  him  to  make  love 
to  her ;  she  said  to  herself :  "He  knows  I  am  a  pauper  and  he 
has  not  a  penny !  Or  perhaps  he  is  really  pious !" 

Theodose  was  determined  to  hurry  nothing;  like  a  skilful 
musician,  he  had  marked  the  place  in  the  symphony  where 
he  meant  to  hit  the  drum.  As  soon  as  he  saw  that  Colleville 
was  trying  to  raise  suspicions  in  Thuillier,  he  had  fired  the 
broadside  he  had  so  carefully  prepared  during  the  months  he 
had  spent  in  studying  Flavie,  and  with  success,  as  in  the 
morning  he  had  succeeded  with  Thuillier. 

As  he  went  to  bed  he  reflected : 

"The  wife  is  on  my  side;  the  husband  cannot  endure  me. 
At  this  moment  they  are  squabbling  and  I  shall  win  the  day, 
for  she  does  what  she  likes  with  her  husband." 

But  the  Provengal  was  mistaken,  so  far  as  that  there  had 
not  been  the  smallest  disagreement,  and  that  Colleville  was 
sleeping  by  his  dear  little  Flavie's  side,  while  she  was  saying 
to  herself: 

"Theodose  is  a  very  superior  man." 

A  great  many  men  like  la  Peyrade  derive  superiority  from 
the  boldness  or  difficulty  of  an  undertaking;  the  energy  they 
must  display  gives  solidity  to  their  muscles;  they  throw  all 
their  strength  into  it,  and  then,  whether  they  achieve  success 
or  meet  with  an  overthrow,  the  world  is  surprised  to  see  that 
they  are  small  or  mean,  or  worn  out. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  63 

After  having  aroused  a  curiosity  that  was  sure  to  become 
feverish,  in  the  minds  of  the  persons  on  whom  Celeste's  fate 
depended,  Theodose  affected  to  be  extremely  busy ;  for  five  or 
six  days  he  was  out  from  morning  till  night,  so  as  not  to  see 
Flavie  again  till  her  desire  had  reached  the  point  where  she 
would  overstep  any  limits  of  propriety,  and  so  as  to  compel 
Thuillier  to  call  on  him. 

He  was  almost  certain  to  meet  Madame  Colleville  at 
church  on  the  following  Sunday ;  in  fact,  they  came  out  at  the 
same  moment,  and  met  in  the  Rue  des  Deux  Eglises.  Theo- 
dose offered  his  arm  to  Flavie,  who  accepted  it,  sending  her 
daughter  on  in  front  with  Anatole.  This  youngest  of  her 
children,  now  twelve  years  old,  was  a  day-boarder  at  Barniol's 
school,  where  he  was  being  prepared  in  the  elements;  Phel- 
lion's  son-in-law  had  naturally  reduced  the  price  for  his  day- 
board  in  anticipation  of  the  hoped-for  alliance  between  the 
Phellions  and  Celeste. 

"Have  you  done  me  the  honor  and  favor  of  thinking  over 
what  I  said  to  you  so  blunderingly  the  other  day  ?"  asked  the 
lawyer  in  an  insinuating  tone,  as  he  pressed  the  fair  one's 
arm  to  his  heart  with  a  gesture  at  once  gentle  and  firm,  for 
he  affected  to  suppress  his  feelings  and  seem  respectful 
against  his  impulse.  "Do  not  misunderstand  me,"  he  went 
on,  as  he  met  such  a  glance  from  Madame  Colleville's  eyes 
as  women,  practised  in  the  arts  of  passion,  can  find  to  express 
either  severe  reproof  or  a  secret  community  of  feelings.  "I 
love  you  as  a  man  loves  a  noble  nature  struggling  against  mis- 
fortune. Christian  charity  embraces  the  strong  as  well  as  the 
weak,  and  its  treasures  are  for  all.  Refined,  graceful,  and  ele- 
gant as  you  are,  made  to  be  the  ornament  of  the  highest 
sphere,  what  man  can  see  you,  without  the  deepest  compas- 
sion, dragging  out  your  life  among  these  odious  middle-class 
people  who  do  not  understand  you — not  even  the  aristocratic 
perfection  of  one  of  your  attitudes,  of  one  of  your  looks,  or 
of  one  of  your  bewitching  tones  of  voice. — Oh !  if  I  were  but 
rich,  if  it  were  only  in  my  power,  your  husband,  who  is  really 
a  good  soul,  should  be  made  a  collector  general,  and  you  could 


64  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

get  him  elected  deputy. — But  I,  poor  and  ambitious,  whose 
first  duty  is  to  crush  my  ambition  since  I  am  left  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  bag  like  the  last  number  of  a  lottery,  I  can  only 
offer  you  my  arm  instead  of  my  heart.  All  my  hopes  are 
centered  in  a  good  marriage,  and  believe  me,  not  only  will  I 
make  my  wife  happy,  but  I  will  raise  her  to  a  high  position  in 
the  State  if  she  brings  me  the  means  of  advancement. — It  is 
a  very  fine  day;  come  for  a  little  walk  in  the  Luxembourg," 
he  added,  as  they  reached  the  Rue  d'Enfer  and  the  corner  of 
Madame  Colleville's  house,  opposite  to  which  was  a  passage 
into  the  gardens  down  the  steps  of  a  little  structure,  the  last 
remnant  of  the  famous  Carthusian  Convent. 

The  unresisting  arm  linked  into  his  own  gave  Flavie's  tacit 
consent,  and  as  she  deserved  the  honor  of  some  show  of  vio- 
lence, he  dragged  her  away  quickly,  adding: 

"Come  along;  we  shall  not  alwa}rs  have  such  a  good  oppor- 
tunity.— Oh  I"  he  exclaimed,  "your  husband  sees  us ;  he  is  at 
the  window;  walk  slowly " 

"You  need  have  no  fear  of  Monsieur  Colleville,"  said  Fla- 
vie,  smiling.  "He  leaves  me  absolutely  my  own  mistress." 

"Oh !  such,  indeed,  -is  the  woman  of  my  dreams  \"  ex- 
claimed the  Provengal  with  the  ecstatic  accent  that  only  fires 
a  southern  soul  and  comes  from  southern  lips. 

"Forgive  me,  madame,"  he  said,  checking  himself,  and 
coming  down  from  the  upper  regions  to  the  exiled  angel  at 
whom  he  piously  gazed.  "Forgive  me !  To  return  to  what  I 
was  saying — oh !  how  can  I  be  insensible  to  the  sufferings  I 
myself  experience  when  I  see  them  no  less  the  lot  of  a  being 
to  whom  life  ought  to  bring  nothing  but  joy  and  happiness ! 
— Your  sorrows  are  mine;  I  am  no  more  in  my  right  place 
than  you  are  in  yours;  the  same  ill  fortune  has  made  us 
brother  and  sister. 

"Ah  !  dear  Flavie ! — The  first  time  I  was  so  happy  as  to  see 
you  was  on  the  last  Sunday  in  September,  1838.  You  were 
lovely !  I  shall  often  recall  you  in  that  little  mousseline  de 
laine  frock,  a  tartan  of  some  Scottish  clan. — I  said  to  myself 
that  evening:  'Why  is  that  woman  at  the  Thuilliers'?  above 
all,  why  had  she  ever  any  connection  with  this  Thuillier?" 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  66 

"Monsieur!"  cried  Flavie,  terrified  at  the  ominously  swift 
flow  that  the  Provengal  had  given  to  the  conversation. 

"Oh !  I  know  all,"  he  exclaimed,  with  a  twitch  of  his  shoul- 
der, "and  I  understand  everything — and  I  do  not  esteem  you 
the  less.  There,  there !  These  are  not  the  sins  of  an  ugly 
woman  or  a  hunchback.  You  have  to  gather  the  fruit  of  your 
error,  and  I  will  help  you :  Celeste  will  be  very  rich,  and  that 
is  where  all  your  future  prospects  lie;  you  can  have  but  one 
son-in-law ;  be  clever  enough  to  choose  him  well.  An  ambi- 
tious man  may  rise  to  office,  but  he  will  humiliate  you,  annoy 
you,  and  make  your  daughter  miserable ;  if  he  loses  her  for- 
tune he  will  certainly  never  remake  it. — Yes,  indeed,  I  love 
you,"  he  added,  "with  unbounded  devotion ;  you  are  superior 
to  a  thousand  petty  considerations  that  enmesh  fools.  Let 
us  understand  each  other " 

Flavie  was  astounded;  at  the  same  time  this  excessive 
frankness  appealed  to  her.  "This  man  is  plain-spoken 
enough !"  said  she  to  herself.  Still,  she  acknowledged  that 
she  had  never  been  so  deeply  moved  and  agitated  as  by  this 
young  man. 

"Monsieur,"  said  she,  "I  do  not  know  .who  can  have  mis- 
led you  so  completely  as  to  my  past  life  or  by  what  right " 

"Pray  forgive  me,  madame,"  the  Provencal  put  in  with  a 
coldness  bordering  on  scorn.  "I  dreamt  it  all !  I  said  to  my- 
self :  'She  is  all  that !'  but  I  was  deceived  by  appearances.  I 
know  now  why  you  will  live  on  for  ever  in  fourth-floor  rooms 
in  the  Eue  d'Enfer." 

And  he  emphasized  the  retort  with  a  vehement  wave  of  his 
arm  in  the  direction  of  the  window  where  Colleville  could  be 
seen  from  the  avenue  in  the  gardens  whore  they  were  walk- 
ing alone,  a  vast  field  tilled  and  turned  by  so  many  young 
ambitions. 

"I  have  been  perfectly  frank;  I  expected  reciprocity.  I 
have  gone  many  a  day  without  bread,  madame ;  I  managed  to 
live,  to  study  law,  to  qualify  as  a  licentiate  of  law  in  Paris,  on 
a  capital  of  two  thousand  francs.  I  came  in  by  the  barriere 
d'ltalie  with  five  hundred  francs  in  my  pocket,  vowing,  like 


66  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

a  countryman  of  mine,  that  I  would  some  day  be  one  of  the 
leading  men  of  my  country.  And  a  man  who  has  often  picked 
his  breakfast  out  of  the  baskets  into  which  cook-shops  throw 
their  leavings,  and  which  they  empty  in  the  street  at  six  in 
the  morning  when  the  second-hand  eating-houses  can  find 
nothing  worth  taking — such  a  man  will  shrink  from  no  means 
that  he  may  own  to.  Do  you  believe  that  I  am  the  People's 
Friend?"  said  he,  smiling.  "Fame  must  have  her  trumpet: 
she  cannot  be  heard  if  she  speaks  in  a  whisper;  and  without 
fame  of  what  use  is  talent  ?  The  Advocate  of  the  Poor  will 
become  the  advocate  of  the  rich.  Now,  have  I  not  opened 
!my  inmost  soul?  Open  your  heart  to  me.  Say,  Ve  will  be 
friends/  and  some  day  we  will  all  be  happy." 

"Oh,  dear!  why  did  I  come  with  you?  Why  did  I  take 
your  arm?"  exclaimed  Flavie. 

"Because  it  was  your  destiny !"  replied  he.  "My  dear  and 
beloved  Flavie,"  he  went  on,  pressing  her  arm  to  his  heart, 
"did  you  expect  to  hear  me  make  commonplace  speeches  ?  We 
are  sister  and  brother — that  is  the  whole  story." 

And  he  turned  back  toward  the  steps  to  return  to  the  Rue 
d'Enfer. 

At  the  back  of  the  satisfaction  which  a  woman  finds  in  vio- 
lent excitement,  Flavie  was  conscious  of  a  great  dread,  and 
she  mistook  this  terror  for  the  sort  of  alarm  that  comes  of  a 
new  passion ;  but  she  was  spellbound,  and  walked  on  in  utter 
silence. 

"What  are  you  thinking  about  ?"  asked  Theodose,  half-way 
along  the  passage. 

"Of  all  you  have  been  saying,"  she  replied. 

"But  at  our  age,"  said  he,  "we  skip  the  preliminaries;  we 
are  not  children,  and  we  both  live  in  a  sphere  in  which  we 
ought  to  understand  each  other.  In  short,"  he  added,  as  they 
turned  into  the  Rue  d'Enfer,  "believe  me,  I  am  wholly 
yours."  And  he  bowed  solemnly. 

"The  irons  are  in  the«fire,"  said  he  to  himself  as  he  watched 
the  retreat  of  his  dazzled  prey. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  67 

On  going  home  Theodose  found  on  his  landing  a  man  who 
figures  in  this  tale  as  a  submarine  agent,  or  like  a  huried 
church  on  which  the  front  of  a  palace  is  built  up.  The  sight 
of  this  man,  who,  having  rung  in  vain  at  la  Peyrade's  door, 
was  now  pulling  Dutocq's  bell,  startled  the  Provengal;  but 
the  shock  was  internal ;  nothing  on  the  surface  betrayed  this 
hidden  agitation. 

This  was  Cerizet,  the  man  of  whom  Dutocq  had  spoken  to 
Thuillier  as  his  copying-clerk. 

Ce"rizet,  who  was  but  eight  and  thirty,  looked  fifty,  so 
wrecked  was  he  by  all  that  ages  a  man.  His  bald  head  showed 
a  yellow  skull,  meagrely  covered  by  a  wig  rusty  with  wear; 
his  pale,  flaccid  features,  curiously  rough-hewn,  were  all  the 
more  unpleasant  by  reason  of  his  nose  being  much  disfigured ; 
not  indeed  so  badly  as  to  make  it  necessary  that  he  should 
wear  a  false  nose ;  from  the  bridge  at  the  forehead  to  the  nos- 
trils it  was  as  nature  made  it,  but  disease  had  destroyed  the 
nostrils  towards  the  lip,  leaving  two  holes  of  uncertain  out- 
line, thickening  his  pronunciation  and  hindering  his  speech. 
His  eyes  had  been  fine,  but  were  weakened  by  every  form  of 
work  and  wear  and  sitting  late  at  night;  they  were  rimmed 
with  red,  and  evidently  damaged ;  his  look  when  animated  by 
an  expression  of  mischief  might  have  frightened  judges  and 
criminals — even  those  who  are  frightened  at  nothing.  His 
mouth,  bereft  of  teeth,  or  retaining  only  a  few  blackened 
wrecks,  was  sinister,  and  moistened  with  a  foam  of  white  sa- 
liva which  did  not,  however,  wet  his  thin,  colorless  lips. 

Cerizet,  a  small  man,  not  so  much  lean  as  shrunken,  tried 
to  correct  the  disasters  to  his  person  by  dress,  and  though 
the  costume  was  not  magnificent,  he  kept  it  in  a  state  of  scru- 
pulous cleanliness  that  perhaps  enhanced  its  wretchedness. 
Everything  about  him  was  doubtful,  like  his  age,  his  nose, 
and  his  expression.  It  was  impossible  to  guess  whether  he 
were  eight-and-thirty  or  sixty,  whether  his  blue  trousers, 
faded  but  neatly  strapped,  would  be  in  the  fashion  ere  long, 
or  dated  from  the  year  1835.  A  pair  of  boots,  gone  limp, 


68  THE  MIDDLI  CLASSES 

but  carefully  blacked,  and  resoled  for  the  third  time,  had 
once  been  good,  and  had  perhaps  trodden  the  carpets  of  official 
residences.  His  overcoat  with  braided  frogs,  drenched  in 
many  a  shower,  and  oval  buttons  that  indiscreetly  betrayed 
the  moulds,  showed  by  its  cut  that  it  had  once  been  elegant. 
His  satin  stock  and  tie  hid  the  lack  of  linen  with  some  suc- 
cess, but  at  the  back  the  teeth  of  the  buckle  had  frayed  the 
stuff,  which  was  shining  with  the  oleaginous  friction  of  his 
wig.  In  the  days  of  its  youth  his  waistcoat  had  been  smart,  | 
but  it  was  one  of  those  waistcoats  which  are  sold  for  four 
francs  out  of  the  depths  of  a  ready-made-clothes  shop.  Every 
article  was  carefully  brushed,  including  the  bruised  and  shin- 
ing silk  hat.  Everything  was  in  harmony  and  matched  the 
black  gloves  of  this  subaltern  Mephistopheles,  of  whom  the 
history  may  be  told  in  a  few  words. 

He  was  an  artist  in  wickedness,  with  whom  at  first  wicked- 
ness had  succeeded,  and  who,  deluded  by  his  early  triumphs, 
persisted  in  plotting  infamy  always  well  within  the  letter  of 
the  law.  By  treachery  to  his  master  he  had  become  owner  of  a 
printing  business;  then  he  had  been  fined  as  the  publisher  of 
a  liberal  newspaper,  and  in  the  country,  after  the  Restoration, 
he  became  one  of  the  pet  victims  of  the  royalist  Ministry, 
and  was  called  the  "unfortunate"  Cerizet,  like  the  unfortunate 
Chauvet,  or  the  heroic  Mercier.  In  1830  this  reputation  for 
patriotism  earned  him  a  place  as  sous-prefet,  which  he 
lost  six  months  later;  but  he  declared  that  he  had  been  con- 
demned unheard,  and  made  so  much  noise  about  it,  that  dur- 
ing Casimir  Perier's  administration  he  was  made  the  editor 
of  an  anti-republican  paper  in  the  pay  of  the  Government. 
After  that  he  went  into  business,  and  among  the  concerns  he 
was  mixed  up  with  was  one  of  the  most  disastrous  joint-stock 
companies  that  ever  gave  rise  to  criminal  proceedings;  he 
took  the  severe  sentence  he  incurred  quite  unabashed,  assert- 
\  ing  that  it  was  a  piece  of  revenge  got  up  by  the  republican 
party,  who  could  not  forgive  him  for  the  severe  handling  it 
had  met  with  from  his  newspaper,  and  was  paying  him  back 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  69 

tenfold.  He  spent  his  term  of  imprisonment  in  a  lunatic 
asylum. 

The  authorities  were  at  last  ashamed  of  a  man  who  had 
risen  from  the  foundling  hospital,  and  whose  almost  crapulous 
habits  and  disgraceful  swindling,  in  combination  with  a  re- 
tired banker  named  Claparon,  had  brought  him  down  to  well- 
deserved  reprobation.  Thus  Cerizet,  fallen  inch  by  inch  to 
the  lowest  step  of  the  social  ladder,  only  obtained  the  place  of 
copying  clerk  in  Dutocq's  office  by  appealing  to  a  remnant  of 
pity. 

In  the  lowest  pit  of  misery  this  man  dreamed  of  retaliation ; 
and  as  he  had  nothing  left  to  lose,  he  was  ready  for  any  means 
of  achieving  it.  Dutocq  and  he  were  bound  together  by  their 
equal  depravity.  Cerizet  was  to  Dutocq,  in  that  neighborhood, 
what  a  dog  is  to  the  sportsman.  Cerizet,  experienced  in  all 
the  needs  of  poverty,  lent  small  sums  on  short  loans  at  enor- 
mous interest ;  he  began  as  Dutocq's  partner,  and  this  ancient 
gutter-boy,  now  become  the  costermongers'  banker,  the  truck 
merchants'  bill-discounter,  was  the  gnawing  worm  of  the  dis- 
trict. 

"I  say,"  said  Cerizet,  when  Dutocq  opened  his  door,  "Theo- 
dose  is  come  in;  let  us  go  to  his  rooms." 

The  advocate  of  the  poor  let  the  two  men  in  before  him. 
They  all  three  crossed  a  small  room,  with  a  tiled  end  waxed 
floor,  the  red,  encaustic  tiles  reflecting  the  daylight  that  came 
in  between  cotton  curtains,  showing  a  plain,  round,  walnut- 
wood  table,  and  a  walnut-wood  sideboard  on  which  a  lamp 
stood.  Through  it  they  went  into  a  small  sitting-room  with 
red  curtains  and  mahogany  furniture,  covered  with  red 
Utrecht  velvet;  the  wall  opposite  the  windows  was  furnished 
with  a  bookcase  filled  with  law  books.  Vulgar  ornaments 
graced  the  chimney-shelf, — a  clock  with  four  mahogany  col- 
umns, and  candlesticks  under  shades.  The  study  where  the 
three  friends  seated  themselves  in  front  of  a  coal  fire  'was  the 
study  of  a  budding  pleader,  the  furniture  consisting  of  a 
writing-table,  an  armchair,  short,  green  silk  blinds  to  the 
windows,  a  green  carpet,  a  set  of  pigeon  holes  for  boxes,  and  a 


70  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

sofa,  over  which  hung  an  ivory  crucifix,  mounted  on  velvet. 
The  bedroom,  kitchen,  and  other  rooms  looked  out  on  the 
courtyard. 

"Well,"  said  Cerizet,  "is  it  all  right  ?    Arc  things  moving  ?" 

"Yes/'  replied  Theodose. 

"Confess,  now,  that  I  had  a  bright  idea,"  cried  Dutocq, 
"when  I  thought  of  a  way  of  getting  round  that  gaby  Thuil- 
lier." 

"Yes,  but  I  am  not  behindhand,"  exclaimed  Cerizet,  "I 
have  come  this  morning  to  show  you  the  way  to  fit  the  thumb- 
screws on  to  the  old  maid  and  make  her  spin  like  a  teetotum. 
Make  no  mistake;  Mademoiselle  Thuillier  is  everything  in 
this  affair;  if  you  win  her  over,  you  take  the  citadel.  Say 
little,  but  to  the  purpose,  as  befits  those  who  know  what  they 
are  about.  My  old  partner,  Claparon,  is,  as  you  know,  an 
idiot,  and  he  will  be  all  his  life  what  he  has  been,  a  stalking 
horse.  At  this  moment  his  name  is  put  forward  by  a  Paris 
notary,  mixed  up  with  some  builders,  who  are  all  going  to 
the  dogs  together, — notary,  masons,  and  all!  Claparon  is 
the  scapegoat;  he  has  never  been  bankrupt,  and  everything 
must  have  a  beginning ;  at  this  moment  he  is  stowed  away  in 
my  den  in  the  Eue  des  Poules,  where  no  one  will  ever  find  him. 
Now  Claparon  is  furious;  he  has  not  a  sou;  and  among  the 
five  or  six  houses  which  have  to  be  sold,  there  is  one,  a  per- 
fect gem,  all  of  squared  stone,  close  to  the  Madeleine, — a 
frontage  all  patterned  over  like  a  melon,  and  with  lovely 
sculpture, — and  not  being  finished,  it  will  be  sold  for  a  hun- 
dred thousand  francs  at  most;  by  spending  twenty-five  thou- 
sand francs  on  it,  it  will  be  worth  ten  thousand  francs  a  year 
in  a  couple  of  years'  time.  Now,  by  helping  Mademoiselle 
Thuillier  to  secure  this  property,  you  can  win  her  heart,  for 
you  can  give  her  to  understand  that  such  bargains  may  be 
met  with  every  year.  Vain  people  can  be  managed  either  by 
working  on  their  conceit  or  by  threats;  money-grabbers  by 
attacking  or  by  filling  their  purse.  And  as,  after  all,  working 
for  the  Thuilliers  is  working  for  ourselves,  we  must  enable 
her  to  benefit  by  this  stroke  of  business." 


n 

"But  the  notary?"  said  Dutocq,  "why  does  he  let  it  slip 
through  his  fingers  ?" 

"The  notary,  my  dear  boy!  It  is  he  who  is  the  making 
of  us.  Being  obliged  to  sell  his  business,  and  ruined,  in  fact, 
he  has  kept  this  portion  of  the  crumbs  of  the  cake.  Believ- 
ing in  that  idiot  Claparon's  honesty,  he  has  instructed  him  to 
find  a  nominal  purchaser,  for  he  looks  for  equal  confidence 
and  prudence.  We  will  leave  him  to  suppose  that  Made- 
moiselle Thuillier  is  an  honest  woman,  allowing  poor  Clapa- 
ron  to  make  use  of  her  name;  and  the  notary  and  Claparon 
will  both  be  caught.  I  owe  my  friend  Claparon  this  little 
turn,  for  he  let  me  in  for  the  brunt  of  the  battle  in  his  joint- 
stock  concern,  which  was  bowled  over  by  Couture — in  whose 
skin  you  would  be  sorry  to  find  yourselves !"  he  added,  with  a 
flash  of  devilish  hatred  in  his  dulled  eyes.  "Gentlemen,  I 
have  spoken  !"  he  said,  in  a  big  voice  which  trumpeted  through 
his  nose,  as  he  assumed  a  theatrical  attitude,  for  once,  in  an 
hour  of  abject  poverty,  he  had  tried  the  stage. 

As  he  ended  his  harangue  there  was  a  ring  at  the  bell,  and 
la  Peyrade  went  to  open  the  door. 

"Do  you  still  feel  sure  of  him  ?"  said  Cerizet  to  Dutocq.  "I 
fancy  there  is  something  about  him — in  short,  I  have  had 
experience  of  betrayals/' 

"He  is  so  completely  in  our  power,"  said  Dutocq,  "that  I 
did  not  take  the  trouble  to  watch  him.  Still,  between  our- 
selves, I  had  not  thought  him  so  spry  all  round  as  he  certainly 
is.  We  thought  we  were  mounting  a  man  who  could  not  ride 
a  thoroughbred,  and  the  rascal  is  a  jockey !" 

"He  had  better  mind  what  he  is  about,"  said  Cerizet  mys- 
teriously. "I  can  blow  him  over  like  a  house  of  cards.  As  to 
you,  Daddy  Dutocq,  you  can  see  him  at  work  and  keep  an  eye 
on  him ;  watch  him  closely.  And  I  can  feel  his  pulse,  too,  by 
getting  Claparon  to  propose  to  him  to  get  rid  of  us;  then  we 
shall  know  where  we  are." 

"That  is  not  a  bad  idea,"  said  Dutocq.  "You  can  see  as  far 
as  most  people." 


72  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"We  are  tarred  with  the  same  brush,  that's  all,"  replied 
Cerizet. 

These  remarks  were  spoken  in  an  undertone  while  Theodose 
went  to  the  door  and  returned.  When  the  lawyer  came  back, 
Cerizet  was  examining  everything  in  the  study. 

"It  is  Thuillier,"  said  Theodose,  "I  expected  him  to  call. 
He  is  in  the  drawing-room.  He  must  not  see  Cerizet's  great- 
,coat,"  he  added  smiling;  "those  trimmings  would  alarm 
'him." 

"Pooh !  you  are  the  friend  of  the  poor ;  it  is  all  part  of  the 
performance.  Do  you  want  some  money  ?"  asked  Cerizet,  tak- 
'  ing  a  hundred  francs  out  of  his  trousers'  pocket.  "There,  that 
looks  well,"  and  he  placed  the  pile  of  silver  on  the  chimney- 
shelf. 

"And  we  can  get  away  through  the  bedroom,"  said  Dutocq. 

"Very  well,  good-bye  then,"  said  the  Provengal,  opening  a 
papered  door  leading  from  the  study  to  the  bedroom.  "Come 
in  here,  my  dear  Monsieur  Thuillier,"  he  called  out  to  the 
erstwhile  "buck." 

Then  as  soon  as  he  saw  him  come  to  the  study  door,  he 
went  to  let  out  his  two  confederates  through  the  bedroom, 
dressing-room,  and  kitchen,  which  opened  on  to  the  landing. 

"In  six  months  you  must  be  Celeste's  husband  and  looking 
up  in  the  world.  You  are  a  lucky  dog;  you  have  not  found 
yourself  in  the  dock  of  a  police  court  twice,  as  I  have:  the 
first  time  in  1825,  for  constructive  treason,  as  they  called  it, 
— a  series  of  newspaper  articles  that  I  never  wrote;  and  the 
second  time  for  appropriating  the  profits  of  a  joint-stock 
company  that  never  came  to  anything.  Come,  get  the  pot 
boiling,  by  the  piper !  for  Dutocq  and  I  want  our  twenty-five 
thousand  francs  apiece  deuced  badly ;  and  be  brave,  my  good 
fellow!"  he  added,  holding  out  his  hand  to  Theodose  to  test 
him  by  his  grip  of  it. 

The  Provencal  gave  Cerizet  his  right  hand  and  wrung  his 
with  much  warmth. 

"My  dear  boy,  you  may  be  very  sure  that  whatever  posi- 
tion I  may  attain  I  shall  not  forget  the  plight  from  which 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  73 

you  rescued  me  to  set  me  on  horseback  here.  I  am  your  bait ; 
but  you  are  giving  me  the  lion's  share,  and  I  should  be  worse 
than  a  convict  turned  spy  if  I  did  not  play  a  square  game." 

As  soon  as  the  door  was  shut  Cerizet  peeped  through  the 
keyhole  to  see  la  Peyrade's  face;  but  the  lawyer  had  turned 
his  back,  going  to  join  Thuillier,  and  his  suspicious  ally  could 
not  see  what  expression  his  features  assumed. 

It  was  neither  disgust  nor  dismay,  but  joy,  which  the  re- 
leased features  expressed.  Theodose  saw  his  means  of  suc- 
ceeding multiplying,  and  he  flattered  himself  he  could  get  rid 
of  his  sordid  comrades,  though  indeed  he  owed  everything  to 
them.  Poverty  has  unfathomable  depths,  especially  in  Paris, 
miry  bogs,  from  which,  when  a  drowned  man  comes  to  the 
surface  again,  he  brings  foul  matter  clinging  to  his  body  or 
his  clothes.  Cerizet,  once  the  wealthy  friend  and  patron  of 
Theodose,  was  now  the  filthy  stain  that  still  stuck  to  the 
Provencal,  and  the  promoter  of  the  joint-stock  company 
could  guess  that  he  was  only  too  anxious  to  brush  him  off, 
now  that  he  moved  in  a  sphere  where  decent  attire  was  indis- 
pensable. 

"My  dear  Theodose,"  said  Thuillier,  "we  have  been  hoping 
to  see  you  every  day  of  the  week,  and  each  evening  has 
brought  us  disappointment.  As  next  Sunday  is  our  dinner- 
party day,  my  sister  and  my  wife  desired  me  to  beg  you  to 
come " 

"I  have  been  so  very  busy,"  said  Theodose,  "that  I  have 
not  had  two  minutes  to  give  to  anybody,  not  even  to  you, 
whom  I  count  as  one  of  my  friends,  and  to  whom  I  particu- 
larly wanted  to  speak ' 

"Then  you  have  really  thought  seriously  of  what  you  told 
me?"  cried  Thuillier,  interrupting  Theodose. 

"If  you  had  not  come  to  clinch  the  matter,  I  should  esteem 
you  less  than  I  do,"  replied  la  Peyrade,  smiling.  "You  have 
been  a  second-class  clerk ;  you  must  therefore  have  some  rem- 
nants of  ambition,  and  in  you  it  is  legitimate,  or  the  deuce  is 
in  it !  Why,  really,  between  you  and  me,  when  we  see  a  man 
like  Minard, — a  gilded  crock,  going  to  make  his  bow  to  the 


74  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

King  and  swagger  about  the  Tuileries ;  or  Popinot,  again,  on 
the  highway  to  office, — and  you,  a  man  inured  to  the  routine 
of  administration,  a  man  with  thirty  years'  experi- 
ence, left  to  prick  out  seedlings!  What  can  I  say?  I 
will  be  frank  with  you,  my  dear  Thuillier.  I  want  to  get  you 
on  because  you  will  pull  me  after  you. 

"Well,  and  this  is  my  plan.  We  shall  have  to  elect  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Municipal  Council  for  this  district,  and  you  must 
be  the  man  .  .  .  and  you  shall  be  the  man,"  he  added, 
emphasizing  the  word.  "Some  day,  at  the  next  general  elec- 
tion, you  will  be  representative  of  the  district  in  the  lower 
Chamber — and  the  time  is  not  far  off.  The  votes  which  will 
elect  you  to  the  Municipal  Council  will  not  fail  you  when  it 
is  a  question  of  getting  into  Parliament;  you  may  depend 
upon  me  for  that/' 

"But  what  means  have  you  ?"  asked  Thuillier,  dazzled. 

"You  shall  know.  But  leave  this  long  and  delicate  business 
to  me  to  manage ;  if  you  make  any  foolish  talk  as  to  what  is 
said  or  planned  or  agreed  upon  between  us,  I  leave  you  to 
yourself  and  wish  you  a  very  good  morning." 

"Oh,  you  may  trust  an  old  second  clerk  to  hold  his  tongue ; 
I  have  known  secrets " 

"Very  well !  But  you  must  keep  these  secrets  from  your 
wife,  your  sister,  Monsieur  and  Madame  Colleville." 

"Not  a  muscle  of  my  face  shall  move,"  said  Thuillier,  set- 
ting his  features. 

"Very  good,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "I  will  test  you.  To  be 
eligible  you  must  pay  the  full  amount  of  taxes,  and  that  you 
do  not  do." 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  I  pay  enough  to  sit  on  the  Municipal 
Council;  two  francs  and  eighty-six  centimes." 

"Yes,  but  to  sit  in  the  Chamber  five  hundred  francs  is  the 
qualification,  and  you  have  no  time  to  lose,  for  you  must  prove 
possession  for  a  year." 

"The  Devil !"  said  Thuillier,  "how  am  I  to  rise  to  a  rating 
of  five  hundred  francs  within  the  next  twelvemonth?" 

"You  may  be  paying  it  by  the  end  of  July.     My  devotion 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  75 

to  you  leads  me  to  confide  to  you  the  secret  of  a  stroke  of  bus- 
iness which  will  enable  you  to  make  thirty  or  forty  thousand 
francs  a  year  on  a  capital  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
at  most.  But  in  your  household,  you  see,  your  sister  has  long 
been  at  the  head  of  all  business  arrangements,  and  I  have  no 
fault  to  find  with  that.  She  has  the  soundest  judgment  pos- 
sible; it  will  be  necessary,  therefore,  to  begin  with,  that  I 
should  have  the  opportunity  of  winning  Mademoiselle  Bri- 
gitte's  regard  and  friendship  by  proposing  this  investment  to 
her — and  for  this  reason :  If  Mademoiselle  Thuillier  did  not 
believe  in  me,  we  should  get  into  trouble;  but  how  can  you 
suggest  to  your  sister  that  she  should  buy  the  property  in  your 
name  ?  It  would  be  far  better  that  the  idea  should  come  from 
me.  However,  you  shall  both  be  enabled  to  judge  of  the  op- 
portunity. 

"As  to  the  means  at  my  command  for  promoting  your  elec- 
tion to  the  Municipal  Council  of  the  Seine,  they  are  these: 
Phellion  can  command  one-fourth  of  the  votes  in  the  district 
he  and  Laudigeois  have  lived  in  for  thirty  years ;  they  are  re- 
garded as  oracles.  I  have  a  friend  who  can  dispose  of  an- 
other fourth,  and  the  Cure  of  Saint-Jacques,  who  is  not  with- 
out influence,  may  secure  a  few  votes.  Dutocq,  who  is  as 
well  known  to  the  residents  as  the  justice  of  the  peace,  will 
do  his  best  for  me,  especially  if  I  am  not  working  for  myself ; 
and  then  Colleville,  as  secretary  to  the  Mayor,  represents 
one-fourth  of  the  votes." 

"To  be  sure !"  cried  Thuillier.    "I  am  as  good  as  elected." 

"Do  you  think  so  ?"  said  la  Peyrade,  in  a  tone  of  alarming 
irony.  "Well  then,  only  go  to  your  friend  Colleville,  and  ask 
him  to  help  you;  you  will  see  what  he  says.  Success  in  an 
election  is  never  secured  by  the  candidate,  but  by  his  friends. 
You  must  never  ask  for  anything  for  yourself;  you  must 
wait  to  be  urged  to  accept  it,  and  seem  to  have  no  ambition." 

"La  Peyrade !"  cried  Thuillier,  rising  and  taking  the  young 
lawyer's  hand,  "you  are  a  monstrous  clever  fellow." 

"No  match  for  you,  but  fairly  wide-awake,"  replied  the 
Provengal,  smiling. 
VOL.  14—31 


76  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"And  if  we  succeed,  how  am  I  to  repay  you?"  asked  Thuil- 
lier  guilelessly. 

"Ah,  that  is  the  point !  You  will  think  me  audacious ;  but 
you  must  remember  that  there  is  in  me  a  feeling  which  must 
plead  my  excuses,  for  it  has  given  me  courage  to  try  every 
resource.  I  am  in  love,  and  to  you  I  confide  my  secret." 

"But  with  whom?"  said  Thuillier. 

"With  your  sweet  little  Celeste,"  replied  la  Peyrade,  "and 
my  love  is  surety  for  my  devotion  to  you;  what  would  I  not 
do  for  a  father-in-law?  It  is  but  selfishness;  it  is  working 
for  my  own  ends." 

"Hush !"  cried  Thuillier. 

"Why,  my  friend,  if  Flavie  were  not  on  my  side,"  said  la 
Peyrade,  putting  his  hands  on  Thuillier's  hips,  "and  if  I  did 
not  know  all,  should  I  speak  of  it  to  you  ?  0?ily  on  this  point 
say  nothing  to  her;  wait  till  she  speaks. 

"Listen  to  me;  I  am  of  the  stuff  that  ministers  are  made 
of,  and  I  do  not  want  to  wear  Celeste  without  having  won 
her;  you  shall  not  plight  her  to  me  till  the  <?iy  when  your 
name  is  drawn  out  of  the  ballot-box  often  enough  to  make 
you  a  deputy  of  Paris.  To  be  a  member  for  Paris  you  must 
get  the  whip-hand  of  Minard.  Mkiard  must  b<*  wiped  out, 
and  you  must  keep  your  influence  in  hand;  so  to  achieve 
this  result,  let  them  still  hope  to  win  Celeste — \*<*  will  trick 
them  all. 

"Madame  Colleville,  you,  and  I  will  cut  a  figure  some  day. 
Do  not,  however,  think  me  grasping;  I  want  Celeste  without 
any  fortune,  with  nothing  but  her  prospects.  To  live  as  a 
member  of  your  family  and  leave  my  wife  among  you  all  is 
what  I  dream  of.  You  see,  I  have  no  underhand  (schemes. 
You,  within  six  months  of  taking  your  seat  on  the  Tow  a  Coun- 
cil, will  have  the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  and  will  be 
made  Officer  of  the  Order  as  soon  as  you  are  elected.  As  to 
your  speeches  in  the  Chamber — why,  we  will  write  tlwin  be- 
tween us.  Perhaps  you  would  do  well  to  write  some,  solid 
book  on  half-moral,  half-political  questions;  for  instance. 
on  Charitable  Institutions,  considered  from  a  lofty  stand' 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  77 

point,  such  as  the  reform  of  the  Monts-de-Piete,  where  the 
abuses  are  a  scandal.  Let  us  do  something  to  make  your  name 
known;  it  would  work  well,  especially  in  the  immediate  dis- 
trict. I  tell  you,  you  may  get  the  Cross  and  become  member 
of  the  Municipal  Council  for  the  Department  of  the  Seine. 
Well,  put  your  trust  in  me;  do  not  think  of  making  me  one 
of  your  family  till  you  have  the  ribbon  in  your  button-hole 
and  take  your  seat  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies. 

"Still,  I  will  do  better  than  that.  I  will  get  you  forty  thou- 
sand francs  a  year." 

"For  only  one  of  these  things  you  should  have  our  Celeste  !" 

"What  a  jewel !"  said  la  Peyrade,  raising  his  eyes  to 
heaven.  "I  am  foolish  enough  to  pray  for  her  every  day.  She 
is  enchanting — and  very  like  you.  Well,  well !  you  need  not 
impress  secrecy  on  me;  and  it  was  from  Dutocq  that  I  heard 
it  all.  Till  this  evening!  I  am  off  to  Phellion's  to  see  what 
I  can  do  for  you.  By  the  way,  you  understand  that  you  never 
for  a  moment  thought  of  me  as  a  husband  for  Celeste — you 
would  cut  me  in  pieces  sooner.  On  that  matter  not  a  word, 
not  even  to  Flavie.  Wait  till  she  mentions  it  to  you.  Phel- 
lion  will  rush  at  you  this  evening  to  secure  your  adherence 
to  his  plans  and  nominate  you  as  candidate." 

"This  evening?"  said  Thuillier. 

"This  evening,"  replied  Theodose,  "unless  I  should  not 
find  him  at  home." 

Thuillier  went  away,  saying  to  himself: 

"That  is  a  remarkably  clever  fellow !  We  shall  get  on  to- 
gether. And  on  my  word,  it  would  be  hard  to  do  better  for 
Celeste.  They  would  live  with  us,  a  family  party,  and  that  is 
a  great  thing;  he  is  a  good  fellow,  a  genial  soul." 

To  men  of  Thuillier's  character,  this,  a  secondary  matter 
really,  carries  all  the  weight  of  a  sound  reason.  Theodose  had 
been  delightfully  genial. 

The  house  to  which  la  Peyrade  presently  directed  his  steps 
had,  for  twenty  years,  been  to  Phellion  his  hoc  erat  in  votis; 
but  it  was  as  essentially  the  house  of  Phellion  as  the  braiding 


78  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

of  Cerizet's  great-coat  was  the  indispensable  ornament  of  that 
garment. 

This  dwelling,  only  one  room  deep, — some  twenty  feet  or 
so, — was  built  up  against  a  much  larger  house,  and  had  a  sort 
of  little  wing  with  one  window,  projecting  at  each  end.  Its 
principal  merit  lay  in  a  garden  about  thirty  fathoms  wide, 
and  longer  than  the  frontage  by  the  width  of  a  forecourt  to- 
wards the  street  and  an  arbor  of  lime  trees.  Beyond  the 
further  wing,  the  courtyard  was  shut  off  from  the  street  by 
iron  railings  with  a  double  gate  in  the  middle. 

This  edifice,  built  of  rough  stone  stuccoed  over,  was  two 
stories  high,  lime-washed  yellow,  with  Venetian  shutters 
above  and  boarded  shutters  below,  all  painted  green.  The 
kitchen  was  on  the  ground  floor  at  the  end  by  the  courtyard, 
and  the  cook,  a  stout,  strong  wench,  also  did  duty  as  gate- 
keeper, under  the  guardianship  of  two  enormous  dogs. 

The  facade,  consisting  of  five  windows,  besides  the  two 
wings  which  projected  about  six  feet,  was  in  the  Style  P hel- 
lion. Above  the  door  the  owner  had  inserted  a  marble  panel, 
on  which  was  inscribed  in  gilt  letters:  Aurea  Mediocritas. 
Above  a  sun-dial  in  another  panel  he  had  placed  this  wise 
maxim:  Umbra  mea  vita,  sic! 

The  window-sills  had  been  lately  restored  with  blocks  of 
red  Languedoc  marble  that  he  had  found  in  a  stone-mason's 
yard.  At  the  further  end  of  the  garden  was  a  painted  stone 
figure  looking  to  the  passers-by  like  a  nurse  suckling  a  baby. 
Phellion  was  his  own  gardener. 

The  ground  floor  consisted  of  the  dining-room  and  draw- 
ing-room, divided  by  the  staircase  and  a  little  hall  or  ante- 
room. Beyond  the  drawing-room  was  a  small  room  for 
Phellion's  little  study. 

On  the  first  floor  were  the  bedrooms  for  the  master  and 
mistress  and  for  the  young  professor;  above  these,  the  chil- 
dren's and  servants'  rooms;  for  Phellion,  out  of  respect  for 
his  own  age  and  his  wife's,  had  allowed  himself  to  set  up  a 
man-servant  of  about  fifteen — especially  now  that  his  son  was 
a  qualified  instructor.  To  the  Left  on,  entering  the  forecourt 


79 

was  a  small  out-building  where  the  firewood  was  stored,  and 
where  in  the  last  owner's  time  a  porter  had  lodged.  The 
Phellions  were  no  doubt  waiting  till  the  professor  should  be 
married  to  allow  themselves  this  crowning  luxury. 

This  little  freehold,  long  coveted  by  the  Phellions,  had  cost 
eighteen  thousand  francs  in  1831.  The  house  was  separated 
from  the  forecourt  by  a  balustrade  on  a  low  wall  of  hewn 
stone,  formed  of  hollow  tiles  laid  above  each  other  alternately, 
and  finished  at  the  top  with  flat  stones.  This  parapet,  breast- 
high,  had  within  it  a  hedge  of  China  roses,  and  in  the  mid- 
dle was  a  gate  of  wooden  palings  opposite  the  gates  to  the 
street. 

Any  one  who  knows  the  Impasse  des  Feuillantines-  will 
understand  that  Phellion's  house,  standing  at  a  right  angle  to 
the  street,  faced  south,  being  sheltered  on  the  north  by  the 
high  party-wall  against  which  it  was  built. 

The  domes  of  the  Pantheon  and  of  the  Val-de-Grace  stand 
close  by,  like  two  giants,  and  so  effectually  block  the  sky  that 
as  you  walk  in  the  garden  you  feel  quite  shut  in.  Nor  can 
any  spot  be  more  silent  than  the  Impasse  des  Feuillantines. 
Such  was  the  retreat  chosen  by  this  great  but  unrecognized 
citizen,  who  was  now  tasting  the  pleasures  of  repose,  after 
paying  his  debt  to  his  country  by  working  in  the  office  of  the 
Exchequer,  from  which  he  had  retired  as  first-class  clerk 
after  thirty-six  years  of  service. 

In  1832  he  had  led  his  battalion  of  the  National  Guard  to 
the  front  at  Saint-Merri,  but  those  who  were  near  him  saw  his 
eyes  were  full  of  tears  at  the  thought  of  being  obliged  to  fire 
on  his  misguided  fellow-countrymen.  The  fight  was  over  by 
the  time  the  legion  had  marched  at  the  double  across  the 
bridge  of  Notre-Dame,  coming  out  at  the  Quai  aux  Fleurs. 
His  virtuous  hesitancy  won  him  the  affection  of  all  the  neigh- 
borhood, but  it  lost  him  the  decoration  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor.  The  Colonel  expressed  his  opinion  loudly  that  a 
man  under  arms  must  never  deliberate:  the  speech  made  by 
Louis-Philippe  to  the  National  Guard  at  Metz.  But  in  spite 
of  this,  Phellion's  civic  virtues  and  the  immense  respect  he 


80  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

enjoyed  in  the  whole  neighborhood  had  kept  him  in  his  rank 
as  Major  of  the  National  Guard  for  eight  years.  He  was  now 
nearly  sixty,  and  as  he  saw  the  hour  approaching  when  he 
would  be  compelled  to  lay  down  the  sword  and  unbuckle  the 
military  stock  he  could  only  hope  that  the  .King  would  vouch- 
safe to  reward  his  services  by  granting  him  the  Legion  of 
Honor. 

Truth  compels  me  to  say — though  such  paltriness  casts  a 
slur  on  so  noble  a  character — that  Major  Phellion  stood  on 
tiptoe  at  the  levees  at  the  Tuileries;  that  he  put  himself  in 
the  foreground  and  made  sheeps'  eyes  at  the  Citizen-King 
when  he  dined  at  his  table;  in  short,  intrigued  as  best  he 
might,  but  had  never  yet  met  the  eye  of  the  king  of  his  choice. 
The  worthy  man  had  already  thought  of  asking  Minard  to 
support  his  secret  ambition,  but  had  not  yet  brought  himself 
to  the  point. 

Phellion,  the  advocate  of  passive  obedience,  was  a  stoic  in 
all  that  concerned  his  duties,  iron  as  to  every  matter  of  con- 
science. To  complete  the  portrait  by  a  sketch  of  his  appear- 
ance: at  fifty,  Phellion  was  stout,  to  use  the  accepted  word; 
his  face,  uniform  in  color  and  marked  with  the  small-pox, 
was  a  perfect  full  moon,  so  that  his  lips,  which  had  once 
been  thick,  were  now  nothing  remarkable.  His  eyes  were  weak 
and  protected  by  blue  spectacles;  the  innocence  of  their  light 
blue  was  no  longer  visible  to  invite  a  smile;  but  his  white 
hair  had  at  last  given  gravity  to  a  face  which,  twelve  years 
since,  had  verged  on  idiocy  and  given  cause  for  ridicule. 
Time,  which  so  cruelly  disfigures  faces  with  fine  and  delicate 
features,  improves  those  which  in  youth  have  been  thick  and 
clumsy,  and  this  was  the  case  with  Phellion.  He  occupied 
the  leisure  of  old  age  in  compiling  an  abridged  history  of 
France;  for  Phellion  was  the  author  of  several  books  sanc- 
tioned by  the  University. 

When  la  Peyrade  came  in,  the  whole  of  the  family  was  as- 
sembled; Madame  Barniol  had  called  to  report  to  her  parents 
on  the  health  of  one  of  her  children  who  was  ailing;  the  stu- 
dent from  the  School  of  Mines  was  spending  the  day  at  home. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  81 

All  in  their  Sunday  best,  and  seated  in  front  of  the  fire  in 
the  drawing-room, — a  paneled  room  painted  in  two  shades 
of  gray, — on  second-hand  easy-chairs,  they  all  started  on  hear- 
ing Genevieve,  the  cook,  announce  the  very  man  whom  they 
were  discussing  apropos  to  Celeste,  Felix  Phellion's  adoration 
carrying  him  so  far  as  to  make  him  go  to  Mass  in  order  to 
see  her.  The  mathematician  had  made  this  effort  that  very 
morning,  and  was  being  good-naturedly  bantered  by  the  fam- 
ily, who  at  the  same  time  only  hoped  that  Celeste  and  her 
parents  might  appreciate  the  treasure  at  their  feet. 

"Alas !  The  Thuilliers  seem  to  me  very  much  set  on  an 
exceedingly  dangerous,  man,"  said  Madame  Phellion.  "He 
made  Madame  Colleville  take  his  arm  this  morning,  and  they 
went  off  together  to  the  Luxembourg." 

"There  is  something  peculiarly  sinister  in  that  lawyer," 
exclaimed  Felix.  "If  I  were  told  he  had  committed  some 
crime,  I  should  not  be  surprised." 

"That  is  going  too  far,"  said  his  father.  "He  is  first  cousin 
to  Tartuffe,  the  immortal  figure  cast  in  bronze  by  our  honest 
poet,  Moliere,  for  Moliere' s  genius,  my  children,  was  founded 
on  honesty  and  patriotism." 

As  he  pronounced  this  verdict,  Genevieve  came  in,  saying : 

"Monsieur  de  la  Peyrade  is  here,  waiting  to  speak  to  mas- 
ter." 

"To  me?"  cried  Monsieur  Phellion.  "Show  him  in,"  said 
he,  with  the  solemnity  in  small  things  that  made  him  rather 
ridiculous,  though  it  always  impressed  his  family,  who  re- 
garded him  as  their  king. 

Phellion,  his  two  sons,  his  wife,  and  his  daughter,  all  rose 
to  return  the  lawyer's  inclusive  bow. 

"To  what  do  we  owe  the  honor  of  this  visit,  monsieur?" 
said  Phellion,  with  severity. 

"To  your  importance  in  this  part  of  the  town,  my  dear 
Monsieur  Phellion,  and  to  public  business,"  replied  Theodose. 

"Then  we  will  go  into  my  study,"  said  Phellion. 

"No,  no,  my  dear,"  said  Madame  Phellion,  a  lean  little 
person,  as  flat  as  a  flounder,  and  whose  face  still  wore  the 


82  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

set  severity  of  a  teacher  of  music  in  schools  for  young  ladies ; 
"we  will  leave  you  here." 

An  upright  Erard  piano  between  the  windows  and  opposite 
the  fireplace  proclaimed  her  pretentious  still  to  be  considered 
a  virtuoso. 

"Oh,  am  I  so  unlucky  as  to  put  you  to  flight  ?"  said  Theo- 
dose, with  a  genial  smile  at  the  mother  and  daughter.  "You 
have  here  a  delightful  retreat,"  he  went  on,  "and  you  need 
only  a  pretty  daughter-in-law  to  enable  you  to  spend  your 
days  in  the  A.urea  Mediocritas  that  was  the  Latin  poet's 
dream,  and  in  the  midst  of  family  joys.  Your  past  labors 
well  deserve  such  a  recompense,  for,  from  what  I  have  heard 
of  you,  my  dear  Monsieur  Phellion,  you  are  a  good  citizen  and 
a  patriarch." 

"Mosieur,"  said  Phellion  bashfully.  "I  have  done  my  duty, 
and  that  is  all !" 

On  hearing  the  word  "daughter-in-law"  spoken  by  Theo- 
dose,  Madame  Barniol,  who  was  as  like  her  mother  as  two 
drops  of  water  are  alike,  looked  at  Madame  Phellion  and  Fe- 
lix as  much  as  to  say :  "Can  we  be  mistaken  ?" 

A  need  for  talking  this  matter  over  led  these  four  to  go  out 
into  the  garden,  for  in  March  1840  the  weather  was  almost 
fine,  at  any  rate  in  Paris. 

"Major,"  said  Theodose,  when  he  was  alone  with  the 
worthy  citizen,  who  was  always  flattered  by  being  thus  ad- 
dressed, "I  have  come  to  speak  to  you  of  election  matters." 

"To  be  sure,  we  have  to  appoint  a  member  of  the  Municipal 
Council,"  said  Phellion,  interrupting  him. 

"And  it  is  to  discuss  a  candidate  that  I  have  ventured  to 
intrude  on  your  Sunday  enjoyments,  though  even  so  we  may 
not  go  beyond  family  interests." 

Phellion  himself  could  not  be  more  completely  Phellion 
than  Theodose  was  at  this  moment. 

"I  will  not  allow  you  to  say  another  word,"  replied  the 
Major,  cutting  in  on  a  pause,  made  by  Theodose  to  not2  the 
effect  of  his  speech.  "My  choice  is  fixed." 

"Then  we  have  hit  on  the  same  idea!"  cried  Thtodose. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  83 

"Well-meaning  men  are  as  likely  to  jump  together  as  great 
wits." 

"I  do  not  think  that  has  happened  this  time,"  said  Phellion. 
"This  district  has  hitherto  been  represented  on  the  Town 
Council  by  the  very  best  of  men,  who  was  also  the  most- ad- 
mirable of  lawyers — the  late  Monsieur  Popinot,  who  died 
Councillor  of  State.  When  he  was  to  be  replaced,  his  nephew, 
who  inherits  his  beneficence,  was  not  at  the  time  a  resident 
in  this  quarter,  but  since  then  he  has  purchased  and  moved 
into  the  house  that  was  his  uncle's  in  the  Rue  de  la  Montagne- 
Sainte-Genevieve;  he  is  physician  to  the  Ecole  Polytechnique 
and  to  one  of  our  hospitals.  He  is  an  ornament  to  the  dis- 
trict; and  for  these  reasons,  and  to  honor  the  uncle's  mem- 
ory in  the  person  of  his  nephew,  I  and  some  other  residents 
have  resolved  to  work  for  the  election  of  Dr.  Horace  Bian- 
chon,  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  as  you  know,  and 
one  of  the  rising  glories  of  the  great  Paris  School  of  Medi- 
cine. We  do  not  think  a  man  great  solely  because  he  is  fa- 
mous ;  the  late  Councillor  Popinot  was,  in  my  opinion,  almost 
the  equal  of  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul." 

"A  physician  is  not  an  administrator,"  replied  Theodose. 
"Besides,  I  have  come  to  claim  your  vote  for  a  man  for  whose 
sake  your  nearest  interests  demand  the  sacrifice  of  a  selection 
which,  after  all,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  public  welfare." 

"Oh,  mosieur !"  cried  Phellion,  rising  and  striking  an  atti- 
tude like  Lafon  in  Le  Glorieux,  "have  you  such  a  contempt 
for  me  as  to  suppose  that  personal  interest  could  ever  influence 
my  political  conscience  ?  When  the  commonwealth  is  in  ques- 
tion, I  am  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  citizen." 

La  Peyrade  smiled  as  he  thought  of  the  conflict  about  to 
take  place  between  the  "citizen"  and  the  father. 

"Do  not  pledge  yourself  too  sternly  to  your  convictions,  I 
beg,"  said  he,  "for  your  beloved  Felix's  happiness  is  in  the 
balance." 

"What  do  you  mean  to  convey  by  those  words?"  asked 
Phellion,  pausing  in  the  middle  of  the  drawing-room,  his  right 
hand  slipped  within  his  waistcoat  over  his  heart — a  favorite 
position  with  the  famous  Odilon  Barrot. 


84  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"I  have  come  on  behalf  of  our  common  friend,  our  worthy 
and  admirable  friend,  Monsieur  Thuillier,  whose  influence 
over  the  destinies  of  charming  Celeste  Colleville  is  well 
known  to  you.  And  if,  as  I  believe,  your  son, — a  young  man 
whose  indisputable  merit  might  make  any  family  proud, — 
if  he  is  courting  Celeste  with  a  view  to  a  marriage  in  every 
respect  suitable,  you  cannot  do  better,  to  secure  the  eternal 
gratitude  of  the  Thuilliers,  than  commend  our  worthy  friend 
to  the  suffrages  of  your  fellow-citizens.  I,  for  my  part, 
though  but  lately  settled  in  the  neighborhood,  might  take  it 
on  myself  to  do  this,  for  some  little' benefits  done  to  the  poorer 
class  have  secured  me  a  certain  amount  of  influence;  but 
services  to  the  poor  do  not  count  for  much  in  the  estimation 
of  those  who  are  more  highly  taxed;  besides,  the  obscurity 
of  my  life  is  not  in  harmony  with  any  such  demonstration.  I 
have  devoted  myself,  monsieur,  to  the  service  of  the  humblest, 
like  the  late  Judge  Popinot,  a  truly  sublime  man,  as  you  say ; 
and  if  my  vocation  were  not,  as  it  is,  in  a  certain  sense  reli- 
gious, and  so  far  antagonistic  to  the  demands  of  married  life, 
my  taste,  my  ultimate  destiny,  would  be  the  service  of  God 
and  the  Church. 

"I  make  no  fuss,  like  the  sham  philanthropists;  I  do  not 
write — I  work,  for  I  have  simply  devoted  my  life  to  the  exer- 
cise of  Christian  charity.  I  fancy  I  have  guessed  what  is  the 
ambition  of  our  friend  Thuillier,  and  I  wished  to  promote  the 
happiness  of  two  beings  made  for  each  other  by  suggesting  to 
you  the  means  of  finding  your  way  to  his  heart — a  somewhat 
cold  one." 

Phellion  was  quite  overpowered  by  this  harangue,  which 
was  very  cleverly  spoken ;  he  was  dazzled,  startled,  but  he  was 
the  same  Pheliion  still ;  he  advanced  to  the  lawyer  and  held 
out  his  hand.  La  Peyrade  took  it.  They  shook  hands  witli 
effusion — such  a  grasp  as  was  often  exchanged  in  August 
1830  between  a  citizen  and  a  man  on  his  promotion. 

"Monsieur/'  said  the  Major,  with  feeling,  "I  had  mis- 
judged you.  What  you  have  done  me  the  honor  to  confide  to 
me  will  die  here,"  and  he  laid  his  hand  on  his  heart.  "You 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  85 

are  one  of  those  men — and  they  are  few — who  console  us  for 
many  woes  inherent  in  our  social  scheme.  Keal  worth  is  so 
rarely  met  with  that  our  weak  judgment  distrusts  appear- 
ances. In  me  you  have  a  friend,  if  you  will  allow  me  to  do 
myself  the  honor  of  assuming  the  title. 

"But  you  must  learn  to  know  me,,  monsieur ;  I  should  sacri- 
fice my  self-respect  by  proposing  Thuillier.  No,  my  son  must 
never  owe  his  happiness  to  an  evil  deed  of  his  father's.  I  will 
not  transfer  my  vote  to  another  candidate  because  it  is  to  my 
son's  interest.  That,  monsieur,  is  true  virtue !" 

La  Peyrade  took  out  his  handkerchief,  rubbed  it  into  his 
eye,  and  extracted  a  tear.  Then,  holding  out  his  hand  to 
Phellion,  while  he  turned  his  face  aside : 

"That,  monsieur,  is  the  sublime  aspect  of  political  life  in 
the  conflict  with  private  feeling!"  said  he.  "If  I  had  come 
only  to  witness  this  spectacle,  my  visit  would  not  be  time 
wasted.  What  can  I  say?  In  your  place  I  would  do  the 
same.  You  are  the  noblest  work  of  God — an  honest  man !  A 
citizen  on  Rousseau's  model !  With  more  citizens  of  this 
stamp,  0  France,  my  native  land !  what  might  you  not  be- 
come !  It  is  I,  monsieur,  who  crave  to  be  allowed  to  call  my- 
self your  friend." 

"What  can  be  going  on?"  cried  Madame  Phellion,  watch- 
ing the  scene  from  outside  through  the  window.  "Your  father 
and  that  monster  of  a  man  are  in  each  other's  arms."  Phel- 
lion and  the  lawyer  now  went  out  to  join  the  family  in  the 
garden. 

"My  dear  Felix,"  said  the  father,  pointing  to  la  Peyrade, 
who  bowed  low  to  Madame  Phellion,  "be  grateful  to  this 
worthy  gentleman;  he  will  be  helpful  rather  than  mischiev- 
ous to  your  interests." 

The  lawyer  walked  for  five  minutes  under  the  leafless  lime- 
trees  with  Madame  Phellion  and  Madame  Barniol,  giving 
them  some  advice,  which,  in  the  serious  dilemma  to  which 
Phellion's  obstinacy  had  given  rise,  was  to  bear  fruit  that 
evening,  while  its  first  happy  result  was  to  make  both  the 
ladies  admirers  of  his  talents,  candor,  and  inestimable  high 
qualities. 


86  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

The  whole  .family  in  a  body  accompanied  the  young  advo- 
cate to  the  gate  on  the  street,  and  every  eye  watched  him  till 
he  had  turned  the  corner  of  the  Rue  Saint-Jacques. 

Madame  Phellion  took  her  husband's  arm  as  they  went  in- 
doors, and  said : 

"What  possesses  you,  my  dear,  you,  such  a  good  father,  to 
risk  the  very  best  match  our  Felix  could  make  out  of  an  ex- 
travagant sense  of  delicacy?" 

"My  dear  little  woman,"  replied  Phellion,  "the  great  men 
of  antiquity,  such  as  Brutus  and  others,  were  not  fathers 
when  they  were  bound  to  be  citizens  first.  The  middle  class, 
even  far  more  than  the  aristocracy,  whose  place  it  is  called 
upon  to  take,  is  expected  to  exercise  the  highest  virtues.  Mon- 
sieur de  Saint-IIilaire  thought  nothing  of  the  loss  of  his  arm 
when  he  saw  Turenne  dead. 

"We,  too,  have  to  show  our  quality ;  we  must  do  so  in  every 
grade  of  the  social  hierarchy.  Shall  I  inculcate  these  prin- 
ciples in  my  family  only  to  betray  them  at  the  moment  for 
proving  them  ?  No.  Weep,  my  dear,  to-day,  if  you  will ;  you 
will  esteem  me  to-morrow  I"  he  added,  as  he  saw  tears  in  the 
eyes  of  his  skinny  little  wife. 

These  grandiloquent  words  were  spoken  on  the  threshold 
of  the  door  over  which  was  inscribed  Aurea  Mediocritas. 

"I  ought  to  have  added :  el  digna,"  said  Phellion,  pointing 
to  the  tablet,  "but  that  the  words  would  imply  praise." 

"But,  father,"  said  Marie-Theodore  Phellion,  the  engineer 
student,  when  they  were  all  in  the  drawing-room  again,  "it 
does  not  seem  to  me  that  a  man  fails  in  honor  when  he 
changes  his  opinion  in  the  matter  of  a  choice  which  is  in  it- 
self unimportant  to  the  public  good." 

"Unimportant,  my  dear  son!"  cried  Phellion.  "Between 
ourselves — and  Felix  is  of  my  opinion — Monsieur  Thuillier 
is  a  man  devoid  of  capacity  of  any  kind.  He  knows  nothing ! 
Monsieur  Horace  Bianchon  is  a  man  of"  great  ability ;  he  will 
get  many  things  done  for  our  district,  and  Thuillier  never  a 
thing!  But,  above  all,  my  son,  remember  that  to  give  up  a 
good  resolution  for  a  bad  one  out  of  interested  motives  is  an 


•  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  87 

infamous  action,  which  may  escape  the  criticism  of  men,  but 
which  God  will  punish.  I  am,  or  I  believe  I  am,  clear  of  blame 
before  my  own  conscience,  and  I  owe  it  to  you  all  to  leave  you 
•  an  unblemished  memory.  Nothing  can  alter  my  decision." 

"Oh,  my  dear  good  father !"  cried  little  Madame  Barniol, 
throwing  herself  on  her  knees  on  a  stool  by  her  father's  side. 
"Do  not  mount  your  high  horse.  There  are  plenty  of  fools 
and  idiots  in  the  Municipal  Council,  and  France  goes  on  all 
the  same.  Worthy  old  Thuillier  will  vote  with  the  majority. 
Remember,  Celeste  will  have  five  hundred  thousand  francs, 
perhaps." 

"She  may  have  millions,"  said  Phellion,  "and  I  would  let 
them  lie.  I  will  not  propose  Thuillier  when  it  is  my  duty  to 
the  memory  of  the  best  man  that  ever  lived  to  nominate  Hor- 
ace Bianchon.  From  his  seat  in  heaven  Popinot  looks  down 
on  me  and  approves !"  cried  Phellion,  with  enthusiasm.  "It 
is  by  such  base  considerations  as  these  that  France  is  de- 
graded and  the  citizen  class  brought  into  contempt." 

"My  father  is  right,"  said  Felix,  rousing  himself  from  a 
brown  study,  "and  he  deserves  our  respect  and  affection,  as  he 
always  has  done  in  the  course  of  his  unpretentious,  busy,  and 
honored  life.  I  could  not  bear  to  owe  my  happiness  to  any 
remorse  in  his  noble  soul,  nor  to  any  intrigue.  I  love  Celeste 
as  much  as  I  love  my  family,  but  above  all  else  I  place  my 
father's  honor;  and  the  moment  the  affair  is  a  question  of 
conscience  to  him,  let  no  more  be  said." 

Phellion,  his  eyes  full  of  tears,  went  up  to  his  eldest  son, 
and  clasping  him  in  his  arms  he  exclaimed  in  a  broken  voice : 

"My  son,  my  son !" 

"All  this  is  stuff  and  nonsense,"  said  Madame  Phellion  to 
her  daughter  in  an  undertone.  "Come  and  dress  me ;  we  must 
put  an  end  to  this.  I  know  your  father;  he  is  pig-headed. 
To  carry  out  the  plan  suggested  to  us  by  that  good  and  pious 
young  man  I  shall  need  your  support,  Theodore.  Be  ready, 
my  son." 

Just  then  Genevieve  came  in  and  handed  a  note  to  Mon- 
sieur Phellion  senior. 


88  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  ' 

"An  invitation  to  dinner  at  the  Thuilliers'  for  my  wife, 
myself,  and  Felix,"  said  he. 

The  magnificent  and  startling  scheme  evolved  by  the  ad- 
vocate of  the  poor  had  upset  the  Thuilliers  as  much  as  the 
Phellions;  and  Jerome,  without  telling  his  sister  anything, 
for  he  already  felt  on  his  honor  to  his  Mephistopheles,  went  to 
her  room  in  a  great  bustle  to  say : 

"Good  little  woman/'  he  always  appealed  to  her  feelings 
in  these  words, — "we  shall  have  some  bigwigs  to  dinner  this 
evening.  I  am  going  to  ask  the  Minards;  so  give  us  a  good 
dinner.  I  am  writing  to  invite  Monsieur  and  Madame  Phel- 
lion ;  it  is  a  little  late,  but  we  are  on  no  ceremony  with  them. 
As  to  the  Minards,  I  must  invent  some  civil  excuse ;  I  happen 
to  want  them." 

"Four  Minards,  three  Phellions,  four  Collevilles,  and  our- 
selves— thirteen." 

"La  Peyrade  fourteen,  and  it  will  be  as  well  to  invite  Du- 
tocq ;  he  may  be  of  service  to  us.  I  will  go  up  to  his  rooms." 

"What  are  you  brewing?"  cried  his  sister;  "fifteen  to  din- 
ner, a  matter  of  forty  francs  at  least,  sent  flying !" 

"Do  not  regret  the  money,  my  good  little  woman;  and 
above  all  be  as  sweet  as  you  can  to  our  young  .friend  la  Pey- 
rade. He  is  something  like  a  friend !  And  he  will  prove  it. 
If  you  love  me,  cherish  him  as  the  apple  of  your  eye." 

And  he  left  Brigitte  bewildered. 

"Yes,  and  I  will  wait  till  he  proves  it !"  said  she  to  herself. 
"I  am  not  to  be  caught  by  fine  words ;  not  I !  He  is  a  pleas- 
ant youth  enough,  but  I  must  have  studied  him  a  little  closer 
before  wearing  him  next  my  heart." 

After  inviting  Dutocq,  Thuillier,  who  had  beautified  him- 
self, went  off  to  the  Rue  des  Magons-Sorbonne,  to  the  Mi- 
nards' house,  where  he  had  to  bamboozle  Zelie  and  disguise 
the  fact  that  the  invitation  was  an  impromptu. 

Minard  had  bought  one  of  the  vast  and  sumptuous  dwell- 
ings which  the  religious  orders  built  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Sorbonne;  and,  as  he  mounted  a  broad  stone  staircase,  with 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  89 

a  balustrade  that  showed  how  well  the  artistic  crafts  had 
flourished  in  the  days  of  Louis  XIII.,  Thuillier  coveted  the 
Mayor's  residence  and  position. 

This  handsome  house,  with  a  garden  behind  and  courtyard 
in  front  of  it,  was  striking  from  the  stamp,  at  once  elegant 
and  dignified,  of  that  king's  reign,  the  happy  medium  between 
the  bad  taste  of  the  decaying  renaissance  and  the  splendor 
of  the  early  days  of  Louis  XVIII.  This  transition  may  be 
seen  in  many  public  buildings;  massive  scrolls,  as  on  the 
fagade  of  the  Sorbonne,  and  columns  in  strictly  Greek  pro- 
portions, are  characteristic  of  this  style  of  architecture. 

A  retired  grocer,  a  successful  cheat,  here  occupied  the  place 
of  the  ecclesiastical  director  of  an  institution  formerly  known 
as  the  Economat,  a  foundation  in  connection  with  the  gen- 
eral administration  of  the  French  clerical  body,  and  due  to 
Eichelieu's  foresight  and  acumen. 

Thuillier's  name  opened  the  doors  of  a  drawing-room  where, 
amid  red  velvet  and  gilding  and  the  most  gorgeous  products 
of  the  East,  a  hapless  woman  sat  enthroned,  who,  by  sheer 
weight,  crushed  the  spirits  of  the  princes  and  princesses  at 
every  "popular"  ball  given  at  the  Tuileries. 

"Is  she  not  a  perfect  caricature  ?"  said  a  pseudo-lady  of  the 
bedchamber  one  evening  to  a  duchess,  who  could  not  help 
laughing  as  she  saw  Zelie,  bedizened  with  diamonds,  as  red 
as  a  poppy,  squeezed  into  a  spangled  dress,  and  rolling  like 
one  of  the  barrels  out  of  her  own  forgotten  shop. 

"Can  you  forgive  me,  lady  fair,"  said  Thuillier,  with  a 
wriggle  ending  in  the  second  attitude  of  his  1807  series,  "for 
having  left  this  invitation  on  my  desk,  believing  that  I  had 
sent  it  ?  It  is  for  to-day — perhaps  I  am  too  late." 

Zelie  consulted  her  husband's  face  as  he  came  forward  to 
shake  hands  with  Thuillier,  and  said: 

"We  were  going  to  look  at  a  country  house  and  dine  hap- 
hazard at  an  eating-house,  but  we  can  give  it  up ;  for  my  part, 
all  the  more  readily  because  I  think  it  deuced  common  to  go 
out  of  town  of  a  Sunday." 

"We  will  get  up  a  little  hop  for  the  young  folks,  if  there  are 
enough  of  us;  and  I  quite  expect  it,  for  I  have  left  a  note  for 


90  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Phellion,  whose  wife  is  on  intimate  terms  with  Madame  Prou, 
the  successor " 

"The  succestress,"  Madame  Minard  put  in. 

"Nay,"  replied  Thuillier,  "it  would  be  the  successoress — as 
we  say  the  Mayoress — of  Mademoiselle  Lagrave.  She  was  a 
Barniol." 

"Must  I  dress?"  asked  Madame  Minard. 

"I  should  think  not,  indeed !"  cried  Thuillier.  "My  sister 
would  give  me  a  fine  scolding.  No,  it  is  a  family  affair. 
Under  the  Empire,  madame,  we  made  acquaintance  by  dacc- 
ing  together.  In  those  glorious  days  a  good  dancer  was  as 
much  valued  as  a  good  soldier.  Nowadays  people  are  too  un- 
romantic." 

"We  will  not  tajk  politics,"  said  the  Mayor,  smiling.  "The 
King  is  a  great  man  and  very  clever.  I  live  in  constant  ad- 
miration of  our  own  times  and -the  institutions  we  have  made 
for  ourselves.  The  King  knows  what  he  is  about  in  develop- 
ing our  industries ;  he  is  struggling  hand  to  hand  with  Eng- 
land, and  this  fruitful  peace  is  giving  him  more  to  do  than  all 
the  wars  of  the  Empire." 

"What  a  member  Minard  would  make !"  exclaimed  Zelie 
artlessly.  "He  tries  speaking  when  we  are  alone, — and  you 
would  help  to  get  him  returned,  would  not  you,  Thuillier?" 

"We  are  not  to  talk  politics,"  replied  Thuillier.  "We  shall 
see  you  then,  at  five  ?" 

"Is  that  little  Vinet  to  be  there?"  asked  Minard.  "He  is 
looking  out  for  Celeste,  no  doubt." 

"Then  he  may  wear  the  willow,"  replied  Thuillier;  "Bri- 
gitte  will  not  hear  of  him." 

Zelie  and  Minard  exchanged  a  glance  of  satisfaction. 

"To  think  that  we  have  to  bemean  ourselves  with  those 
people  for  our  boy's  rake !"  cried  Zelie,  when  Thuillier  was 
going  down  the  stairs  to  which  the  Mayor  had  seen  him. 

"Aha,  so  you  want  to  be  Deputy,  do  you?"  said  Thuillier, 
as  he  departed.  "Nothing  will  satisfy  these  grocers.  Dear  me, 
dear  me !  What  would  Napoleon  say  to  seeing  power  in  such 
hands !  I,  at  any  rate,  know  something  of  office.  What  a 
rival !  What  will  la  Peyrade  say  to  that?" 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  91 

The  ambitious  ex-clerk  went  to  invite  the  whole  of  the 
Laudigeois  family  to  join  them  in  the  evening,  and  then  called 
on  the  Collevilles  to  make  sure  of  Celeste's  being  nicely 
dressed. 

He  found  Flavie  somewhat  pensive ;  she  hesitated  about  ac- 
cepting, and  Thuillier  had  to  persuade  her. 

"My  old  and  ever-young  friend,"  said  he,  putting  his  arm 
round  her  waist,  for  they  were  alone  in  her  room,  "I  can  have 
no  secrets  from  you.  A  matter  very  important  to  me  is  in  the 
wind.  I  must  say  no  more,  but  I  may  ask  you  to  be  particu- 
larly fascinating  to  a  certain  young  man " 

"Which?" 

"Young  la  Peyrade." 

"But,  Charles,  why?" 

"He  holds  my  future  prospects  in  his  hands ;  besides,  he  is 
a  man  of  genius.  Oh,  I  know  one  when  I  see  him.  He  has 
that- —  "  and  Thuillier  gave  his  hand  a  twist  like  a  dentist 
drawing  a  back  tooth.  "We  must  secure  him,  Flavie !  But 
above  all  do  not  let  us  show  our  hand  or  allow  him  to  detect 
the  secret  of  his  strength.  Between  him  and  me  it  is  to  be 
give  and  take." 

"Well,  then,"  Flavie  asked,  "am  I  to  flirt  with  him?" 

"Not  too  much,  my  angel,"  said  Thuillier,  fatuously. 

And  he  went  off  quite  unobservant  of  the  sort  of  amazement 
that  had  come  over  Flavie. 

"This  young  man  is  a  power !"  said  she  to  herself.  "Well, 
we  shall  see." 

And  so  she  had  her  hair  dressed  with  marabout  feathers; 
she  put  on  her  pretty  gray  and  pink  gown,  showed  her  fine 
shoulders  through  a  black  mantilla,  and  took  care  that  Celeste 
should  appear  in  a  simple  silk  frock  with  a  high  tucker  and 
pleated  collar,  and  with  her  hair  dressed  in  plaited  loops. 

At  half-past  four  Theodose  was  at  his  post.  He  had  as- 
sumed his  most  vacuous  and  almost  servile  manner,  and  his 
softest  tones ;  he  first  went  into  the  garden  with  Thuillier. 

"My  friend,"  said  he,  "I  have  not  a  doubt  of  your  success, 
VOL.  14 — 32 


92  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

but  I  feel  that  I  must  once  more  impress  on  you  the  need  for 
absolute  secrecy.  If  you  should  be  questioned  on  any  point, 
especially  about  Celeste,  give  such  evasive  replies  as  leave  the 
inquirer  in  doubt — you  must  have  learned  the  trick  of  old  in 
the  office." 

"All  right,"  replied  Thuillier.     "But  are  yon  really  sure?" 

"You  will  see  the  dessert  I  have  ready  for  you.  But  above 
all,  be  diffident.  Here  come  the  Minards — leave  me  to  hocus 
them.  Bring  them  here  and  vanish." 

After  the  preliminary  greetings  la  Peyrade  took  care  to 
keep  at  the  Mayor's  elbow,  and  at  an  opportune  moment  he 
took  him  aside  and  said : — 

"Monsieur  le  Maire,  a  man  in  your  position  does  not  come 
to  kick  his  heels  in  this  house  without  some  end  in  view.  I  do 
not  wish  to  inquire  into  your  motives ;  I  have  not  the  smallest 
right  to  do  so,  and  it  is  no  business  of  mine  here  below  to 
meddle  with  the  concerns  of  the  powers  of  this  world;  still, 
forgive  my  being  so  bold,  and  condescend  to  listen  to  a  piece 
of  advice  I  can  give  you.  If  I  do  you  a  service  to-day  you  are 
in  a  position  to  do  me  two  to-morrow,  so  if  you  should  find 
that  I  have  been  of  any  use  to  you,  I  am  really  acting  on  the 
promptings  of  self-interest — Our  friend  Thuillier  is  in  de- 
spair at  being  a  nobody,  and  is  bent  on  being  of  some  impor- 
tance, a  personage  in  the  district " 

"Aha !"  said  Minard. 

"Oh,  nothing  great !  He  wants  to  be  elected  a  member  of 
the  Municipal  Council.  I  happen  to  know  that  Phellion, 
foreseeing  the  ulterior  advantage  of  doing  him  a  good  turn, 
intends  to  propose  our  poor  friend  as  a  candidate.  Well,  you 
might  find  it  necessary  to  your  own  schemes  to  be  beforehand 
with  him.  It  can  only  be  beneficial,  I  should  say  agreeable, 
to  you  to  see  Thuillier  elected ;  he  will  fill  his  place  well  at  the 
Town  Council;  there  are  worse  men  than  he  on  the  Board. 
And  besides,  as  indebted  to  you  for  such  advancement,  he  will 
see  through  your  eyes;  he  regards  you  as  one  of  the  shining 
lights  of  the  Municipality " 

"My  dear  sir,  I  am  much  obliged  to  you,"  said  Minard. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  93 

"You  are  doing  me  a  service  which  I  can  never  sufficiently 
repay,  and  which  proves " 

"That  I  have  no  liking  for  those  Phellions,"  replied  la  Pey- 
rade,  taking  advantage  of  the  Mayor's  hesitancy,  fearing  lest 
he  should  say  something  that  the  lawyer  might  construe  as 
disdain.  "I  hate  men  who  trade  on  their  own  honesty  and 
coin  money  out  of  fine  sentiments." 

"You  know  the  sort  well,"  said  Minard;  "typical  syco- 
phants. That  man's  whole  life  for  the  last  ten  years  is  ac- 
counted for  by  this  scrap  of  red  ribbon,"  added  he,  showing 
his  own  button-hole. 

"Be  careful,"  said  Theodose,  "his  son  is  in  love  with  Celeste, 
and  holds  the  citadel." 

"Aye,  but  my  son  has  twelve  thousand  francs  a  year  of  his 
own " 

"Ah!"  said  the  lawyer,  with  an  emphatic  shrug,  "Made- 
moiselle Brigitte  said  the  other  day  that  she  wanted  at  least 
as  much  as  that  for  Celeste.  And  after  all,  within  six  months' 
time,  you  will  see  that  Thuillier  will  own  a  freehold  worth 
forty  thousand  francs  a  year." 

"The  deuce  he  will !"  replied  the  Mayor.  "I  suspected  as 
much  Well,  he  shall  be  member  of  the  Town  Council." 

"Come  what  may,  do  not  mention  me,"  said  the  advocate  of 
the  poor,  hurrying  forward  to  meet  Madame  Phellion — "Well, 
fair  lady,  and  have  you  been  successful  ?" 

"I  waited  till  four  o'clock,  but  that  worthy  and  admirable 
man  would  not  allow  me  to  speak  to  the  end.  He  is  too  busy 
to  accept  such  a  charge,  and  Monsieur  Phellion  has  the  letter 
in  which  Monsieur  Bianchon  thanks  him  for  his  good  inten- 
tions, and  says  that  so  far  as  he  is  concerned,  he  means  to  vote 
for  Monsieur  Thuillier.  He  is  using  all  his  influence  in 
Thuilliers  behalf,  and  begs  my  husband  to  do  the  same." 

"And  what  does  your  excellent  husband  say  ?" 

"  'I  have  done  my  duty/  he  replied,  'I  have  been  true  to  my 
conscious,  and  now  I  am  wholly  for  Thuillier.' '; 

"Well,  then,  everything  is  settled,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "For- 
get my  visit ;  the  whole  credit  of  the  idea  is  yours." 


94  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

He  then  turned  to  Madame  Colleville,  assuming  an  ex- 
pression of  deep  respect. 

"Madame,"  said  he,  "be  so  kind  as  to  bring  our  good  Papa 
Colleville  this  way;  we  have  a  little  surprise  for  Thuillier, 
and  he  must  be  let  into  the  secret." 

While  la  Peyrade  was  playing  a  part  for  Colleville's  benefit, 
and  indulging  in  very  sparkling  pleasantries  while  explaining 
the  position  and  persuading  him  that  he  ought  to  support 
Thuillier's  nomination,  if  only  out  of  family  feeling,  Flavie, 
in  the  drawing-room,  was  listening  to  the  following  remarks, 
which  quite  mystified  her;  her  ears  tingled. 

"I  should  like  to  know  what  Monsieur  Colleville  and  Mon- 
sieur de  la  Peyrade  are  saying  that  makes  them  laugh  so 
much,"  observed  Madame  Thuillier  vapidty,  as  she  looked 
through  the  window. 

"They  are  talking  such  nonsense  as  men  do  when  they  get 
together,"  replied  Mademoiselle  Thuillier,  who  often  abused 
men  out  of  a  sort  of  instinct  natural  in  old  maids. 

"He  is  incapable  of  such  a  thing,"  said  Phellion  gravely. 
"Monsieur  de  la  Peyrade  is  one  of  the  most  virtuous  young 
men  I  have  ever  met.  Every  one  knows  how  highly  I  think 
of  Felix ;  well,  I  put  them  on  the  same  line ;  nay,  I  could  even 
wish  that  my  son  had  a  little  of  the  graceful  piety  that  char- 
acterizes Monsieur  Theodose !" 

"He  is,  indeed,  a  man  of  high  merit,  and  sure  to  get  on," 
said  Minard.  "For  my  part,  he  has  quite  won  my  good  opin- 
ion— I  will  not  say  my  protection " 

"He  spends  more  on  lamp-oil  than  on  bread,"  said  Dutocq ; 
"that  I  know." 

"His  mother  must  be  proud  of  him,  if  he  is  so  happy  as 
Btill  to  have  a  mother,"  said  Madame  Phellion  sententiously. 

"To  us  he  is  a  perfect  treasure,"  added  Thuillier,  "and  so 
modest,  too;  he  never  puts  himself  forward." 

"I  can  answer  for  one  thing,"  said  Dutocq,  "and  that  is 
that  no  young  fellow  ever  maintained  a  more  dignified  atti- 
tude in  poverty — and  he  has  lived  through  it;  but  he  has 
suffered,  that  is  very  plain." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  85 

"Poor  young  man!"  cried  Zelie;  "oh,  such  things  make 
my  heart  ache !" 

"You  may  trust  him  with  your  secrets  and  your  fortune," 
said  Thuillier,  "and  that,  in  these  days,  is  the  utmost  that 
can  be  said  of  any  man/' 

"It  is  Colleville  who  is  making  him  laugh,"  cried  Dutocq. 

Colleville  and  la  Peyrade  were  just  coming  down  the  gar- 
den, the  best  of  friends. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  Brigitte,  "soup  and  the  King  must  not 
be  kept  waiting ;  hand  in  the  ladies." 

Five  minutes  after  this  pleasant  jest,  an  inheritance  from 
the  porter's  lodge,  Brigitte  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
round  her  table  the  principal  personages  of  this  drama,  who 
were  all,  in  fact,  presently  to  appear  in  her  drawing-room, 
with  the  exception  of  the  dreadful  Cerizet. 

The  portrait  of  the  retired  cash-bag  maker  would  perhaps 
be  inadequate  without  a  detailed  account  of  one  of  her  best 
dinners.  The  characteristics  of  the  middle-class  cook  of  1840 
form  one  of  the  items  necessary  to  a  history  of  manners,  and 
clever  housekeepers  may  find  a  lesson  in  the  description.  A 
woman  does  not  make  empty  bags  for  twenty  years  without 
considering  the  means  of  filling  one  or  two.  Now  there  was 
this  peculiarity  in  Brigitte:  she  combined  the  thrift  which 
lays  the  foundation  of  wealth  with  an  intelligent  sense  for 
needful  outlay.  Her  comparative  extravagance,  when  her 
brother  or  Celeste  was  concerned,  was  the  very  antipodes  of 
avarice.  Indeed,  she  often  pitied  herself  for  not  being  mi- 
serly. At  the  last  dinner  she  had  given  she  had  told  the  guests 
how,  after  holding  out  for  ten  minutes  and  going  through  per- 
fect misery,  she  had  ended  by  giving  ten  francs  to  a  work- 
woman in  the  neighborhood  who  had  not,  she  knew,  had  any 
food  for  two  days. 

"Nature,"  said  she,  artlessly,  "was  stronger  than  reason." 

The  soup  was  bouillon,  stock  of  the  palest  hue;  for  even  on 
an  occasion  such  as  this  the  cook  was  enjoined  to  make  plenty 
of  it,  and  besides,  as  the  beef  was  to  supply  the  family  board 
on  the  next  day  and  the  next,  the  less  it  yielded  of  its  juices 
to  the  stock,  the  more  substantial  it  would  be. 


96  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

The  boiled  beef,  not  overdone,  was  always  removed  at  these 
words,  pronounced  by  Brigitte,  while  Thuillier  cut  the  meat : 

"I  am  afraid  it  is  a  little  hard;  never  mind,  Thuillier,  no 
one  will  eat  any  of  it ;  we  have  other  things  to  fall  back  on." 

The  dish  was,  in  fact,  flanked  by  four  others  standing  on 
hot-plates  of  copper,  with  the  plating  worn  off. 

At  this  dinner,  which  came  to  be  called  the  candidate's 
dinner,  the  first  course  consisted  of  a  pair  of  ducks  aux  olives, 
and  opposite,  a  pasty  of  veal  quenelles,  with  an  eel  a  la  tar- 
tare,  and  a  fricandeau  on  endive  to  correspond. 

The  principal  dish  of  the  second  course  was  a  magnifi- 
cent roast  goose,  stuffed  with  chestnuts ;  a  dish  of  corn  salad, 
ornamented  with  discs  of  scarlet  beet-root,  a  dish  of  custards 
in  glasses,  and  a  timbale  of  macaroni. 

This  dinner — worthy  to  be  a  porter's  wedding  banquet — 
cost  twenty  francs  at  most ;  the  remains  would  feed  the  family 
for  two  days,  and  Brigitte  would  say : 

"Dame !  When  you  have  company  the  money  flies !  It  is 
frightful !" 

The  table  was  lighted  by  two  hideous  plated  candle-sticks 
with  four  branches,  in  which  twinkled  the  inexpensive  com- 
position candles  known  as  Aurore.  The  linen  was  dazzlingly 
white,  and  the  old  thread-pattern  plate  was  part  of  the  pater- 
nal inheritance — purchase  made  by  old  Thuillier  at  the  time 
of  the  Revolution  for  use  in  the  sort  of  unlicensed  eating- 
house  he  had  kept  in  his  lodge,  an  institution  suppressed  in 
all  the  offices  in  1816. 

Thus  the  fare  was  in  keeping  with  the  dining-room,  with 
the  house,  and  with  the  Thuilliers,  who  were  fated  not  to 
rise  superior  to  this  standard.  The  Minards,  the  Collevilles, 
and  la  Peyrade  exchanged  a  smile  or  two,  betraying  a  common 
thought,  satirical,  but  suppressed.  They  alone  knew  of  any 
superior  class  of  luxury,  and  the  Minards  plainly  showed 
that  they  must  have  some  ulterior  motive  in  accepting  such  a 
dinner.  La  Peyrade,  who  sat  next  to  Flavie,  said  in  her  ear : 

"You  must  confess  that  they  want  some  one  to  give  them 
a  lesson  in  living,  and  that  you  and  Colleville  are  eating 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  97 

what  is  called  Cag-mag — a  familiar  dish,  with  me !  But  those 
Minards !  What  horrible  greed  of  money  !  Your  daughter 
would  be  lost  to  you  forever ;  such  parvenus  have  all  the  vices 
of  the  aristocrats  of  a  past  time  without  any  of  their  elegance. 
Their  son,  who  has  twelve  thousand  francs  a  year  of  his  own, 
may  surely  find  a  wife  in  the  Potasse  set  without  their  draw- 
ing their  speculative  rake  over  this  field.  What  fun  it  is  to 
play  upon  such  folks,  as  if  they  were  a  bass  or  a  clarinet !" 

Flavie  listened  with  a  smile,  and  did  not  withdraw  her  foot 
when  Theodose  lightly  pressed  it  with  his  boot. 

"To  understand  what  is  going  on,"  said  he  'let  us  com- 
municate by  the  pedal.  You  must  know  me  thoroughly  since 
this  morning;  I  am  not  the  man  to  play  any  trumpery 
tricks " 

Flavie  had  not  been  spoilt  in  the  matter  of  superiority; 
the  man's  decisive  and  easy  tone  dazzled  the  woman  to  whom 
he,  with  skilful  sleight  of  hand,  had  presented  such  an  option 
as  placed  her  between  yes  and  no.  She  must  take  him  or  leave 
him,  and  as  his  conduct  was  the  outcome  of  deep  calculation, 
he  watched  with  a  softened  glance,  but  keenly  sagacious  obser- 
vation, the  effects  of  his  fascinations. 

As  the  dishes  of  the  second  course  were  being  removed, 
Minard,  fearing  lest  Phellion  should  be  the  first  in  the  field, 
said,  very  solemnly,  to  Thuillier: 

"My  dear  Thuillier,  when  I  accepted  your  invitation  it  was 
because  I  have  an  important  communication  to  make  to  you, 
which  does  you  so  much  honor  that  I  feel  that  all  your  guests 
must  be  my  witnesses." 

Thuillier  turned  pale. 

"You  have  procured  me  the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  ?" 
he  exclaimed,  eager  to  prove  that  he  was  not  lacking  in  in- 
tuition, as  Theodose  gave  him  a  look. 

"You  will  have  that,  too,  some  day/'  replied  the  Mayor. 
-But  this  is  something  better.  The  Cross  is  a  favor  de- 
pendent on  the  good-will  of  a  Minister,  whereas  at  this  mo- 
ment what  I  have  to  propose  to  you  depends  on  election  by 
the  common  consent  of  your  fellow-citizens.  In  short,  a  con- 


98  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

siderable  number  of  the  electors  of  this  district  have  cast  their 
eyes  on  you  to  honor  you  with  their  confidence  as  represent- 
ing the  district  on  the  Municipal  Council  of  Paris,  that  is  to 
say,  as  we  all  know,  the  head  council  of  the  Seine " 

"Bravo !"  said  Dutocq. 

Phellion  rose. 

"Monsieur,  the  Mayor  has  anticipated  me,"  said  he,  with 
emotion  "But  it  is  so  flattering  to  our  friend  to  find  him- 
self the  object  of  such  eager  respect  on  the  part  of  so  many 
good  citizens,  and  to  receive  votes  from  all  parts  of  the  capi- 
tal at  once,  that  I  cannot  lament  the  fact  of  coming  only 
second  in  the  field — and  besides,  I  yield  to  the  authorities," 
and  he  bowed  respectfully  to  Minard.  "Yes,  Mosieur  Thuil- 
lier,  several  electors  were  thinking  of  electing  you  in  that 
part  of  the  district  where  I  have  set  up  my  bumble  Penates, 
and  there  is  this  especially  in  your  favor :  you  were  suggested 
to  them  by  a  very  distinguished  man  (sensation),  by  a 
man  through  whom  we  had  proposed  to  do  honor  to  one  of 
the  most  admirable  residents  in  this  municipal  district,  who, 
for  twenty  years,  was  the  father  of  its  people.  I  mean  the 
late  Monsieur  Popinot,  in  his  lifetime  Councillor  of  State, 
and  our  representative  on  the  Town  Council  of  Paris.  But 
his  nephew,  Dr.  Bianchon,  one  of  our  most  distinguished 
residents,  has  declined  the  responsibilities  of  such  a  post,  in 
view  of  his  absorbing  avocations;  but,  while  thanking  us  for 
the  compliment,  he  himself — note  the  point — recommended 
the  Mayor's  selection  to  our  suffrages  as  being,  from  his  ex- 
perience in  the  post  he  formerly  filled,  peculiarly  capable  of 
exercising  the  functions  of  an  asdile !" 

And  Phellion  sat  down  amid  a  murmur  of  acclamation. 

"Thuillier,  you  may  rely  on  me  as  an  old  friend,"  said 
Colleville. 

The  guests  were  all  touched  by  the  spectacle  presented  by 
old  Brigitte  and  Madame  Thuillier.  Brigijtte,  as  pale  as  if 
she  were  about  to  faint,  let  the  slow  tears  trickle  down  her 
cheeks — tears  of  unutterable  joy;  and  Madame  Thuillier  sat 
with  a  fixed  gaze  as  if  thunderstruck.  Suddenly  Brigitte 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  9fi 

sprang  up  and  flew  into  the  kitchen,  crying  out  to  Josephine : 

"Come  to  the  cellar,  girl ;  I  must  have  out  some  of  the  wins 
from  behind  the  faggots." 

"My  friends,"  said  Thuillier  with  emotion,  "this  is  the 
proudest  day  of  my  life — happier  than  that  of  my  election, 
if  I  consent  indeed  to  allow  myself  to  be  nominated  for  the 
suffrages  of  my  fellow-citizens"  (cries  of  "Yes,  yes!"),  "for 
I  feel  that  thirty  years  of  service  have  told  upon  me,  and,  as 
you  will  understand,  a  man  of  honor  must  consider  his 
strength  and  capabilities  before  assuming  the  functions  of  an 
ffidile— " 

"I  expected  no  less  from  you,  Monsieur  Thuillier !"  cried 
Phellion.  "Oh !  I  beg  your  pardon ;  I  never  in  my  life  before 
interrupted  any  one — and  a  man  who  was  my  superior,  too! 
But  there  are  circumstances " 

"Accept,  accept !"  cried  Zelic.  "The  deuce  is  in  it !  But 
we  want  just  such  men  as  you  to  govern  us !" 

"Resign  yourself  to  your  fate,  my  good  sir,"  said  Dutocq, 
"and  long  live  the  Councillor  elect !  But  we  have  nothing  to 
drink " 

"So  that  is  settled,"  said  Minard.    "You  are  our  nominee  ?" 

"You  take  my  merits  very  largely  for  granted,"  replied 
Thuillier 

"What  next !"  said  Colleville.  "Why,  a  man  who  has 
served  in  the  galleys  of  the  Exchequer  office  for  thirty  years 
is  invaluable  on  the  Town  Council !" 

"You  are  far  too  modest,"  said  young  Minard.  "Your 
capabilities  are  well  known  to  us ;  they  are  remembered  in  the 
office  as  a  precedent." 

"Well,  on  your  own  heads  be  it !"  said  Thuillier. 

"The  King  will  be  delighted  at  the  selection,  that  I  can 
promise  you,"  said  Minard,  drawing  himself  up. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "will  you  allow  a  junior 
resident  of  the  Faubourg  Saint-Jacques  to  make  one  remark 
which  is  not  unimportant  ?" 

The  conviction  they  all  shared  of  the  young  advocate's 
merits  secured  complete  silence. 


100  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"The  influence  exerted  by  Monsieur  Minard  as  Mayor  of 
the  adjoining  district,  immense  as  it  is  in  ours  also,  where 
his  memory  is  held  dear;  that  of  Monsieur  Phellion,  the 
oracle — yes,  it  is  the  truth" — said  he  at  an  apologetic  gesture 
from  Phellion — "the  oracle  of  his  battalion;  that,  no  less 
important,  which  Monsieur  Colleville  owes  to  the  urbanity 
and  frankness  of  his  manners ;  that  of  Monsieur  Dutocq,  clerk 
to  the  justice  of  the  peace,  which  will  be  not  less  valuable; 
and  the  humble  efforts  I  may  make  in  my  narrow  sphere  of 
labors  are  a  guarantee  of  success.  But  success  is  not  all !  To 
insure  a  speedy  triumph,  we  must  all  pledge  ourselves  to  the 
most  absolute  secrecy  as  to  what  has  just  taken  place  here. 
Otherwise,  without  intending  or  knowing  it,  we  should  excite 
envy  and  meaner  passions  which  would  presently  give  rise 
to  obstacles  to  be  surmounted.  The  political  feeling  of  our 
new  social  organization,  nay,  its  very  basis, — its  symbol  and 
the  condition  of  its  existence, — lies  in  a  certain  division  of 
power  with  the  middle  class,  that  being  the  true  force  of 
modern  social  life,  the  focus  of  the  moral  sense,  of  wholesome 
feeling,  of  intelligent  industry ;  and  we  cannot  shut  our  eyes 
to  the  fact  that  the  principle  of  election,  now  applied  to  almost 
every  State  function,  has  carried  ambitious  aspiration  and  the 
mania  for  becoming  'Somebody' — excuse  the  homely  word — 
down  to  social  depths  which  they  ought  never  to  have  stirred. 

"Some  persons  see  good  in  this;  some  only  evil;  it  would 
ill  become  me  to  decide  the  question  in  the  presence  of  those 
to  whose  superior  judgment  I  bow.  It  is  enough  to  state  it, 
to  show  the  danger  to  which  our  friend's  flag  may  be  exposed. 
It  is  hardly  a  week  since  the  decease  of  our  representative 
on  the  Municipal  Council,  and  the  district  is  Already  efferves- 
cent with  petty  ambitions.  Every  one  pushes  to  the  front  at 
whatever  cost.  The  writ  for  election  may  not  be  issued  for 
another  month,  and  between  this  and  then  what  intrigues 
we  shall  see !  Do  not,  I  entreat  you,  let  us  expose  our  friend 
Thuillier  to  the  lash  of  his  competitors.  Do  not  abandon  him 
to  public  discussion,  the  modern  Harpy,  which  is  but  the 
mouthpiece  of  calumny  and  envy,  the  pretext  snatched  at  by 


THE  MIDDLE  GLASSES  101 

inimical  feeling  to  decry  all  that  is  great,  to  befoul  all  that  is 
respectable,  to  dishonor  all  that  is  sacred.  No,  let  us  do  as  the 
third  party  does  in  the  Chamber;  let  us  say  nothing,  but 
vote !" 

"He  speaks  well,"  said  Phellion  to  his  neighbor,  Dutocq. 

"And  sound  sense,  too !" 

Minard  junior  was  yellow  and  green  with  envy. 

"Very  true,  and  very  well  put !"  exclaimed  the  elder  Mi- 
nard. 

"Unanimously  carried,"  said  Colleville.  "Gentlemen,  we 
are  all  men  of  honor ;  it  is  enough  that  we  are  agreed  on  this 
point." 

"Those  who  mean  to  win  must  note  which  way  the  wind 
blows,"  said  Phellion  sententiously. 

At  this  juncture  Mademoiselle  Thuillier  reappeared  on  the 
scene,  followed  by  the  two  maids.  The  cellar  key  was  tucked 
through  her  belt,  and  three  bottles  of  champagne,  three  bot- 
tles of  old  Hermitage,  and  a  bottle  of  Malaga  were  placed 
on  the  table.  But  she  herself  carried  a  little  humpbacked 
bottle,  like  an  ancient  fairy  Carabosse,  which,  with  almost 
reverent  care,  she  placed  on  the  table  before  her.  In  the  midst 
of  the  hilarity  caused  by  this  lavish  expenditure  of  choice 
wines,  the  result  of  her  gratitude,  and  a  damning  reflection 
on  her  usual  stinted  hospitality,  a  number  of  dessert  dishes 
were  brought  in;  piles  of  figs,  raisins,  prunes,  and  almonds, 
pyramids  of  oranges,  preserves,  and  candied  fruits,  brought 
out  of  the  depths  of  her  store  closet,  which  would  never  have 
figured  on  the  table  but  for  this  great  occasion. 

"Celeste,"  said  she,  to  her  sister-in-law,  "they  will  bring 
you  a  bottle  of  brandy,  bought  by  my  father  in  1802;  make 
an  orange  salad !  Monsieur  Phellion,  open  the  champagne ; 
that  bottle  is  for  you  three.  Monsieur  Dutocq,  take  another. 
Monsieur  Colleville,  you,  who  are  so  clever  at  making  a  cork 
fly! " 

The  maids  set  champagne  glasses,  claret  glasses,  and  small 
glasses,  and  Josephine  brought  in  three  more  bottles  of 
Bordeaux. 


102  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Of  the  comet-year!"  exclaimed  Tlmillier.  "Gentlemen, 
you  have  turned  my  sister's  brain." 

"Punch  and  cakes  this  evening,"  said  she.  "I  have  sent 
out  to  buy  some  tea  at  the  druggist's.  Dear  me !  If  I  had 
known  that  there  was  an  election  in  the  wind,"  she  added, 
turning  to  her  sister-in-law,  "I  would  have  had  a  turkey." 

The  speech  was  greeted  with  hearty  laughter. 

"Oh !  but  we  have  had  a  goose,"  said  Minard  the  younger, 
laughing. 

"It  never  rains  but  it  pours !"  said  Madame  Thuillier,  as  she 
eaw  meringues  and  marrons  glaces  handed  round. 

Mademoiselle  Thuillier's  face  was  on  fire;  she  was  a  sub- 
lime sight:  a  sister's  affection  never  found  a  more  frenzied 
expression. 

"To  us  who  know  her,  it  is  really  pathetic!"  exclaimed 
Madame  Colleville. 

The  glasses  were  filled,  the  guests  looked  at  each  other, 
they  seemed  to  await  a  toast.  La  Peyrade  spoke : 

"Gentlemen,  let  us  drink  to  a  sublime  creature!"  Every 
one  sat  amazed.  "To  Mademoiselle  Brigitte !" 

They  rose,  they  clinked  glasses,  they  cried  "Health  to  Made- 
moiselle Thuillier !"  so  certainly  can  the  expression  of  genuine 
feeling  strike  an  enthusiastic  response. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  Phellion,  consulting  a  penciled  slip  of 
paper,  "To  Industry  and  its  splendid  reward,  in  the  person 
of  our  old  friend,  now  one  of  the  Mayors  of  Paris — to  Mon- 
sieur Minard  and  his  lady !" 

Then,  after  five  minutes  of  general  conversation,  Thuillier 
rose,  and  said: 

"Gentlemen — The  King  and  the  Eoyal  Family;  1  say  no 
more ;  their  names  are  all-sufficient." 

"To  my  brother's  election  !"  said  Mademoiselle  Thuillier. 

"Now  I  will  make  you  laugh,"  la  Peyrade  whispered  to 
Flavie,  and  he  rose.  "To  the  ladies !  To  the  bewitching  sex 
to  whom  we  owe  so  much  happiness,  irrespective  of  our 
mothers,  sisters,  and  wives." 

This  toast  provoked  much  merriment,  and  Colleville,  al- 
ready cheerful,  remarked: 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  103 

"You  wretch,  you  have  taken  the  words  out  of  my  mouth." 

The  Mayor  rose ;  perfect  silence  reigned. 

"Gentlemen,  To  our  Institutions !  In  them  lie  the  strength 
and  greatness  of  dynastic  France !" 

The  bottles  were  emptied  amid  a  chorus  of  admiration  of 
the  astonishing  excellence  and  fine  quality  of  the  wine. 

Presently,  Celeste  Colleville  said  shyly: 

"Mamma,  will  you  allow  me  to  propose  a  toast  ?" 

The  poor  child  had  observed  hergodmother's  puzzled  face — 
the  mistress  of  the  house,  utterly  overlooked,  wearing  the  ex- 
pression almost  of  a  dog  not  knowing  which  master  to  follow, 
looking  from  her  terrible  sister-in-law  to  her  husband,  study- 
ing their  countenances,  forgetting  herself.  Still  the  gladness 
mingling  with  the  crushed  expression  of  the  poor  woman, 
who  was  accustomed  to  count  for  nothing,  to  suppress  every 
idea  and  every  emotion,  had  the  effect  of  winter  sunshine 
through  the  mist,  grudgingly  shining  through  the  flabby, 
faded  features.  The  gauze  cap,  with  its  dark-hued  flowers, 
the  ill-dressed  hair,  the  drab-gray  gown,  with  no  ornament 
whatever  but  a  thick  gold  chain ;  everything,  even  her  attitude, 
appealed  to  the  younger  Celeste's  feelings,  for  she  alone  in  all 
the  world  knew  the  true  worth  of  this  Avoman  shut  up  in  si- 
lence, who  saw  all  that  was  going  forward,  and,  enduring  all 
things,  found  comfort  only  in  her  godchild  and  in  God. 

"Let  the  dear  child  propose  her  little  toast,"  said  la  Pey- 
rade  to  Flavie. 

"Speak  away,  my  child,"  cried  Colleville;  "we  still  have 
the  Hermitage  to  finish,  and  it  is  A  1, 1  can  tell  you." 

"To  my  kind  god-mamma !"  said  the  child,  holding  out 
her  glass,  with  a  pretty  bow,  to  Madame  Thuillier. 

(  The  poor  woman,  quite  scared,  looked  through  a  gush  of 
tears  alternately  at  her  husband  and  her  sister ;  but  her  posi- 
tion in  the  family  was  so  well  known,  and  this  homage  from 
youth  and  beauty  to  weakness  was  so  touching,  that  every  one 
felt  its  pathos ;  the  men  all  rose  and  bowed  to  Madame  Thuil- 
lier. 


104  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Oh !  Celeste,  I  wish  I  had  a  kingdom  to  lay  at  your  feet !" 
said  Felix  Phellion. 

His  good  old  father  wiped  away  a  tear,  and  Dutocq.  even, 
was  touched. 

"She  is  a  dear  child !"  said  Mademoiselle  Thuillier,  getting 
up  and  going  round  to  embrace  her  sister-in-law. 

"Xow,  it  is  my  turn  I"  said  Colleville,  assuming  a  heroi'j 
attitude.  "Listen  to  me :  To  Friendship !  Empty  your  glasses. 
Fill  them  again.  Now :  To  the  Fine  Arts !  the  flower  of  social 
life !  Empty  your  glasses !  Fill  them  up  again !  To  our 
meeting  at  just  such  another  dinner  the  day  after  the  elec- 
tion !" 

"What  is  that  little  bottle?"  Dutocq  asked  Mademoiselle 
Thuillier. 

"That,"  said  she,  "is  one  of  my  three  bottles  of  liqueur 
from  Madame  Amphoux ;  the  second  is  for  Celeste's  wedding ; 
the  third  for  the  christening  of  her  first  child." 

"My  sister's  brain  is  almost  turned,"  said  Thuillier  to 
Colleville. 

The  dinner  was  brought  to  an  end  by  a  toast  from  Thuil- 
lier at  a  hint  from  Theodose,  at  the  moment  when  the  Mal- 
aga shone  in  the  small  glasses  like  so  many  rubies. 

"Colleville,  gentlemen,"  said  he,  "drank  to  Friendship.  I, 
in  this  noble  liquor,  drink  to  my  Friends." 

A  cordial  cheer  responded  to  this  sentimental  speech;  but, 
as  Dutocq  said  to  Theodose,  "It  was  murder  to  give  such  Mal- 
aga to  be  poured  down  such  vulgar  throats." 

"If  we  could  but  imitate  this,  my  dear,"  cried  Madame 
Minard,  making  her  glass  ring  by  her  way  of  sucking  down 
the  Spanish  wine,  "what  a  fortune  we  might  make !" 

Zelie  was  at  the  climax  of  incandescence;  she  was  really 
alarming. 

"Why,"  replied  Minard,  "ours  is  made  already." 

"Do  you  think  with  me,"  said  Brigitte  to  Madame  Thuil- 
lier,  "that  we  had  better  take  coffee  in  the  drawing-room  7* 

Madame  Thuillier,  in  obedience,  or  as  feigning  to  be  the 
mistress  of  the  house,  rose  at  once. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  105 

"You  are  a  great  magician,"  said  Flavie  to  la  Peyrade,  as 
she  took  his  arm  to  return  from  the  dining-room  to  the  draw- 
ing-room. 

"I  do  not  aim  at  witchcraft  over  any  one  but  you,"  he  re- 
plied. "And  on  my  word,  it  is  only  fair  revenge ;  you  are  more 
bewitching  than  ever  to-day." 

"Thuillier !"  she  exclaimed,  to  avoid  a  contest,  "Thuillier ! 
,  fancying  himself  a  political  figure !" 

"But,  dear  heart,  in  this  world  half  of  the  ridiculous  fig- 
ures we  see  are  the  product  of  some  such  plotting.  Men 
themselves  are  less  guilty  in  this  way  than  they  are  commonly 
supposed  to  be.  In  how  many  houses  do  you  find  the  husband, 
the  children,  the  intimates  of  the  family,  all  agreeing  to  per- 
suade an  exceedingly  silly  mother  that  she  is  witty,  or  a 
woman  of  fifty  that  she  is  young  and  lovely  ?  This  leads  to 
infinite  annoyance  for  the  indifferent  bystanders.  One  man's 
revolting  foppishness  is  due  to  the  idolatry  of  a  mistress; 
another  owes  his  belief  that  he  can  write  verse  to  flatterers 
who  are  paid  to  make  him  fancy  himself  a  poet.  Every  house- 
hold has  its  great  man,  and  the  result — as  in  the  Chamber — 
is  general  darkness,  in  spite  of  all  those  shining  lights  of 
France.  Men  of  real  talent  only  laugh  among  themselves; 
that  is  all. 

"You  are  the  wit  and  beauty  of  this  little  vulgar  world; 
that  is  what  brought  me  to  your  feet.  But  my  second  thought 
was  to  drag  you  out  of  it,  for  I  love  you  truly — and  as  a 
friend  rather  than  a  lover,  though  a  good  deal  of  love  has 
stolen  in,"  he  added,  pressing  her  to  his  heart  under  shelter 
of  the  window  recess  into  which  he  had  led  her. 

"Madame  Phellion  will  preside  at  the  piano,"  said  Colle- 
ville.  "Everybody  must  dance  this  evening :  the  bottles,  Bri- 
,gitte's  franc-pieces,  and  all  the  little  girls!  I  will  run  home 
and  fetch  my  clarinet."  And  he  handed  his  empty  coffee- 
cup  to  his  wife,  smiling  to  see  that  she  and  Theodose  were 
such  good  friends. 

"What  have  you  done  to  my  husband  ?"  asked  Flavie  of  the 
seducer. 


106  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Am  I  to  tell  you  all  our  secrets  ?" 

"Oh !  then  you  don't  love  me,"  said  she  with  the  coquettish 
slyness  of  a  woman  on  the  verge  of  yielding; 

"Well,  since  you  tell  me  all  yours,"  said  he,  giving  the  rein 
to  the  spirit  of  the  hour  under  cover  of  Provengal  gaiety, — 
always  charming  and  apparently  so  natural, — "I  cannot  con- 
ceal from  you  one  pang  of  my  heart." 

He  led  her  back  to  the  window,  and  went  on  with  a  smile : 
"Colleville,  poor  man,  saw  in  me  an  artist  crushed  by  all  these 
commonplace  people,  silent  in  their  presence  because  I  was 
misunderstood,  undervalued,  and  outcast;  but  he  felt  the 
heat  of  the  fire  that  is  consuming  me.  Yes,"  he  added,  in  a 
tone  of  intense  conviction,  "for  I  am  an  artist  in  speech  after 
the  pattern  of  Berryer;  I  could  make  a  jury  weep  while  I 
wept  myself,  for  I  am  as  nervous  as  a  woman.  Then  your 
husband,  who  has  a  horror  of  all  these  people,  made  game  of 
them  with  me;  at  first  we  laughed,  but  then  growing  serious 
he  found  me  fully  his  match.  I  confided  to  him  our  plan  for 
making  something  of  Thuillier,  and  I  showed  him  all  he  would 
gain  by  working  a  political  puppet.  'If  it  were  only,'  said  I, 
'to  be  called  de  Colleville,  and  to  place  your  charming  wife  in 
the  position  in  which  I  should  like  to  see  her, — in  some  good 
revenue  office, — and  then  you  could  get  yourself  elected  to  the 
Chamber;  for  in  order  to  achieve  all  you  ought  to  become, 
you  would  only  have  to  spend  a  few  years  in  one  of  the  de- 
partments— high  Alps  or  lower  Alps — in  some  hole  of  a  town 
where  every  one  would  adore  you,  and  your  wife  would  fasci- 
nate every  living  soul.  And  such  a  place,'  added  I,  'will  be 
easy  to  get,  especially  if  you  marry  your  sweet  Celeste  to  a 
man  who  has  any  influence  in  Parliament.'  Now  common 
sense  disguised  as  a  jest  can  make  a  far  deeper  impression  on 
some  natures  than  it  does  unaided,  so  Colleville  and  I  are 
the  best  friends  in  the  world.  Did  not  he  say  at  table, 
'Wretch,  you  took  the  words  out  of  my  mouth !'  ?  By  the  end 
of  the  evening,  we  shall  say  tu  and  toi.  And  then,  a  little 
party  such  as  always  tempts  artists  who  have  been  broken  in 
to  domestic  rule  to  kick  over  the  traces,  and  to  which  I  will 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  107 

make  him  come  with  me,  will  crown  the  matter.  We  shall 
be  as  good  friends  as  he  and  Thuillier  are — or  better — for 
I  have  told  him  that  Thuillier  will  be  bursting  with  envy 
when  he  sees  him  with  a  rosette. 

"This,  my  adored  one,  is  what  a  serious  attachment  gives 
a  man  courage  enough  to  do.  Colleville  will  be  bound  to  ac- 
cept me,  since  I  can  only  go  to  your  house  by  his  permission. 
But  you  could  make  me  lick  a  leper,  swallow  live  toads,  seduce 
Brigitte ;  yes,  I  would  impale  my  heart  on  that  marlingspike, 
if  I  wanted  her  for  a  crutch  to  drag  myself  to  your  feet !" 

"This  morning,  you  frightened  me "  she  began. 

"And  this  evening  you  are  no  longer  afraid.  Aye,"  added 
he,  "no  harm  can  ever  come  to  you  through  me !" 

"You  are,  I  must  own,  a  most  extraordinary  man !" 

"Not  at  all ;  my  smallest,  as  well  as  my  greatest,  efforts  are 
reflections  from  the  flame  you  have  lighted;  and  I  mean  to 
be  your  son-in-law,  that  we  may  never  have  to  part.  My 
wife,  good  heavens !  She  will  be  no  more  than  a  child-bear- 
ing machine.  The  supreme  being,  the  divinity,  will  be  you," 
he  whispered  in  her  ear. 

"You  are  Satan !"  she  said  with  a  sort  of  terror. 

"Nay ;  but  I  am  something  of  a  poet,  like  all  the  natives  of 
my  province.  Come !  Be  my  Josephine.  I  will  call  on  you 
to-morrow  at  two  o'clock;  I  have  a  burning  desire  to  see 
where  you  sleep,  the  furniture  you  use,  the  color  of  the  hang- 
ings, how  things  are  arranged  about  you — to  admire  the 
pearl  in  its  shell." 

And  with  these  words  he  left  her,  without  waiting  for  an 
answer. 

Flavie,  who  never  in  her  life  had  heard  love  expressed  in 
the  impassioned  language  of  romance,  remained  bewildered, 
but  happy,  her  heart  throbbing,  as  she  confessed  to  herself 
that  it  was  hard  indeed  to  resist  such  an  influence. 

Theodose  had  come  fo*r  the  first  time  in  new  trousers,  gray 
silk  socks  and  pumps,  a  black  silk  waistcoat  and  black  satin 
cravat:  a  pin  in  good  taste  sparkled  on  the  knot.  He  had  a 

new  coat  on  of  fashionable  cut,  and  lemon  kid  gloves,  set 
VOL.  14—33 


108  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

off  by  his  white  shirt-cuffs;  in  fact,  he  was  the  only  man 
with  any  style  of  manners  or  appearance  in  the  room  which 
was  gradually  filling  with  guests. 

Madame  Pron,  nee  Barniol,  had  brought  with  her  two 
schoolgirls  of  seventeen,  entrusted  to  her  motherly  care  by 
parents  living  in  the  islands  of  Bourbon  and  Martinique. 
Monsieur  Pron,  a  professor  of  rhetoric  in  a  school  managed 
by  priests,  belonged  to  the  Phellion  type;  but  instead  of  ex- 
panding on  the  surface  in  phrases  and  demonstrations,  and 
constantly  posing  as  a  model,  he  was  curt  and  sententious. 
Monsieur  and  Madame  Pron,  the  cream  of  the  Phellion  circle, 
were  at  home  on  Mondays;  they  were  very  intimate  with  the 
Barniols  and  the  Phellions.  Little  Monsieur  Pron  was  a 
dancer,  though  a  professor. 

The  high  reputation  of  the  school  kept  by  the  Demoiselles 
Lagrave,  in  which  Monsieur  and  Madame  Phellion  had  for 
twenty  years  been  teachers,  had  risen  even  higher  under  the 
management  of  Mademoiselle  Barniol — the  most  able  and  the 
earliest  of  their  assistant  mistresses.  Monsieur  Pron  had 
considerable  influence  in  that  part  of  the  district  which  lay 
between  the  Boulevard  du  Mont  Parnasse,  Luxembourg,  and 
the  Rue  de  Sevres.  So,  soon  as  his  friend  appeared,  Phellion, 
without  needing  any  instructions,  took  him  by  the  arm  and  led 
him  into  a  corner,  where  he  initiated  him  into  the  great 
Thuillier  conspiracy;  ten  minutes  later  they  both  came  to 
speak  to  Thuillier,  and  the  window-bay,  corresponding  to 
that  in  which  Flavie  still  stood  lost  in  thought,  was,  no  doubt, 
the  scene  of  a  trio  worthy  to  be  compared,  in  its  way,  with 
that  of  the  three  Swiss  conspirators  in  William  Tell. 

"Do  you  see  the  immaculate  and  honest  Phellion  turned  in- 
triguer?" said  Theodose  to  Flavie.  "Give  an  honest  man 
sufficient  cause  and  he  will  wade  through  the  dirtiest  bargain ; 
for,  you  see,  he  has  hooked  on  Pron,  and  Pron  has  fallen  into 
step  solely  in  behalf  of  Felix  Phelllbn,  who  at  this  minute 
is  arm  in  arm  with  your  little  Celeste.  Go  and  separate  them ; 
they  have  been  together  these  ten  minutes,  and  young  Minard 
is  prowling  round  them  like  an  irritated  bull-dog." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  109 

Felix,  still  impressed  by  the  deep  emotion  he  had  felt  at 
Celeste's  generous  impulse  and  heartfelt  speech,  when  every 
one  else  had  forgotten  it,  excepting  Madame  Thuillier,  acted 
on  one  of  those  ingenuously  subtle  impulses  which  form  the 
honest  wiles  of  true  love;  but  they  were  new  to  him;  mathe- 
matics occupied  his  mind.  He  went  to  stand  near  Madame 
Thuillier,  imagining  that  she  would  call  Celeste  to  her  side. 
This  crafty  speculation,  apart  from  any  depth  of  passion,  was 
successful;  more  especially  because  Minard  the  younger,  re- 
garding Celeste  merely  as  a  fortune,  hal  not  the  same  happy 
inspiration,  but  sipped  his  coffee  while  talking  politics  to 
Laudigeois,  Barniol,  and  Dutocq,  by  order  of  his  father,  who 
was  looking  forward  to  the  elections  of  1842. 

"Who  could  help  loving  Celeste!"  said  Felix  to  Madame 
Thuillier. 

"Poor  dear  child;  no  one  in  the  world  loves  me  but  she/* 
replied  the  unhappy  woman,  restraining  her  tears. 

"Nay,  madame;  there  are  two  of  us  to  love  you,"  replied 
this  guileless  Mathieu  Laensberg  with  a  smile. 

"What  are  you  talking  about?"  Celeste  inquired,  coming 
up  to  her  godmother. 

"My  child,"  said  the  pious  victim,  drawing  the  girl  to  her, 
and  kissing  her  forehead,  "he  says  you  are  two  of  you  to  love 
me." 

"Do  not  scorn  the  bold  assumption,  mademoiselle,"  said  the 
future  candidate  for  the  Academy  of  Sciences ;  "but  allow  me 
to  do  all  in  my  power  to  realize  it.  It  is  in  my  nature ;  injus- 
tice rouses  me  to  revolt.  Ah,  the  Saviour  of  mankind  was 
right  indeed  when  He  promised  future  bliss  to  the  meek  in 
spirit,  to  the  sacrificed  lambs.  A  man  who  had  but  loved  you 
before,  Celeste,  would  adore  you  after  your  sublime  impulse 
at  dessert.  But  innocence  alone  can  console  the  martyr.  You 
are  a  sweet,  good  girl,  and  you  will  be  one  of  those  women 
who  are  the  pride  and  joy  of  a  family.  Happy  the  man  who 
shall  win  you." 

"My  dear  godmother,  through  what  spectacles  does  Mon- 
sieur Felix  see  me,  I  wonder  ?" 


110  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"He  appreciates  you  at  your  true  value,  my  angel,  and  I 
will  pray  Heaven  for  you." 

"If  you  could  but  know,"  said  Felix,  "how  happy  I  am  to 
be  able  to  do  Monsieur  Thuillier  some  little  service,  and  how 
I  wish  I  could  be  of  use  to  your  brother " 

"In  short,"  said  Celeste,  "you  love  the  whole  family  ?" 

"Well,  yes,"  replied  Felix. 

True  love  always  shrouds  itself  in  the  mystery  of  bashful- 
ness,  even  in  its  mode  of  expressing  itself,  for  it  is  its  own 
evidence;  it  does  not  feel,  as  spurious  love  feels,  the  need 
for  lighting  a  blaze ;  and  an  observer,  if  he  could  have  stolen 
into  the  Thuilliers'  drawing-room,  could  have  written  a  book 
on  the  two  scenes  he  might  have  compared — la  Peyrade's 
elaborate  advances,  and  the  perfect  simplicity  of  Felix;  this 
was  nature,  that  was  society ;  truth  and  falsehood  face  to  face. 
Indeed,  Flavie,  as  she  saw  her  daughter  radiating  rapture 
from  every  pore  of  her  happy  face  in  the  loveliness  of  a 
young  girl  gathering  the  first  roses  of  an  unspoken  declara- 
tion, Flavie  felt  a  pang  of  jealousy  in  her  heart,  and  came  to 
whisper  in  Celeste's  ear: 

"You  are  not  behaving  nicely,  my  child ;  everybody  is  look- 
ing at  you,  and  you  are  compromising  yourself  by  talking  so 
long  with  Monsieur  Felix  without  knowing  whether  we  ap- 
prove." 

"But,  mamma,  my  godmother  is  here." 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  my  dear  friend,"  cried  Madame  Colle- 
ville,  "I  did  not  see  you." 

"Like  everybody  else,"  said  Saint  John  Chrysostom. 

This  reply  nettled  Flavie,  who  took  it  as  a  barbed  shaft; 
she  glanced  haughtily  at  Felix,  and  said  to  Celeste:  "Sit 
down  there,  my  dear,"  and  seating  herself  by  Madame  Thuil- 
lier, she  pointed  to  a  chair  at  her  side. 

"I  will  work  myself  to  death,"  said  Felix  to  Madame  Thuil- 
lier, "or  be  made  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  and 
I  will  achieve  some  great  discovery  to  win  her  by  the  power 
of  fame." 

"Ah !"  thought  the  poor  woman  to  herself,  "a  gentle,  quiet 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  111 

man  of  learning,  like  this,  would  have  been  the  husband  for 
me !  I  might  have  developed  slowly  in  peaceful  shade.  But 
thou,  God,  wouldst  not  have  it  so.  Unite  and  protect  these 
two  children !  They  are  made  for  each  other." 

She  sat  pensive,  listening  to  the  witches'  clatter  made  by 
her  sister-in-law,  a  perfect  horse  at  hard  work,  who  was  lend- 
ing a  hand  to  the  two  maids  clearing  the  table,  and  remov- 
ing all  the  furniture  from  the  dining-room,  to  make  way 
for  the  dancers,  shouting  orders  all  the  time,  like  the  captain 
on  the  poop  of  a  frigate  preparing  for  battle.  "Is  there  any 
currant  syrup  left?  Go  out  and  get  some  orgeat.  There  are 
not  enough  glasses,  and  too  little  wine  and  water;  take  the 
six  bottles  of  ordinaire  that  I  have  just  fetched  up.  Take 
care  that  Coffinet,  the  porter,  does  not  get  at  it !  Caroline, 
you,  child,  must  stand  by  the  sideboard.  You  shall  have  a 
slice  of  ham  if  they  keep  it  up  till  one  in  the  morning.  Mind 
that  nothing  is  wasted ;  keep  an  eye  on  everything.  Give  me 
the  broom,  and  go  to  fill  up  the  lamps;  be  careful  to  have  no 
accidents.  Arrange  the  remains  of  the  dessert  so  as  to  dress 
the  sideboard.  I  wonder  if  my  sister  would  ever  think  of 
helping.  I  can't  imagine  what  that  dawdle  finds  to  think 
about — good  Heavens,  how  slow  she  is !  There,  take  away  the 
chairs  and  they  will  have  more  room." 

The  drawing-room  was  full  of  Barniols,  Collevilles,  Laudi- 
geois,  Phellions,  and  a  dozen  more,  attracted  by  the  rumor 
that  had  taken  wind  in  the  Luxembourg  between  two  and 
four,  when  all  the  respectable  inhabitants  of  the  quarter  were 
out  walking,  that  there  was  to  be  dancing  that  evening  at 
the  Thuilliers'. 

"Now,  Brigitte,  are  you  ready?"  said  Colleville,  rushing 
into  the  dining-room.  "It  is  nine  o'clock,  and  they  are  packed 
into  the  drawing-room  like  herrings  in  a  barrel.  Cardot  has 
just  come  with  his  wife,  his  daughter,  and  his  future  son-in- 
law  accompanied  by  that  young  Vinet,  and  the  whole  of  the 
Faubourg  Saint-Antoine  is  pouring  in.  We  must  bring  the 
piano  in  from  the  drawing-room,  heh?" 

He  gave  the  signal  by  playing  a  few  notes  on  his  clarinet, 


112  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

and  its  inviting  pipe  was  answered  by  a  cheer  from  the  draw- 
ing-room. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  describe  a  dance  of  this  kind.  The 
dresses,  faces,  conversation,  were  all  in  harmony  with  one  de- 
tail which  will  give  a  sufficient  clue  to  the  least  lively  imagi- 
tion,  since  this  one  fact  will  show  the  stamp  of  character  and 
color.  Shabby  trays,  that  had  lost  their  varnish  and  paint, 
were  handed  round  with  common  glasses  of  wine,  wine  and 
water,  and  eau  sucree.  Others  with  glasses  of  orgeat  and 
syrups  appeared  at  much  longer  intervals. 

There  were  five  card-tables  for  twenty-five  players,  and 
eighteen  couples  of  dancers.  At  one  in  the  morning,  Madame 
Thuillier,  Mademoiselle  Brigitte,  and  Madame  Phellion  and 
her  husband  were  dragged  into  the  wild  performance  of  a 
country  dance  known  as  the  Boulangere,  in  which  Dutocq 
figured  with  his  face  and  head  wrapped  up  like  a  Khabeel 
Arab.  The  servants  waiting  for  their  masters  and  those  be- 
longing to  the  house  looked  on,  and  when  this  interminable 
round  had  lasted  an  hour,  and  Brigitte  announced  supper, 
they  wanted  to  carry  her  in  triumph ;  she,  however,  perceived 
the  desirability  of  concealing  a  dozen  bottles  of  Burgundy. 

Everybody  was  so  well  amused,  the  mothers  as  well  as  the 
girls,  that  Thuillier  could  say: 

"Well,  we  little  thought  this  morning  that  we  should  have 
such  fun  to-night." 

"Nothing  is  more  enjoyable,"  said  Cardot,  "than  this  sort 
of  impromptu  dance.  Don't  talk  to  me  of  parties  to  which 
every  one  comes  stiff  and  starch." 

This  view  is  an  axiom  among  the  middle  classes. 

"Pooh !"  said  Madame  Minard,  "  'I  love  Papa,  I  love 
Mamma.' '; 

"We  were  not  saying  this  with  reference  to  you,  madame; 
where  you  are  pleasure  dwells,"  said  Dutocq. 

The  dance  being  ended  Theodose  dragged  Dutocq  away 
from  the  sideboard,  where  he  was  helping  himself  to  a  slice  of 
tongue. 

"Come  away,"  said  he,  "we  must  be  with  Cerizet  the  first 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  113 

thing  in  the  morning  to  get  all  the  information  we  can  about 
the  business  which  we  must  both  think  over.  It  is  not  so  easy 
as  Cerizet  fancies." 

"How  is  that?"  said  Dutocq,  carrying  his  slice  of  tongue 
to  eat  in  the  drawing-room. 

"Why,  you  know  the  laws?" 

"I  know  enough  to  be  aware  of  any  risk  there  may  be  in 
the  matter.  If  the  notary  wishes  for  the  house  and  we  are 
beforehand  with  him,  he  has  ways  and  means  of  getting  it 
from  us ;  he  can  take  the  name  of  some  creditor  on  the  sched- 
ule. In  the  present  state  of  the  law  of  mortgage,  when  a 
house  is  sold  at  the  requisition  of  one  creditor,  if  the  price 
offered  for  it  by  contract  is  not  enough  to  pay  all  the  credi- 
tors, they  have  a  right  to  demand  that  it  shall  be  sold  by 
auction;  and  the  notary,  if  he  has  been  caught  once,  will  be 
on  the  alert." 

"Well,  then,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "that  must  be  seen  to." 

"Very  good ;  we  will  go  to  talk  to  Cerizet." 

These  words  "talk  to  Cerizet,"  were  overheard  by  young 
Minard,  who  was  immediately  behind  the  other  two;  but  they 
conveyed  no  sense  to  his  mind.  These  men  were  so  far  out 
of  his  ken,  his  needs,  and  his  plans  that  he  heard  without  un- 
derstanding. 

"This  has  been  one  of  the  greatest  days  of  our  life,"  said 
Brigitte  when,  at  about  half-past  two  in  the  morning,  she 
found  herself  alone  with  her  brother  in  the  deserted  drawing- 
room.  "What  an  honor  to  be  chosen  by  your  fellow-citizens  ?" 

"But  make  no  mistake,  Brigitte,  we  owe  all  this,  my  girl, 
to  one  man." 

"To  whom?" 

"To  our  friend,  la  Peyrade." 

It  was  not  on  the  next  day,  Monday,  but  on  Tuesday  morn- 
ing, that  Dutocq  and  Theodose  went  to  call  on  Cerizet,  Du- 
tocq having  pointed  out  that  Cerizet  was  always  away  on 
Sunday  and  Monday,  taking  advantage  of  the  complete  stag- 


114  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

nation  of  business  on  these  two  days  which  the  common  people 
alivays  devote  to  dissipation. 

The  house  to  which  they  made  their  way  is  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  features  of  the  Faubourg  Saint-Jacques,  and  it 
is  quite  as  important  to  give  a  description  of  it  here  as  of 
those  inhabited  by  Thuillier  and  Phellion.  It  is  not  known — 
to  be  sure,  no  commission  has  yet  been  appointed  to  go  into 
the  question — for  what  reason,  or  by  what  process  certain 
quarters  of  Paris  sink  lower  and  lower,  becoming  more 
squalid,  both  morally  and  physically ;  why  the  former  centres 
of  the  Court  and  the  Church-magnates,  the  Luxembourg, 
and  the  "Latin"  quarter  sank  to  be  what  they  now  are,  in 
spite  of  owning  one  of  the  finest  palaces  in  the  world,  in  spite 
of  the  soaring  dome  of  Sainte-Genevieve,  and  that  by  Man- 
sard of  the  Val-de-Grace,  and  the  attractions  of  the  Jardin 
des  Plantes.  We  wonder  why  the  graces  of  life  are  disap- 
pearing; how  it  is  that  the  houses  of  Vauquer  and  Phellion 
and  Thuillier  swarm  here,  and  poor  boarding-houses  where 
once  stood  so  many  noble  and  religious  dwellings;  and  why 
mud  and  dirty  forms  of  industry  and  poverty  have  settled  on 
this  hill  instead  of  finding  wider  space  outside  the  noble  and 
ancient  city? 

The  angelic  spirit,  whose  benevolence  had  once  blessed  the 
neighborhood,  being  dead,  the  lowest  form  of  money-lending 
has  become  rife.  After  such  a  man  as  Popinot,  Cerizet  had 
come  in ;  and  the  strange  thing,  noteworthy  as  a  study  of  life, 
is  that  the  results,  socially  speaking,  were  hardly  distinguish- 
able. Popinot  lent  on  no  interest,  and  could  bear  to  lose; 
Cerizet  lost  nothing  and  compelled  the  poorest  to  work  hard 
and  learn  prudence.  The  poor  had  worshiped  Popinot;  but 
they  did  not  hate  Cerizet.  In  this  we  see  the  lowest  cog-wheel 
of  Parisian  finance.  At  the  top  are  the  Nucingens'  house,  the 
Kellers,  the  du  Tillets,  the  Mongenods;  a  little  lower  come 
Palma,  Gigonnet,  Gobseck;  lower  still  Samanon,  Chabois- 
seau,  Barbet;  and  beneath  them  all,  beneath  the  Mont-de- 
Piete,  the  omnipresent  usury  which  spreads  its  snares  at 
every  street  corner  to  entrap  every  form  of  misery,  and 
misses  none, — the  spider  Cerizet. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  tt.5 

The  man's  braided  coat  has  been  enough  already  to  give 
you  a  hint  of  the  lair  of  this  refuse  of  the  joint-stock  company 
and  criminal  court. 

It  was  a  house  leprous  with  nitrous  salts;  the  walls,  oozy 
with  dank  sweat,  were  mottled  all  over  with  large  patches 
of  mildew.  It  stood  at  the  corner  of  two  streets,  Eue  des 
Postes  and  Eue  des  Poules.  The  ground  floor  was  partly  oc- 
cupied by  a  wine-shop  of  the  lowest  class,  painted  bright  red, 
hung  with  red  cotton  curtains,  furnished  with  a  lead-covered 
counter,  and  closed  by  formidable  bars. 

Above  the  door  of  a  horrible  entry  hung  a  swing  lamp  on 
which  "Beds"  were  announced.  The  walls  were  patterned 
with  cross-clamps,  showing  how  rickety  the  structure  was; 
the  tavern  keeper  was  the  owner,  and  occupied  the  entresol 
as  well  as  the  ground  floor.  The  furnished  rooms  were  let 
by  Madame  Veuve  Poiret  (nee  Michonneau),  and  these  con- 
sisted of  the  first,  second,  and  third  floors,  arranged  to  meet 
the  purses  of  workmen  and  the  very  poorest  students. 

Cerizet  had  two  rooms,  one  on  the  ground  floor  and  one 
on  the  entresol,  up  to  which  he  had  a  private  staircase;  the 
upper  room  had  a  window  on  a  horrible  paved  courtyard 
from  which  rose  mephitic  odors.  Cerizet  paid  the  widow 
Poiret  forty  francs  a  month  for  his  breakfast  and  dinner; 
he  had  thus  conciliated  the  landlady  by  being  her  boarder, 
and  the  wine-shop  keeper  by  bringing  him  an  enormous  busi- 
ness in  wine  and  spirits,  money  turned  over  before  the  sun 
was  up.  For  Master  Cadenet's  shop  was  open  even  before 
Cerizet's  office,  and  he  began  business  on  Tuesday  mornings 
at  three  in  summer  and  at  about  five  in  winter. 

The  opening  of  the  central  market,  the  goal  of  many  of  his 
clients,  male  and  female,  fixed  the  time  when  his  dreadful, 
transactions  began.  And  Cadenet,  of  the  wine-shop,  in  con- 
sideration of  the  business  he  owed  solely  to  Cerizet,  let  him* 
the  two  rooms  for  twenty-four  francs  a  year,  and  had  signed 
a  lease  for  twelve  years  with  the  option  on  Cerizet's  part 
only  of  giving  three  months'  notice  at  any  time,  without  any 
compensation.  Cadenet  brought  up  a  bottle  of  capital  wine 


116  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

every  day  for  his  invaluable  lodger's  dinner;  and  if,  at  any 
time,  Cerizet  were  short  of  cash,  he  had  only  to  say :  "Cadenet, 
my  good  fellow,  lend  me  a  hundred  crowns."  And  he  always 
honestly  repaid  him. 

Cadenet,  it  was  said,  had  positive  proof  that  the  widow 
Poiret  had  entrusted  two  thousand  francs  to  Cerizet,  which 
may  account  for  the  increase  of  his  business  since  he  first  set- 
tled in  the  quarter  with  his  last  thousand-franc  note  and 
Dutocq's  introduction.  Cadenet,  prompted  by  avarice  en- 
hanced by  prosperity,  had,  since  the  beginning  of  the  year, 
offered  his  friend  Cerizet  the  use  of  twenty  thousand  francs; 
but  Cerizet  had  refused  the  loan,  saying  that  the  risks  he  ran 
were  of  a  character  to  cause  differences  between  partners. 

"I  could  only  give  you  six  per  cent,"  said  he;  "and  you 
can  do  better  than  that  in  your  own  line.  We  will  form  a 
partnership  by  and  by  for  some  serious  undertaking;  but  a 
really  good  opening  would  cost  us  at  least  fifty  thousand 
francs;  and  when  you  have  as  much  as  that — well,  we  will 
talk  about  it." 

Cerizet  had  given  Theodose  the  chance  of  the  job  over  the 
house,  after  clearly  perceiving  that  they  three — Madame 
Poiret,  Cadenet,  and  himself — could  never  find  a  hundred 
thousand  francs. 

The  petty  usurer  was  perfectly  safe  in  this  den,  where  at 
need  he  could  have  strong  assistance.  On  some  mornings 
there  would  be  not  less  than  from  sixty  to  eighty  persons,  men 
and  women,  either  in  the  wine-shop,  or  lounging  in  the  entry, 
or  sitting  on  the  steps,  or  in  the  office,  to  which  the  cautious 
money-lender  never  admitted  more  than  six  persons  at  once. 
The  first  comers  were  the  first  served,  and  as  each  one  was 
only  admitted  in  his  turn,  the  tavern-keeper  or  his  man 
chalked  the  numbers  on  the  men's  hats  and  on  the  women's 
backs. 

Then  there  was  a  sale  and  exchange  of  early  for  back  num- 
bers, as  among  cabmen  on  a  stand.  On  certain  days,  when 
market  business  was  pressing,  a  first  number  was  worth  a 
glass  of  brandy  and  a  sou.  Those  who  came  out  called  the 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  117 

next  numbers  to  be  admitted,  and  if  any  squabbles  arose, 
Cadenet  had  them  to  rights  by  observing : 

"If  you  bring  up  the  watch  and  the  police,  what  good  would 
that  do  you  ?  He  would  have  to  shut  up  shop." 

He  was  Cerizet.  When,  in  the  course  of  the  day,  a  wretched 
woman  in  despair,  with  no  bread  in  the  house  and  children 
faint  with  hunger,  came  to  borrow  ten  or  twenty  sous :  "Is 
he  in?"  she  would  ask  the  wine-seller  or  his  assistant. 

Cadenet,  a  short,  fat  man  dressed  in  blue,  with  deep,  black 
linen  cuffs  and  an  apron,  and  a  cap  on  his  head,  was  as  an 
angel  of  mercy  to  these  poor  mothers  when  he  replied: 

"He  told  me  you  were  an  honest  soul,  and  I  might  give 

you  forty  sous.    You  know  what  you  have  to  do "    And, 

strange  to  say,  lie  was  blest,  as  Popinot  had  been  before  him. 

On  Sunday  morning,  when  accounts  were  made  up,  Cerizet 
was  abused ;  still  more  was  he  cursed  on  Saturday,  when  bor- 
rowers had  to  work  hard  to  find  the  sum  lent  and  the  interest 
on  it.  Still,  he  was  Providence,  he  was  God,  from  Tuesday 
to  Friday  every  week. 

The  room  he  sat  in,  formerly  the  kitchen  of  the  first  floor 
rooms,  was  bare;  the  beams  overhead,  now  white-washed, 
showed  traces  of  smoke.  The  walls,  along  which  he  had 
placed  wooden  benches,. and  the  stone  quarries  of  the  floor, 
alternately  absorbed  and  exhaled  the  damp.  The  hood  of  the 
chimney  had  not  been  removed ;  but  instead  of  a  hearth,  there 
was  an  iron  stove  in  which  Cerizet  burnt  sea-coal  when  the 
weather  was  cold.  Under  the  high  chimney  opening,  the 
hearth  was  covered  with  boards  about  six  inches  higher  than 
the  floor  and  six  feet  square,  on  which  stood  a  table  worth 
perhaps  a  franc,  and  a  wooden  chair  with  a  circular  cushion 
covered  with  green  leather.  The  wall  behind  him  Cerizet  had 
faced  with  match-boarding ;  he  was  also  shut  in  by  a  screen  of 
unpainted  deal  on  each  side  to  shelter  him  from  the  draught 
from  the  window  and  door;  but  this  screen  did  not  inter- 
cept the  warmth  from  the  stove.  The  inside  shutters  of  the 
window  were  enormously  thick  and  lined  with  sheet-iron,' 
with  a  bar  to  fasten  them,  and  the  door  commanded  respect 
by  the  same  plate  armor. 


118  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

In  the  further  corner  of  the  room  was  a  spiral  stair,  out 
of  some  shop  that  had  been  pulled  down,  purchased  second 
hand  in  the  Rue  Chapon  by  Cadenet,  who  had  had  it  fitted 
to  the  floor  of  the  room  above.  To  cut  off  all  communication 
between  the  room  on  the  entresol  and  the  first  floor,  Cerizet 
had  insisted  on  having  the  door  of  his  upper  room  bricked 
up.  Thus  the  residence  was  a  citadel.  The  man's  bedroom 
furniture  consisted  of  a  carpet  bought  for  twenty  francs,  a 
school-boy's  bed,  a  chest  of  drawers,  two  chairs,  and  an  arm- 
chair, with  an  iron  chest  looking  like  a  desk — the  work  of  a 
capital  maker,  and  bought  second  hand.  He  shaved  in  front 
of  the  glass  over  the  chimney.  He  possessed  two  pairs  of 
cotton  sheets,  six  calico  shirts,  and  the  rest  to  match.  Once 
or  twice  Cadenet  had  seen  Cerizet  dressed  as  a  man  of 
fashion;  so  that  it  was  evident  that  he  kept  hidden  away  in 
the  bottom  drawer  a  complete  outfit,  in  which  he  could  go  to 
the  opera  or  even  into  society  without  being  identified ;  for  on 
these  occasions  Cadenet  himself,  but  for  the  sound  of  his 
lodger's  voice,  would  have  asked  him :  "What  would  you  please 
to  want  ?" 

What  most  charmed  his  "customers"  was  his  geniality,  his 
power  of  repartee ;  he  spoke  their  language.  Cadenet,  his  two 
shopmen,  and  Cerizet  lived  surrounded  by  the  utmost  misery, 
but  preserved  the  indifference  of  a  mute  among  the  heirs  of 
the  deceased,  of  old  sergeants  of  the  Guard  amid  the  killed ; 
they  no  more  groaned  when  they  listened  to  cries  of  hunger 
or  despair  than  surgeons  groan  on  hearing  their  patients  in 
the  hospital;  like  soldiers  and  sick  nurses,  they  were  always 
ready  with  the  trivial  advice :  "Have  patience ;  a  little  spirit. 
What  is  the  use  of  breaking  your  heart  over  it?  If  you  kill 
yourself,  what  then?  You  can  grow  used  to  anything;  a  lit- 
tle common  sense.3' 

Though  Cerizet  always  took  the  precaution  of  hiding  the 

cash  necessary  for  his  morning's  transactions  in  the  seat  of 

the  chair  he  sat  on,  of  taking  out  no  more  than  a  hundred 

.francs  at  a  time,  which  he  kept  in  his  trousers  pockets,  and  of 

never  going  to  the  reserve  but  between  two  batches  of  cus- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  119 

tomers,  behind  locked  doors,  which  he  did  not  open  till  he 
had  pocketed  the  coin  he  took  out;  he  really  had  nothing  to 
fear  from  the  despairing  soul-s  who  came  from  all  parts  to 
this  fountain-head  of  money.  There  are,  no  doubt,  many 
ways  of  being  honest  or  virtuous,  and  the  Monograph  on 
Virtue*  is  exclusively  based  on  this  social  axiom.  A  man 
first  sins  against  .his  conscience;  then  he  conspicuously  sins 
against  that  delicate  bloom  of  honor,  the  loss  of  which  does 
not  mean  general  disrepute;  finally  he  fails  distinctly  in 
honesty;  but  though  he  falls  into  the  hands  of  the  police, 
he  still  is  not  yet  amenable  to  the  assizes;  and  even  after  the 
disgrace  of  being  condemned  by  a  jury,  he  may  be  respected 
on  the  hulks  if  he  maintains  the  sort  of  honor  that  exists 
among  villains,  and  which  consists  in  telling  »o  tales,  in 
always  playing  fair,  in  sharing  every  risk. 

Well,  this  last  rag  of  honesty,  which  is  perhaps  self-inter- 
est and  necessity,  while  the  practice  of  it  leaves  a  man  some 
chance  of  magnanimity  and  some  return  to  better  ways,  ex- 
isted in  perfection  between  Cerizet  and  his  clients.  Cerizet 
never  made  a  mistake,  nor  did  his  poor  debtors;  they  told  each 
other  no  lies,  neither  as  to  capital  nor  interest.  On  many 
occasions,  Cerizet,  who  was,  after  all,  a  man  of  the  people, 
had  rectified  one  week  the  involuntary  mistake  of  a  previous 
reckoning  to  the  advantage  of  the  wretched  creatures  who 
had  not  discovered  it.  So  he  was  regarded  as  a  dog,  but  an 
honest  dog;  in  the  midst  of  that  city  of  woes  his  word  was 
sacred. 

A  woman  died,  thirty  francs  in  his  debt. 

"These  are  my  profits!"  exclaimed  he  to  his  customers; 
"and  you  howl  at  me !  But  I  shall  not  torment  the  brats. 
And  Cadenet  has  taken  them  bread  and  thin  wine/' 

After  this — a  very  skilful  stroke  of  business — his  neigh- 
bors would  say : 

"He  is  not  a  bad  sort  of  man." 

*  Monographic  de  la  Vertu:  a  work  In  the  same  vein  >«•  <.ne  Physiologic  du  Mariage 
at  which  the  author  baa  been  working  since  1833,  the  ciate  when  it  was  first  an- 
nounced.—Gutter's  note. 


120  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Short  loans  at  high  interest,  as  practised  by  Cerizet,  is  not, 
take  it  all  round,  so  cruel  a  system  as  that  of  the  Mont-de- 
Piete.  Cerizet  lent  ten  francs  on  Tuesday  on  condition  of 
getting  twelve  back  on  the  following  Sunday.  In  five  weeks 
he  had  doubled  his  capital;  but  compositions  were  frequent. 
His  good  nature  was  shown  from  time  to  time  in  accepting 
only  eleven  francs,  fifty  centimes :  the  rest  stood  over.  When 
he  lent  fifty  francs  for  sixty  to  a  small  green-grocer,  or  a 
hundred  for  a  hundred  and  twenty  to  a  peat-seller,  he  ran 
some  risk. 

Theodose  and  Dutocq,  coming  down  the  Rue  des  Postes 
to  the  Rue  des  Poules,  saw  a  mob  of  men  and  women,  and  by 
the  light  from  the  lamps  in  the  wine-shop  they  were  alarmed 
at  perceiving  this  mass  of  red  faces,  seamed  and  distorted  and 
dejected  by  misery,  withered  or  bloated  or  bald,  thickened 
by  wine,  emaciated  by  fiery  spirits,  some  threatening  and 
some  resigned,  some  jeering,  some  sarcastic,  others  stupefied, 
and  all  clad  in  the  ignominious  rags  which  no  caricaturist 
can  exaggerate,  even  in  his  most  extravagant  moods. 

"Some  one  will  recognize  me,"  said  la  Peyrade,  dragging 
Dutocq  away.  "We  are  fools  to  have  come  to  find  him  in  the 
midst  of  his  business." 

•  "Especially  as  we  never  thought  that  Claparon  might  be 
sleeping  in  his  den,  which  is  unknown  to  us  as  far  as  the  in- 
terior is  concerned.  Look  here ;  though  there  are  difficulties 
in  your  way,  there  are  none  in  mine.  I  may  have  something 
to  say  to  my  copying  clerk,  and  I  will  go  and  tell  him  to  come 
to  dinner,  for  the  Courts  sit  to-day,  and  we  shall  not  have 
time  for  breakfast.  We  will  fix  to  meet  at  the  Ckaumiere,  in 
one  of  the  arbors  in  the  garden." 

"That  is  no  good;  we  may  be  overheard  without  knowing 
it.  I  prefer  the  Petit  Rocher  de  Cancale;  we  can  take  a  box 
and  talk  low." 

"And  if  you  are  seen  with  Cerizet  ?" 

"Well,  then,  let  us  go  to  the  Cheval  Rouge,  on  the  Quai  de 
Tournelle." 

"That  is  better;  at  seven  o'clock  there  will  be  no  one  there." 


Theodore  and  Dutocq,  coming  down  the  Rue  des  Postes,  saw  a  mob 
of  men  and  women 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  121 

So  Dutocq  made  his  way  alone  among  this  congress  of  beg- 
gars, and  he  heard  his  name  on  all  sides;  for  he  could  not  tail 
to  be  recognized  by  some  one  who  had  been  in  the  dock,  just 
as  Theodose  would  have  been  by  some  clients. 

In  such  a  neighborhood  the  Justice  of  the  peace  (equivalent 
to  the  County  Court  Magistrate  in  London)  is  the  supreme 
legal  authority;  every  case  ends  in  his  court,  especially  now 
that  the  law  makes  his  decisions  final  in  every  case  where  the 
sum  in  dispute  is  not  more  than  a  hundred  and  forty  francs. 
So  the  Justice's  clerk  was  allowed  to  pass — a  person  of  no  less 
worship  than  the  judge  himself.  On  the  steps  women  were 
sitting,  a  horrible  display,  like  flowers  arranged  in  stages; 
and  among  them  were  some  young,  some  pale  and  suffering. 
The  variety  of  colors  in  handkerchiefs,  caps,  gowns,  and 
aprons  made  the  comparison  more  exact,  perhaps,  than  any 
comparison  ought  to  be. 

When  Dutocq  opened  the  door  of  the  room  where  sixty 
people  had  already  been  interviewed,  he  was  almost  asphyxi- 
ated. 

"Your  number  ?  What  is  your  number  ?"  shouted  a  chorus 
of  voices. 

"Hold  your  jaw !"  cried  a  hoarse  voice  from  the  street. 
"He  is  the  Justice's  quilUdriver." 

Utter  silence  ensued. 

Dutocq  found  his  copying  clerk  di.osed  in  a  buff  leather 
waistcoat,  like  the  gloves  worn  by  the  gendarmes,  and  over 
it  a  squalid  vest  of  knitted  worsted.  The  unwholesome 
physiognomy  may  be  imagined  above  this  ungainly  garb, 
crowned  by  a  shabby  bandana  wound  about  his  head  so  as 
to  show  the  forehead  and  hairless  nape,  and  giving  the  feat- 
iires  a  look  as  repulsive  as  it  was  sinister,  especially  by  the 
light  of  a  dip,  twelve  to  the  pound. 

"It  cannot  be  done  on  those  terms,  Daddy  Lantimeche," 
Cerizet  was  saying  to  a  tall  old  man,  who  looked  at  least 
seventy,  and  who  stood  before  him,  his  red  worsted  cap  in 
his  hand,  showing  a  bald  head,  while  a  chest  covered  with 
white  hairs  was  visible  under  his  shabby  blouse.  "Explain 


122  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

to  me  what  you  want  it  for.  A  hundred  francs,  even  witii 
a  hundred  and  twenty  to  come  in,  cannot  be  turned  loose  like 
a  dog  in  a  church." 

The  other  five  clients  present,  among  whom  were  two  nurs- 
ing mothers,  one  knitting,  the  other  suckling  her  baby, — 
shouted  with  laughter. 

Cerizet,  when  he  saw  Dutocq,  rose  respectfully  to  meet 
him,  as  he  added : 

"You  can  have  time  to  think  about"  it ;  for  you  see  I  am 
not  satisfied  to  find  an  old  smith's  laborer  wanting  so  much 
as  a  hundred  francs/' 

"But  it  is  to  start  an  invention  I"  cried  the  old  workman. 

"An  invention — and  a  hundred  francs !  You  do  not 
know  what  the  law  is;  you  will  want  two  thousand/'  said 
Dutocq.  "You  must  take  out  a  patent;  you  must  find  pa- 
trons/' 

"It  is  quite  true,"  said  Cerizet,  who  often  relied  on  chances 
of  this  kind.  "Here,  Daddy  Lantimeche,  come  again  to- 
morrow morning  at  six  o'clock  and  we  will  talk  about  it.  We 
cannot  discuss  an  invention  before  other  people." 

Cerizet  listened  to  Dutocq,  whose  first  words  were : 

"If  it  is  any  good,  we  will  go  halves." 

"Why  on  earth  did  you  get  up  'so  early  to  tell  me  that  ?" 
said  the  suspicious  money-lender,  much  annoyed  at  this  notion 
of  "halves."  "You  would  have  seen  me  at  the  office." 

He  looked  askance  at  Dutocq,  who,  while  telling  him  the 
truth,  and  speaking  of  Claparon  and  the  necessity  for  taking 
up  la  Peyradc's  business  as  promptly  as  possible,  seemed  to 
obscure  matters. 

"Well,  you  could  have  seen  me  at  the  office  in  the  course 
of  the  morning,"  he  repeated,  as  he  saw.  Dutocq  to  the  door. 

"There  is  a  fellow,"  said  he  to  himself,  as  he  returned  to 
his  seat,  "who  seems  to  me  to  have  blown  out  the  lantern  for 
fear  I  should  see  too  much.  Well,  I  can  give  up  my  place 
as  copying  clerk. — What !  you,  mother,"  he  went  on  aloud ; 
"you  invent  children,  don't  you  ?  It  is  a  funny  game,  though 
rather  played  out." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  123 

It  is  needless  to  report  the  interview  between  these  three 
schemers;  all  the  more  so  because  the  decisions  they  arrived 
at  were  the  basis  of  la  Peyrade's  confidences  afterwards  to 
Mademoiselle  Thuillier;  but  it  may  be  said  that  the  Pro- 
vengal's  craftiness  almost  dismayed  Cerizet  and  Dutocq. 
When  the  conference  was  over,  the  idea  had  dawned  in  the 
petty  usurer's  mind  of  throwing  up  his  hand  in  the  game, 
as  he  found  himself  pledged  to  partnership  with  such  strong 
players.  To  win  at  any  cost  and  beat  the  sharpest,  even  by 
cheating  if  need  be,  is  an  inspiration  of  vanity  peculiar  to 
the  votaries  of  the  green  cloth.  This  led  to  the  terrible  blow 
which  la  Peyrade  was  fated  to  receive. 

However,  he  knew  his  two  associates;  and  notwithstand- 
ing the  perpetual  turmoil  of  intellectual  effort  in  which  he 
lived,  and  the  incessant  watchfulness  needed  to  keep  up  his 
manifold  impersonations,  nothing  fatigued  him  more  than 
the  part  he  had  to  play  with  these  two  accomplices.  Dutocq 
was  a  thorough  scoundrel,  and  Cerizet  had  been  on  the  stage ; 
they  could  see  through  any  mask.  An  immovable  face  a  la 
Talleyrand  would  have  led  them  to  throw  over  the  Provengal 
who  was  now  in  their  power,  and  he  was  forced  to  affect  ease 
and  confidence,  and  play  above  board — which  is  no  doubt  the 
highest  achievement  of  art.  To  deceive  the  pit  is  an  every- 
day success,  but  to  take  in  Mademoiselle  Mars,  Frederick 
Lemaitre,  Potier,  Talma,  Monrose,  is  the  triumph  of  acting. 

The  result  of  this  interview  was  to  produce  in  Theodose, 
who  was  as  sagacious  as  Cerizet,  a  secret  fear  which,  towards 
the  end  of  this  closely  fought  game,  fevered  his  blood  and 
stirred  his  pulses  to  the  pitch  of  putting  him  into  the  morbid 
state  of  a  player  with  his  eye  on  the  roulette  board  when  he 
has  risked  his  last  stake.  His  senses  acquire  a  lucidity,  his 
intelligence  attains  a  breadth  of  purview  for  which  human 
knowledge  has  no  measure. 

On  the  day  after  this  meeting,  la  Peyrade  dined  with  the 
Thuilliers;  and  Thuillier,  under  the  obvious  pretext  of  hav- 
ing to  pay  a  call  on  Madame  de  Saint-Foudrille, — the  wife  of 

a  man  of  science  with  whom  he  was  anxious  to  become  in- 
VOL.  14—34 


124  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

tiniate, — went  off  after  dinner  with  his  wife,  leaving  Theo- 
dose with  Brigitte.  Neither  Thuillier,  nor  his  sister,  nor 
Theodose.  was  the  dupe  of  this  manoeuvre,  and  the  old  buck 
of  the  Empire  dignified  the  farce  by  the  name  of  diplomacy. 

"Young  man,  do  not  take  advantage  of  my  sister's  guile- 
lessness,  but  respect  it,"  said  Thuillier,  solemnly,  before  go- 
ing out. 

"Has  it  occurred  to  you,  mademoiselle,"  said  Theodose, 
drawing  his  chair  closer  to  Brigitte  as  she  sat  knitting,  "to 
secure  the  interest  of  the  commercial  class  of  the  district  for 
Thuillier?" 

"How?"  said  she. 

"Well,  you  have  business  connections  with  Barbet  and 
Metivier." 

"To  be  sure,  you  are  right.  By  jingo  !  but  you  are  no  fool," 
she  added  after  a  pause. 

"We  are  always  ready  to  serve  those  we  love,"  he  replied 
with  sententious  reserve. 

To  get  the  better  of  Brigitte  in  the  long  struggle  begun 
two  years  ago,  would  be  to  hold  the  key  of  the  position,  like 
carrying  the  redoubt  at  the  Moskowa.  But  the  only  way  was 
to  get  the  mastery  of  her  mind,  as,  in  the  middle  ages,  people 
were  believed  to  be  possessed  of  the  Devil,  and  so  effectually 
that  no  undeceiving  should  ever  be  possible.  For  three  days 
past,  la  Peyrade  had  been  taking  measure  of  the  undertaking, 
and  had  walked  all  round  it,  as  it  were,  to  reconnoitre  the 
position.  Flattery,  the  infallible  weapon  in  skilled  hands, 
could  have  no  effect  on  an  old  maid  who  had  long  known  that 
she  had  no  beauty.  But  to  a  determined  man  no  place  is  im- 
pregnable— a  Lamarque  can  always  seize  Caprea.  So  no  de- 
tail must  be  omitted  of  the  eventful  scene  of  that  evening; 
every  point  had  its  value — pauses,  downcast  looks,  glances, 
tones  of  voice. 

"You  have  already  proved  your  affection  for  us/5  said 
Brigitte. 

"Your  brother  has  told  you?" 

"No;  he  only  said  that  you  wished  to  speak  to  me." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  125 

"Yes,  mademoiselle,  for  you  are  the  man  of  the  family. 
But,  on  thinking  matters  over,  I  perceived  no  little  danger  for 
myself  in  this  affair,  and  a  man  does  not  compromise  himself 
unless  for  those  near  and  dear  to  him.  There  is  a  perfect 
fortune  in  the  scales — thirty  to  forty  thousand  francs  a  year 
— and  not  in  the  least  speculative.  A  freehold.  The  neces- 
sity for  providing  Thuillier  with  a  fortune  bewitched  me  from 
the  first.  It  was  fascinating  and,  as  I  told  him, — for,  short 
of  being  an  idiot,  a  man  asks  himself:  'Why  on  earth  should 
he  be  so  eager  to  help  me  ?' — well,  as  I  told  him,  by  working 
for  his  advantage,  I  flattered  myself  I  might  be  working  for 
my  own. 

"Now,  if  he  wishes  to  be  a  member  of  the  Chamber,  two 
things  are  requisite:  he  must  pay  the  taxes  on  a  sufficient 
qualification,  and  get  his  name  known  by  some  sort  of 
celebrity.  If  I  carry  my  devotion  so  far  as  to  be  ready  to  help 
him  to  write  a  book  on  Public  Credit, — or  on  no  matter  what, 
• — I  might  certainly  also  think  of  his  fortune,  and  it  would 
be  absurd  in  you  to  give  him  this  house " 

"To  my  brother?  Why,  I  would  place  it  in  his  name  to- 
morrow," cried  Brigitte ;  "you  do  not  know  me." 

"I  do  not  altogether  know  you,"  said  Theodose;  "but  I 
know  things  of  you  which  have  made  me  regret  that  I  did  not 
tell  you  everything  from  the  first  moment  when  I  formed  the 
plan  to  which  Thuillier  will  owe  his  election.  He  will  be  the 
object  of  envy  at  once,  and  he  will  certainly  have  an  uphill 
task;  we  must  annihilate  his  rivals,  deprive  them  of  every 
pretext." 

"But  this  business,"  said  Brigitte;  "what  are  the  ob- 
stacles?" 

"Mademoiselle,  they  exist  in  my  conscience,  and  I  cannot 
serve  you  in  the  matter  till  I  have  consulted  my  confessor. 
As  far  as  the  world  is  concerned,  oh !  the  transaction  is  per- 
fectly legal,  I  am  incapable — I,  as  you  understand,  a  duly 
registered  advocate,  and  the  member  of  a  somewhat  rigid  as- 
sociation— am  incapable,  I  say,  of  suggesting  an  arrangement 
which  coulfl  give  rise  to  a  scandal.  My  first  excuse  is,  that 
I  will  not  take  a  farthing." 


126  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Brigitte  was  on  hot  irons;  her  face  was  flushed,  she  broke 
her  wool,  and  knotted  it  together,  and  did  not  know  how  to 
contain  herself. 

"A  freehold  worth  forty  thousand  a  year,"  said  she,  "is  not 
to  be  bought  nowadays  for  less  than  one  million  eight  hundred 
thousand  francs." 

"Well,  I  promise  you  that  you  shall  see  the  property,  and 
calculate  the  probable  returns,  and  that  I  will  secure  it  to 
Thuillier  for  fifty  thousand." 

"Well,  if  you  will  enable  us  to  get  that,"  cried  Brigitte,  • 
worked  up  to  the  highest  point  of  excitement  by  the  tempest 
of  her  avarice,  "go,  my  dear  Monsieur  Theodose " 

She  stopped  short. 

"Well,  mademoiselle  ?" 

"You  will,  perhaps,  have  worked  for  your  own  advan- 
tage." 

"Oh,  if  Thuillier  has  told  you  my  secret,  I  leave  your 
house." 

Brigitte  looked  up. 

"Did  he  tell  you  that  I  love  Celeste  ?" 

"No,  on  my  word  of  honor !"  cried  Brigitte.  "But  I  was 
going  to  speak  of  her." 

"To  offer  her  to  me?  Nay,  God  forgive  me,  but  I  would 
not  wish  to  owe  her  to  any  one  but  herself,  her  parents,  her 
own  free  choice.  No,  all  I  ask  of  you  is  your  good-will,  your 
favor.  Promise  me,  as  Thuillier  has  promised,  as  the  reward 
of  my  service,  your  influence,  your  friendship ;  tell  me  that 
you  will  regard  me  as  a  son — and  then  I  will  take  your  advice. 
I  will  decide  in  obedience  to  your  views  without  consulting 
my  confessor.  Why,  for  two  years,  during  which  I  have 
studied  the  family  with  which  I  would  gladly  ally  my  name 
and  which  I  should  be  happy  to  enrich  by  my  energy — for  I 
am  bound  to  get  on — I  have  not  failed  to  discover  that  you 
have  an  old  world  honesty,  a  spirit  of  inflexible  rectitude, 
and  knowledge  of  business — and  those  are  the  qualities  a  man 
likes  to  have  about  him.  With  such  a  mother-in-law  as  you,  I 
should  find  domestic  life  swept  clear  of  a  thousand  money  de- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  127 

tails  which  hamper  a  man's  political  advancement,  when  he 
has  to  think  of  them.  How  I  admired  you  on  Sunday  even- 
ing !  You  were  magnificent !  How  you  made  things  fly ! 
In  ten  minutes,  I  believe,  the  drawing-room  was  cleared ;  and 
without  stirring  out  of  the  house  you  had  everything  at  hand 
for  refreshments  and  supper.  'There/  said  I  to  myself,  'that 
is  a  capable  woman  !' ' 

Brigitte's  nostrils  dilated,  she  inhaled  the  young  lawyer's 
adulation,  and  he  gave  her  a  side  glance,  enjoying  her 
triumph.  He  had  touched  a  responsive  chord. 

"Oh,"  said  she,  "I  am  accustomed  to  housekeeping — it 
answers  to  my  hand." 

"Yes,"  said  Theodose,  "if  I  can  consult  a  clear  and  pure 
conscience  I  shall  be  satisfied." 

He  had  risen,  but  he  now  sat  down  again  and  said: 

"This  is  how  the  business  stands,  my  dear  aunt;  for  you 
will  be  a  sort  of  aunt." 

"Hold  your  tongue,  dear  boy,"  said  Brigitte,  "and  tell  me 
the  facts." 

"I  will  tell  you  exactly,  and  observe  that  I  am  risking  my 
reputation  by  divulging  them;  for  I  owe  my  knowledge  of 
such  secrets  to  my  position  as  a  lawyer,  so  we  are  committing 
between  us  a  sort  of  legal  high  treason.  A  Paris  notary  and 
an  architect  entered  into  partnership  to  buy  some  building 
land,  and  built  upon  it;  at  this  moment  they  have  collapsed; 
there  was  some  error  in  their  calculations,  but  we  need  not 
trouble  ourselves  about  all  that.  Among  the  houses  erected 
by  this  illicit  firm — for  notaries  are  not  supposed  to  go  into 
business  partnerships — there  is  one  which,  being  unfinished, 
is  so  under  value  that  it  is  offered  for  sale  for  no  more  than 
a  hundred  thousand  francs,  though  the  ground  and  structure 
cost  four  hundred  thousand.  As  nothing  remains  to  be  fin- 
ished but  the  interior  fittings, — and  nothing  can  be  easier  to 
estimate;  as,  moreover,  those  fittings  are  all  ready  at  the 
builder's,  and  he  will  sell  them  cheap, — the  sum  to  be  spent 
will  not  exceed  fifty  thousand  francs.  Now  the  house,  being 
in  a  good  position,  it  will  let  for  forty  thousand  francs  a 


128  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

year,  taxes  paid.  It  is  built  entirely  of  squared  stone,  and 
the  party  walls  of  stone  rubble;  the  front  is  decorated  with 
handsome  sculpture  that  cost  more  than  twenty  thousand 
francs;  the  windows  are  of  plate-glass,  with  a  new  kind  of 
bolt  called  Cremone." 

"Where  is  the  difficulty?" 

"Ah !  that  is  the  point.  The  notary  has  reserved  this  plum 
of  the  cake  he  has  to  surrender,  and  under  the  name  of  his 
friends  he  is  one  of  the  creditors  who  demand  the  sale  of  the 
property  under  the  assignees'  order.  There  was  no  action  at 
law,  that  is  too  costly;  the  sale  is  under  a  voluntary  declara- 
tion. Well,  the  notary  happened  to  apply  to  a  client  of  mine 
for  the  use  of  his  name  as  the  purchaser ;  my  client  is  a  poor 
devil,  and  he  came  to  me  and  said :  'There  is  a  fortune  in  the 
thing  if  you  can  get  rid  of  the  notary/  " 

"It  is  often  done  in  trade/'  said  Brigitte  eagerly. 

"If  this  were  the  only  difficulty,"  replied  Theodose,  "it 
would  be  plain  sailing;  as  a  friend  of  mine  said  to  one  of  his 
pupils,  who  was  lamenting  the  immense  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  producing  a  masterpiece  of  art:  'My  dear  boy,  if  it 
were  not  so  the  footman  would  do  itP  But,  mademoiselle, 
even  if  we  caught  this  dreadful  notary  who,  you  may  take  my 
word  for  it,  richly  deserves  it,  for  he  has  taken  toll  of  many 
a  private  fortune — as  he  is  very  sharp,  though  he  is  a  notary, 
it  will  probably  be  very  hard  to  trip  him  up.  twice.  When  you 
purchase  real  estate,  if  the  mortgagees  think  they  are  likely 
to  be  losers  by  the  low  price,  they  have  the  right  within  a  cer- 
tain limit  of  time  to  put  up  the  price,  that  is  to  say,  to  offer  a 
larger  sum  and  keep  the  property.  If  the  first  bidder  cannot 
play  this  fish  till  the  time  has  elapsed  for  his  raising  the  price, 
another  kind  of  trick  must  be  tried.  But  are  such  dealings 
legal?  Dare  a  man  undertake  them  for  the  benefit  of  the 
family  he  hopes  to  belong  to?  For  three  days  I  have  been 
asking  myself  these  questions." 

Brigitte,  it  must  be  confessed,  hesitated,  and  Theodose 
then  put  forward  his  last  suggestion. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  129 

"Take  the  night  to  think  of  it;  to-morrow  we  will  talk 
it  over." 

"Listen,  my  boy,"  said  Brigitte,  looking  at  the  lawyer  al- 
most amorously,  "in  the  first  place  I  must  see  the  house. 
Where  is  it  ?" 

"Not  far  from  the  Madeleine;  in  ten  years  it  will  be  the 
heart  of  Paris !  And  if  you  did  but  know  it,  that  land,  has 
been  rising  in  value  ever  since  1819.  Du  Tillet  the  banker's 
fortune  was  made  there.  The  famous  bankruptcy  of  Koguin 
the  notary,  which  spread  terror  in  Paris  and  was  such  a  blow 
to  the  reputation  of  his  cloth, — the  bankruptcy  which  ruined 
Birotteau  the  famous  perfumer, — was  caused  by  that  alone. 
They  had  speculated  a  little  too  wildly  in  that  land." 

"I  remember,"  said  Brigitte. 

"The  house  could  certainly  be  finished  by  the  end  of  this 
year,  and  tenants  could  come  in  by  the  middle  of  next  year." 

"Can  we  go  there  to-rnorrow  ?" 

"Aunt,  I  am  at  your  orders." 

"Mercy !  never  call  me  aunt  before  other  people.  As  to 
business,  I  cannot  decide  till  I  have  seen  the  house." 

"It  is  six  stories  high,  has  nine  windows  across  the  front, 
a  spacious  courtyard,  and  four  shops,  and  it  stands  at  a 
corner.  Oh,  the  notary  knew  what  he  was  about,  never  fear ! 
But  if  some  political  change  occurs  the  funds  and  investments 
generally  will  go  down.  In  your  place  I  would  sell  all 
Madame  Thuillier  holds,  and  all  you  hold  in  the  State  funds, 
to  buy  this  fine  property  for  Thuillier,  and  I  would  reinstate 
that  poor  bigot's  fortune  out  of  future  savings.  Can  consols 
go  higher  than  they  are  now — a  hundred  and  twenty-two? 
It  is  fabulous;  you  must  make  haste." 

Brigitte's  mouth  watered;  she  saw  a  way  to  save  her  own 
capital  and  to  enrich  her  brother  at  Madame  Thuillier's  ex- 
pense. 

"My  brother  is  right,"  said  she  to  Theodose;  "you  are  a 
very  remarkable  man  and  will  go  far." 

"And  he  will  walk  before  me,"  said  la  Peyrade  in  an  art- 
less way  which  captivated  the  old  maid. 


130  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"You  will  be  one  of  the  family,"  said  she. 

"There  will  be  obstacles!"  said  Theodose.  "Madame 
Thuillier  is  a  little  crazy  and  she  does  not  like  me." 

"I  would  like  to  see  her  interfere,"  cried  Brigitte.  "Let 
us  do  the  job  if  it  is  feasible,"  she  added,  "and  leave  your 
interests  in  my  hands." 

"Thuillier,  a  member  of  the  Municipal  Council,  possessed 
of  a  house  that  will  let  for  at  least  forty  thousand  francs,  a 
member  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  and  the  author  of  a  solid, 
serious  book,  will  be  returned  as  deputy  at  one  of  the  com- 
ing elections.  But,  between  you  and  me,  my  little  aunt,  a 
man  only  devotes  himself  so  entirely  to  his  real  father-in- 
law." 

"You  are  right." 

"Though  I  have  no  fortune,  I  shall  have  doubled  yours; 
and  if  this  affair  is  not  talked  about,  I  will  try  to  find  others." 

"Until  I  have  seen  the  house,"  said  Mademoiselle  Thuil- 
lier, "I  can  come  to  no  decision." 

"Well,  then,  take  a  hackney  coach  to-morrow  and  we  will 
go ;  I  will  get  a  ticket  to  view  the  premises  to-morrow  morn- 
ing." 

"Till  to-morrow  then  at  about  twelve,"  replied  Brigitte, 
holding  out  her  hand  to  Theodose;  but  instead  of  merely 
taking  it  he  pressed  a  kiss  on  it,  at  once  more  tender  and 
more  respectful  than  Brigitte  had  ever  received. 

"Good-bye,  my  dear  boy,"  said  she  as  he  went  out  at  the 
door. 

She  hastily  rang  the  bell,  and  when  one  of  the  maids  ap- 
peared : 

"Josephine,"  said  she,  "go  at  once  to  Madame  Colleville, 
and  ask  her  to  come  to  see  me." 

A  quarter  of  an  hour  later,  Flavie  came  into  the  room, 
where  Brigitte  was  pacing  to  and  fro  in  alarming  excitement. 

"My  dear,  I  want  you  to  do  me  a  great  service  in  a  matter 
that  concerns  our  little  Celeste.  You  know  Tullia,  the  opera- 
dancer  ;  time  was  when  my  brother  dinned  her  into  my  ears." 

"Yes,  my  dear,  but  she-  is  no  longer  an  opera-dancer.     She 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  131 

is  Madame  la  Comtesse  du  Bruel.  Is  not  her  husband  a  peer 
of  France!" 

"Are  you  still  friends?" 

"We  never  see  each  other." 

"Well,  but  I  happen  to  know  that  Chaffaroux,  the  rich 
builder,  is  her  uncle,"  said  the  old  maid.  "He  is  old,  he  is 
wealthy;  go  to  see  your  old  ally  and  get  her  to  write  a  few 
lines  to  her  uncle,  telling  him  that  he  will  be  doing  her  the 
greatest  personal  service  by  giving  his  advice  on  a  matter 
about  which  you  wish  to  consult  him,  and  we  will  call  at  his 
house  to-morrow  at  about  one  o'clock.  But  she  must  enjoin 
on  the  uncle  the  most  profound  secrecy. 

"Go,  my  dear  girl !  Our  darling  Celeste  shall  be  a  mill- 
ionaire, and  I  will  find  her  a  husband,  mark  my  words,  who 
will  place  her  on  a  pinnacle." 

"Shall  I  tell,  you  the  first  letters  of  his  name  ?" 

"Well,  speak." 

"Theodose  de  la  Peyrade !  You  are  in  the  right.  He  is 
a  man  who,  with  the  help  of  such  a  woman  as  you,  may  rise 
to  be  a  minister." 

"God  himself  sent  him  to  this  house,"  cried  the  old  maid. 

At  this  moment  Monsieur  and  Madame  Thuillier  came 
home. 

Five  days  later,  in  the  month  of  April,  the  writ,  calling 
on  the  electors  to  appoint,  on  the  thirtieth  of  that  month, 
a  member  of  the  Municipal  Council,  was  inserted  in  the 
Moniteur,  and  placarded  about  Paris.  The  Ministry,  known 
as  the  Administration  of  the  First  of  March,  had  held  office 
for  some  weeks. 

Brigitte  was  in  high  good  humor;  she  had  verified  la 
Peyrade's  statements.  The  house,  thoroughly  inspected  by 
old  Chaffaroux  from  cellar  to  garret,  was  pronounced  by  him 
to  be  admirably  well  built;  poor  Grindot,  the  architect  in- 
volved in  the  business  with  Claparon  and  the  notary,  believed 
that.he  was  working  for  the  owner;  Madame  du  Bruel's  uncle 
supposed  that  his  niece's  interests  were  at  stake,  and  he  said 


132  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

that  he  would  finish  the  house  for  thirty  thousand  francs. 
So,  for  the  past  week,  Theodose  had  heen  Brigitte's  idol ;  she 
argued  with  the  most  artless  dishonesty  to  prove  to  him  that 
fortune  must  be  snatched  at  when  it  offers. 

"And  if  there  is  any  sin  in  this  business,"  said  she,  as  they 
stood  in  the  middle  of  the  garden,  "you  will  tell  it  in  con- 
fession." 

"The  deuce  is  in  it,"  cried  Thuillier;  "a  man's  first  duty 
is  to  his  relations." 

"I  will  do  it,"  said  la  Peyrade  in  a  broken  voice,  "but  on 
certain  conditions.  I  will  not  be  taxed  with  greed  and  ava- 
rice in  marrying  Celeste.  If  you  load  me  with  remorse,  at 
any  rate  let  me  maintain  my  character  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world.  Only  settle  on  Celeste — you,  my  dear  old  boy,  Thuil- 
lier— the  reversion  of  the  house  I  am  about  to  secure  for 
you." 

"That  is  wise." 

"Do  not  rob  yourselves/'  Theodose  went  on ;  "and  my  dear 
little  aunt  must  agree  to  this  when  the  settlements  are  made. 
Place  all  the  rest  of  the  capital  at  your  command  in  the  funds, 
in  Madame  Thuillier's  name,  and  let  her  do  what  she  likes 
with  it.  We  shall  then  all  live  together,  and  I  will  undertake 
to  make  my  own  fortune  as  soon  as  I  am  relieved  of  anxiety 
as  to  my  future  maintenance." 

"Done  with  you !"  exclaimed  Thuillier ;  "that  is  the  speech 
of  an  honest  man." 

"Let  me  kiss  your  forehead,  my  boy,"  cried  the  old  maid. 
"Still,  as  a  girl  must  have  some  money,  we  will  give  Celeste 
sixty  thousand  francs." 

"For  her  pin-money,"  said  la  Peyrade. 

"We  are  all  three  people  of  honor,"  cried  Thuillier.  "It 
is  a  settled  thing;  you 'will  secure  us  the  house,  we  will  write 
my  political  book  together,  and  you  will  move  the  earth  to 
get  me  the  Legion  of  Honor." 

"Oh !  You  will  have  it  as  surely  as  you  will  be  elected 
Town  Councillor  by  the  first  of  May.  Only,  my  good  friend, 
and  you,  too,  my  little  aunt,  be  secret,  and  pay  no  heed  to 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  135 

the  calumnies  that  will  be  hurled  at  me  when  the  men  I  must 
deceive  turn  against  me.  I  shall  be  a  vagabond,  a  swindler, 
a  dangerous  man,  a  Jesuit,  an  intriguer,  a  fortune-hunter. — 
Can  you  listen  unmoved  to  all  this  ?" 

"Be  easy,"  said  Brigitte. 

From  that  day  forth  Thuillier  was  "my  dear  fellow";  this 
was  the  name  by  which  Theodose  always  addressed  him,  with 
shades  of  tone  and  an  expression  of  affection  which  surprised 
Flavie.  But  "little  aunt,"  the  words  that  so  delighted 
Brigitte,  were  spoken  only  before  the  Thuilliers,  or  in  a 
whisper  if  anybody  were  present,  or,  now  and  then,  before 
Flavie. 

The  activity  displayed  by  Theodose,  Dutocq,  and  Cerizet, 
by  Barbet,  Metivier,  the  Minards,  the  Phellions,  the  Laudi- 
geois,  by  Colleville,  Pron,  Barniol,  and  their  friends,  was 
prodigious.  Great  and  small  set  their  hands  to  the  task. 
Cadenet  secured  thirty  votes  in  his  division,  and  wrote  the 
names  of  seven  electors  who  could  only  set  their  cross. 

On  the  thirtieth  of  April,  Thuillier  was  duly  elected  a 
member  of  the  Municipal  Council  for  the  Department  of 
the  Seine,  by  an  imposing  majority,  for  only  sixty  votes 
kept  his  election  from  being  unanimous.  On  the  first  of 
May  Thuillier  joined  that  municipal  body  in  going  to  the 
Tuileries  to  congratulate  the  king  on  his  fete  day,  and  he 
came  home  beaming ;  he  had  followed  close  on  Minard's  heels. 

A  yellow  poster,  ten  days  later,  announced  the  sale  of  the 
house  by  voluntary  act  of  the  owners,  the  reserved  price  being 
seventy-five'  thousand  francs ;  the  sale  to  be  concluded  at  the 
end  of  July.  On  this  point  there  was  an  agreement — verbal, 
of  course — between  Claparon  and  Cerizet,  by  which  Cerizet 
promised  Claparon  a  bonus  of  fifteen  thousand  francs  if  he 
only  succeeded  in  putting  off  the  notary  till  beyond  the  time 
allowed  for  a  higher  bid.  Mademoiselle  Thuillier,  informed 
of  this  by  Theodose,  gave  full  consent  to  this  secret  clause, 
understanding  that  she  would  have  to  pay  the  abettors  of  this 
amiable  treachery.  The  money  was  to  be  paid  through  the 
virtuous  advocate. 


134  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Claparon  held  a  meeting  at  midnight,  in  the  Place  dt 
FObservatoire,  with  his  other  accomplice,  the  notary,  whose 
office  and  connection,  though  put  up  for  sale  by  a  decision 
delivered  in  the  court  for  regulating  the  business  of  Paris 
notaries,  was  not  yet  sold. 

This  young  man,  the  successor  of  Leopold  Hannequin,  had 
tried  to  run  to  fortune  instead  of  walking;  he  still  saw 
another  future  before  him  and  was  trying  to  work  everything 
at  once.  In  this  interview  he  had  bid  as  high  as  ten  thou- 
sand francs  to  purchase  safety  in  this  dirty  job;  he  was  not 
to  pay  the  sum  over  to  Claparon  till  after  the  attesting  of  a 
declaration  signed  by  the  purchaser.  The  notary  knew  that 
this  sum  was  the  only  capital  at  Claparon's  disposal  to  help 
him  to  remake  his  fortune,  and  he  thought  himself  sure  of 
him. 

"Who  else  in  all  Paris  would  give  me  such  a  commission 
for  the  job?"  said  Claparon,  with  an  assumption  of  guile- 
lessness.  "You  may  sleep  soundly  of  nights;  I  will  get  the 
very  man  to  be  our  stalking-horse  as  purchaser,  one  of  your 
honest  men  who  are  too  stupid  to  have  ideas  like  yours.  He 
is  an  old  retired  clerk;  you  have  only  to  give  him  the  money 
to  pay  and  he  will  sign  the  papers/' 

When  the  notary  had  made  it  clear  to  Claparon  that  all 
he  could  get  out  of  him  was  ten  thousand  francs,  Cerizet 
offered  his  old  partner  twelve  thousand  and  proceeded  to 
demand  fifteen  of  Theodose,  not  meaning,  of  course,  to  give 
more  than  twelve  to  Claparon.  All  the  scenes  between  these 
four  men  were  garnished  with  fine  words  about  sentiment  and 
honor,  about  what  men  owed  to  each  other  when  they  were 
fated  to  work  together,  and  to  meet  again  in  the  course  of 
events.  While  these  submarine  transactions  were  carried  out 
for  Thuillier's  benefit,  Theodose  reporting  them  to  him  with 
expressions  of  utter  disgust  at  having  to  soil  his  fingers  with 
such  dirty  work,  these  two  laid  their  heads  together  over  the 
great  work  which  the  "dear  fellow"  was  to  publish;  and  the 
member  of  the  Municipal  Council  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
he  could  never  achieve  anvthing  without  this  man  of  genius, 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  135 

whose  talents  amazed  him  and  whose  readiness  constantly 
astonished  him,  so  that  every  day  made  it  seem  more  necessary 
that  he  should  make  la  Peyrade  his  son-in-law.  After  the 
month  of  May  Theodose  dined  with  the  "dear  fellow"  four 
days  out  of  every  seven. 

At  this  time  indeed  Theodose  was  undisputed  monarch 
of  the  family,  and  was  approved  by  all  their  friends.  This 
was  the  way  of  it.  The  Phellions,  hearing  Thuillier  and 
Brigitte  singing  la  Peyrade's  praises,  feared  to  offend  these 
two  potentates  and  joined  in  the  chorus,  even  though  this 
perpetual  laudation  might  annoy  them  or  seem  exaggerated. 
It  was  the  same  with  the  Minards.  And,  indeed,  la  Pey- 
rade's behavior  as  the  friend  of  the  family  was  always  ad- 
mirable; he  disarmed  hostility  by  effacing  himself;  he  was 
no  more  than  an  additional  piece  of  furniture;  he  led  the 
Phellions  and  the  Minards  to  believe  that  Brigitte  and  Thuil- 
lier had  summed  him  up,  weighed  him,  and  found  him  too 
light  ever  to  be  anything  more  than  the  good  young  man  to 
whom  they  might  be  of  use. 

"Perhaps  he  thinks,"  said  Thuillier  to  Minard  one  day, 
"that  my  sister  will  feather  his  nest  for  him  in  her  will.  He 
little  knows  her." 

This  speech,  prompted  by  Theodose,  soothed  Minard's 
suspicious  curiosity. 

"He  is  devoted  to  us,"  said  the  old  maid  to  Phellion  one 
day,  "but  he  owes  us  a  debt  of  gratitude;  we  let  him  off  his 
rent  and  he  almost  lives  with  us." 

This  contemptuous  tone,  again  inspired  by  Theodose  and 
echoed  from  one  to  another  of  all  the  families  that  haunted 
Thuillier's  drawing-room,  dispelled  every  fear,  and  Theodose 
gave  effect  to  the  remarks  thus  uttered  by  Thuillier  and  his 
sister  by  all  the  servility  of  a  hanger-on.  At  whist  he 
screened  the  "dear  fellow's"  blunders ;  his  smile,  as  rigid  and 
benign  as  Madame  Thuillier's,  was  ready  to  encourage  the 
homely  jests  of  the  brother  and  the  sister  alike. 

He  thus  secured  what  he  most  ardently  aimed  at,  the  con- 
tempt of  his  real  enemies,  and  wrapped  himself  in  it  as 


136  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

in  a  mantle  to  hide  his  power.  For  four  months  he  pre- 
served the  stupid  attitude  of  a  snake  swallowing  and  digest- 
ing its  prey.  And  he  would  go  into  the  garden  with  Colle- 
ville  or  Flavie  to  lay  aside  his  mask  and  laugh,  and  rest  and 
refresh  himself  by  abandoning  himself  to  nervous  outbursts 
of  passion  which  terrified  or  touched  his  future  mother-in- 
law. 

"Have  you  no  pity  for  me  ?"  he  said  to  her  the  day  before 
the  signing  of  the  preliminary  contract  of  sale,  by  which 
Thuillier  became  provisionally  the  owner  of  the  house  for 
twenty-five  thousand  francs.  "Such  a  man  as  I !  sneaking 
round  like  a  cat,  suppressing  every  retort,  swallowing  down 
my  gall !  And  repelled  by  you !" 

"My  friend,  my  child  I"  said  Flavie,  who  was  still  un- 
decided. 

These  words  may  serve  as  a  thermometer  to  show  at  what 
temperature  this  clever  actor  maintained  his  intrigue  with 
Flavie.  The  poor  woman  wavered  between  her  heart  and 
morality,  between  religion  and  the  mystery  of  passion. 

Meanwhile  Felix  Phellion  gave  young  Colleville  lessons 
with  praiseworthy  regularity  and  devotion ;  he  bestowed  end- 
less hours  on  him,  believing  that  he  was  working  for  the 
family  that  would  be  his.  In  gratitude  for  his  kindness, 
and  under  la  Peyrade's  advice,  the  professor  was  invited  to 
dine  on  Thursdays  with  the  Collevilles,  and  Theodose  never 
failed  to  be  there.  Flavie  would  make  a  purse,  or  work  slip- 
pers or  a  cigar  case  for  the  happy  youth,  who  would  ex- 
claim : 

"I  am  more  than  paid,  niadame,  by  the  happiness  of  being 
of  use  to  you." 

"We  are  not  rich,  monsieur,"  Colleville  would  reply,  "but, 
hang  it  all,  we  are  not  ungrateful." 

Old  Phellion  rubbed  his  hands  as  he  listened  to  his  son  on 
his  return  from  these  dinners — he  would  see  his  dear,  his 
noble  Felix  married  to  Celeste. 

Still,  the  more  she  loved  him  the  more  serious  and  re- 
served was  Celeste  in  her  demeanor  to  Felix;  all  the  more 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  137 

since  her  mother  had  spoken  to  her  very  decidedly  one  even- 
ing, and  ended  by  saying: — 

"Give  young  Phellion  no  encouragement,  my  child.  Nei- 
ther your  father  nor  I  can  settle  whom  you  are  to  marry; 
hopes  are  founded  on  your  future  prospects,  and  it  is  far 
more  important  to  secure  the  affection  of  Mademoiselle 
Brigitte  and  your  godfather  than  to  win  the  good  graces  of  a 
penniless  professor.  If  you  do  not  wish  to  kill  your  mother, 
my  darling — yes,  to  kill  me, — obey  me  blindly  in  this  matter, 
and  get  it  firmly  into  your  head  that  above  all  else  we  aim 
at  seeing  you  happy." 

As  the  sale  of  the  property  was  definitely  fixed  for  the  end 
of  July,  towards  the  end  of  June  Theodose  advised  Brigitte 
to  be  prepared  with  the  money;  and  on  the  eve  of  the  sale, 
she  sold  all  her  own  and  her  sister-in-law's  securities  in 
the  public  funds.  The  disastrous  alliance  of  the  four  powers, 
an  insult  to  France,  is  a  matter  of  history ;  but  it  is  necessary 
to  recall  the  fact  that  from  July  till  the  end  of  August 
French  stocks,  scared  by  the  prospect  of  war  to  which  Mon- 
sieur Thiers  lent  himself  rather  too  readily,  fell  twenty 
francs;  three  per  cents  stood  at  sixty.  Nor  was  this  all; 
this  financial  rout  reacted  disastrously  on  real  estate  in  Paris; 
land  that  happened  to  be  in  the  market  was  sold  for  a  mere 
song.  These  circumstances  made  Theodose  figure  as  a 
prophet,  as  a  man  of  genius  in  the  eyes  of  Brigitte  and  Thuil- 
lier,  to  whom  the  house  was  assigned  at  the  price  of  seventy- 
five  thousand  francs. 

The  notary,  involved  in  this  political  catastrophe,  his 
office  being  sold,  found  himself  obliged  to  go  into  the  country 
for  some  days;  but  he  took  with  him  Claparon's  thousand 
francs.  Thuillier,  by  la  Peyrade's  advice,  made  a  contract 
with  Grindot,  who  believed  he  was  finishing  the  house  for  the 
notary;  and  as,  during  this  period  of  financial  disturbance, 
works  were  to  a  great  extent  suspended,  and  workmen  left 
standing  with  folded  arms,  the  architect  was  enabled  to  finish 
the  house,  which  he  particularly  fancied,  in  a  really  splendid 
style. 


138  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

He  decorated  four  drawing-rooms  richly  gilt  for  twenty- 
fire  thousand  francs.  Theodose  insisted  that  the  bargain 
should  be  in  writing,  and  that  fifty  thousand  francs  should 
be  put  down  instead  of  twenty-five. 

This  purchase  magnified  Thuillier's  importance  tenfold. 
As  to  the  notary,  he  had  quite  lost  his  head  in  the  presence 
of  political  events  which  had  fallen  like  a  waterspout  on 
a  fine  day.  Theodose,  secure  of  his  influence,  relying  on  his 
many  services,  and  having  a  hold  over  Thuillier  so  long  as 
they  were  working  together,  was  admired  by  Brigitte  especi- 
ally for  his  decent  reticence — for  he  never  made  the  smallest 
allusion  to  his  poverty,  and  never  talked  about  money,  and 
he  asumed  a  rather  less  slavish  manner  than  he  had  hitherto 
shown.  Thuillier  and  Brigitte  would  say  to  him: 

"Nothing  can  rob  you  of  our  esteem;  you  are  at  home 
under  our  roof.  The  opinion  of  Minard  and  Phellion,  of 
whom  you  seem  so  much  afraid,  is  not  worth  a  verse  by 
Victor  Hugo  to  us.  Let  them  talk ;  hold  up  your  head  !" 

"We  will  need  their  help  for  Thuillier's  election  to  par- 
liament/' said  Theodose.  "Follow  my  advice.  You  find 
it  answers,  do  not  you?  When  the  house  is  really  yours, 
you  will  have  got  it  practically  for  nothing;  for  you  can 
buy  three  per  cents  at  sixty  in  Madame  Thuillier's  name 
so  as  to  restitute  her  whole  fortune.  You  have  only  to  wait 
till  the  period  allowed  by  law  for  a  higher  bid  has  elapsed, 
and  to  have  the  fifteen  thousand  francs  in  readiness  for  our 
rascals/' 

Brigitte  wasted  no  time;  she  realized  all  her  own  capital 
excepting  a  sum  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  francs, 
and  then  taking  discount  off  her  sister-in-law's  fortune,  she 
reinvested  two  hundred  and  forty-thousand  francs  in  the  three 
per  cents  -in  Madame  Thuillier's  name,  bringing  her  in 
twelve  thousand  francs  a  year;  she  also  purchased  enough 
to  give  herself  ten  thousand  francs  a  year,  determining  never 
to  worry  herself  over  discounting  bills  again.  She  saw  her 
brother  with  forty  thousand  francs  a  year  besides  his  pension; 
Madame  Thuillier  with  her  twelve  thousand,  while  she  herself 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  139 

had  eighteen  thousand, — sixty  thousand  francs  in  all,  and 
rent  free,  which  she  estimated  at  eight  thousand. 

"We  are  a  match  for  the  Minards  now !"  cried  she. 

"We  will  not  sing  victory,  just  yet,"  said  Theodose. 
"There  is  yet  a  week  to  run  before  the  time  is  out  for  raising 
the  bid.  I  have  been  attending  to  your  affairs,  and  my  own 
are  in  a  terrible  mess." 

"But,  my  dear  boy,  you  have  friends !"  exclaimed  Brigitte, 
"and  if  you  want  twenty-five  louis  you  can  always  find  them 
here." 

At  this  speech  Theodose  and  Thuillier  smiled  at  each 
other. 

Thuillier  took  him  into  the  garden  and  said: 

"My  poor  sister  must  be  excused;  she  sees  the  world 
through  the  mouth  of  a  bottle.  But  if  you  want  twenty- 
five  thousand  francs  I  will  lend  them  to  you — out  of  my  first 
rents,"  he  added. 

"Thuillier,  I  have  a  rope  round  my  neck,"  exclaimed 
Theodose.  "Since  I  became  an  advocate  I  have  had  to  sign 
bills.  But  mum's  the  word !"  he  added,  frightened  at  having 
betrayed  the  secret  of  his  position.  "I  am.  in  the  clutches 
of  scoundrels — I  should  like  to  turn  the  tables !" 

Theodose  had  a  twofold  motive  in  telling  his  secret.  First 
to  sound  Thuillier,  and  secondly  to  forefend  a  terrible  blow 
which  might  be  dealt  him  in  the  course  of  the  covert  and 
desperate  struggle  he  had  long  foreseen.  His  terrible  situ- 
ation may  be  explained  in  a  few  words. 

In  the  abject  poverty  he  had  lived  through  no  one  but 
Cerizet  had  ever  come  to  see  him  in  the  garret  where,  in  the 
bitterest  weather,  he  was  lying  in  bed  for  lack  of  clothes.  He 
had  but  one  shirt  belonging  to  him.  For  three  days  he  had 
lived  on  one  loaf,  cutting  it  carefully  into  portions,  and  he 
was  wondering :  "What  is  to  be  done?"  when  his  old  ally  made 
his  appearance,  just  released  from  prison  and  pardoned. 

As  to  the  various  schemes  plotted  by  these  two  men  before 
a  fire  of  faggots,  one  wrapped  in  his  landlady's  counterpane, 
the  other  in  his  infamy,  it  is  useless  to  record  them  here, 


140  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

On  the  following  day,  Cerizet,  who  had  come  across  Dutocq 
in  the  course  of  the  morning,  brought  la  Peyrade  trousers, 
waistcoat,  and  coat,  a  hat  and  boots  bought  at  an  old-clothes 
stall  in  the  Temple,  and  then  carried  him  off  to  give  him  a 
dinner.  The  Provengal  ate  at  Pinson's  eating-house  in  the 
Rue  de  I'Ancienne-Comedie,  quite  half  of  a  dinner  that  cost 
forty-seven  francs.  At  dessert,  between  two  glasses  of  win^, 
Cerizet  said  to  his  friend: 

"Will  you  sign  fifty  thousand  francs  worth  of  bills  for  me, 
calling  yourself  an  advocate  ?" 

"You  won't  get  five  thousand  for  them/'  replied  Theodose. 

"That  is  no  affair  of  yours,  you  will  pay  the  whole  sum. 
That  will  be  our  share — my  friend's  and  mine — of  a  business 
in  which  you  will  risk  nothing,  but  in  which  you  will  gain  the 
title  of  advocate,  a  good  connection,  and  the  hand  of  a  little 
girl  no  older  than  an  old  dog,  and  owning  at  least  twenty  to 
thirty  thousand  francs  a  year.  Neither  Dutocq  nor  I  can 
marry  her;  we  must  rig  you  out,  make  you  look  like  a  respect- 
able man,  feed  you,  lodge  you,  give  you  decent  furniture.  So 
we  must  have  some  guarantee.  I  do  not  speak  for  myself, 
but  for  my  friend  here,  who  will  use  my  name.  We  will  fit 
you  out  as  a  corsair  to  run  after  the  yellow  boys,  you  see! 
If  we  do  not  capture  this  little  fortune  we  will  try  some  other 
game.  Between  ourselves  we  certainly  need  not  keep  our 
gloves  on  to  save  our  fingers. 

"We  will  give  you  your  instructions,  for  the  affair  must 
not  be  hurried ;  there  will  be  a  hard  tug,  I  can  'tell  you ! 
Here,  I  have  some  stamps." 

"Waiter,  a  pen  and  ink  I"  said  Theodose. 

"That's  the  sort  of  man  I  like,"  said  Dutocq. 

"Sign :  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade,  and  add  in  your  own  hand, 
Avocat,  Rue  Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer,  under  the  words  Ac- 
cepted payable  for  ten  thousand.  We  will  date  it  and  come 
upon  you  for  it,  all  in  secret,  to  have  a  right  to  imprison  you. 
The  shipowners  must  hold  some  security  when  the  captain 
and  the  brig  are  at  sea." 

On  the  day  following,  the  bailiffs  of  the  Justice  of  the 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  141 

Peace  (the  County  Court)  obliged  Cerizet  by  taking  secret 
proceedings;  he  came  in  the  evening  to  call  on  the  lawyer, 
and  everything  was  settled  without  any  public  fuss.  The 
Tribunal  of  Commerce  deals  with  a  hundred  such  cases  at 
every  sitting. 

The  stringent  rules  of  the  Council  of  the  Association  of 
Paris  Advocates  are  well  known.  This  body,  and  that  of  the 
Attorneys,  exercise  strict  discipline  over  their  members.  An 
advocate  in  peril  of  imprisonment  for  debt  at  Clichy  would 
be  erased  from  the  register.  Consequently,  Cerizet,  guided 
by  Dutocq,  had  taken  the  only  course  against  their  puppet 
which  could  secure  them  each  twenty-five  thousand  francs 
out  of  Celeste's  marriage  portion.  Theodose,  when  he  en- 
dorsed the  bills,  only  thought  that  he  was  insuring  his  pros- 
pects; but  as  by  degrees  the  horizon  grew  clearer,  as  he  rose 
step  by  step,  while  playing  his  part,  to  a  higher  position  in 
the  social  scale,  his  dream  was  to  rid  himself  of  his  two  asso- 
ciates. And  now,  when  he  asked  Thuillier  for  twenty-five 
thousand  francs,  it  was  in  the  hope  of  buying  back  his  bills 
from  Cerizet  at  fifty  per  cent. 

Nor  is  this  a  solitary  instance,  unfortunately,  of  such  an 
infamous  speculation ;  such  transactions  are  common  in  Paris 
under  forms  too  thinly  disguised  for  the  historian  to  omit 
them  from  an  exact  and  complete  picture  of  social  manners. 
Dutocq,  a  chartered  libertine,  still  owed  fifteen  thousand 
francs  of  the  price  of  his  office  and  connection,  and  in  his 
hopes  of  success  he  also  hoped,  in  familiar  language,  to  stretch 
the  tether  till  the  end  of  the  year  1840. 

Till  this  hour,  not  one  of  these  three  men  had  shied  or 
called  out.  Each  felt  his  own  strength  and  fully  gauged  the 
danger.  Their  distrust  of  each  other  was  equal,  their  watch- 
fulness and  assumed  confidence;  and  equally  marked  were 
their  gloomy  silence  and  looks  when  reciprocal  suspicion  was 
betrayed  by  their  features  or  their  words.  For  the  last  two 
months  especially,  la  Peyrade's  position  had  been  acquiring 
all  the  strength  of  an  independent  stronghold.  Dutocq 
and  Cerizet  had  a  powder  barrel  under  the  ship,  and  the  slow- 


142  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

match  was  always  burning;  but  the  wind  might  blow  the 
match  out,  and  the  devil  might  wet  the  powder  magazine. 

The  instant  when  wild  beasts  are  about  to  seize  their  prey 
always  seems  the  most  critical,  and  this  moment  was  now  at 
hand  for  these- hungry  tigers.  Cerizet  said  more  than  once 
to  Theodose  by  that  revolutionary  look  which  two  sovereigns 
have  seen  within  this  century :  "I  made  you  King  and  still  I 
am  nobody.  Not  to  be  everything  is  to  be  nothing." 

In  Cerizet  a  reaction  of  envy  was  gathering  impetus  like 
an  avalanche.  Dutocq  saw  himself  at  the  mercy  of  his  copy- 
ing clerk,  who  had  made  money.  Theodose  only  wished  he 
could  burn  his  two  partners  and  their  papers  in  two  confla- 
grations. And  they  all  three  took  too  much  pains  to  conceal 
their  own  thoughts  not  to  guess  the  mind  of  the  others. 

Theodose  lived  between  three  hells  as  he  thought  of  the 
chances  of  the  cards,  of  how  to  play  to  his  game,  and  of  the 
future  before  him.  His  speech  to  Thuillier  had  been  the 
utterance  of  despair;  he  had  cast  the  lead  into  the  depths  of 
the  old  citizen's  waters,  and  had  found  only  twenty-five  thou- 
sand francs  at  the  bottom. 

"And  possibly  nothing  by  the  end  of  the  month!"  said 
he  to  himself,  as  he  went  to  his  own  rooms. 

He  felt  intense  hatred  of  the  Thuilliers.  But  he  held 
Thuillier  by  a  harpoon  that  had  entered  into  his  deepest 
conceit,  the  scheme,  namely,  for  a  work  called  De  I'Impot  et 
de  I'Amortissement  (on  taxation  and  the  redemption  of  the 
debt),  in  which  he  was  to  co-ordinate  the  ideas  published  by 
a  Saint-Simonian  paper,  the  Globe,  lending  them  his  own 
Southern  color,  and  giving  them  a  systematic  shape.  Thuil- 
lier's  knowledge  of  raw  materials  would  be  of  great  service 
to  Theodose.  On  this  rope  he  took  his  seat,  determined  to  do 
battle,  from  this  slender  basis,  with  a  fool's  vanity.  This 
may  be  of  granite  or  of  sand ;  it  depends  on  the  man.  But, 
on  reflection,  he  was  glad  he  had  spoken. 

"When  he  sees  me  secure  his  fortune  by  paying  over  the 
fifteen  thousand  francs  at  a  moment  when  I  am  so  much  in 
need  of  money,  he  will  look  upon  me  as  the  god  of  honesty." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  143 

Now  this  was  what  Claparon  and  Cerizet  had  done  with 
the  notary  two  days  before  that  on  which  the  time  should  ex- 
pire allowed  for  raising  the  offer  for  the  house.  Cerizet, 
to  whom  Claparon  gave  the  password  and  the  notary's  secret 
address,  went  to  him  and  said: 

"One  of  my  friends — Claparon,  whom  you  know — begged 
me  to  call  on  you;  he  expects  you  the  day  after  to-morrow, 
in  the  evening,  at  the  place  you  know  of.  He  has  the  paper 
you  want  of  him,  and  you  shall  have  it  for  the  ten  thousand 
francs,  but  I  must  be  present  at  the  delivery  of  the  money, 
for  five  thousand  francs  of  it  are  due  to  me — and  I  warn  you, 
my  dear  sir,  that  the  name  on  the  secret  agreement  is  left 
blank." 

"I  will  be  there,"  said  the  notary. 

The  poor  wretch  spent  the  night  in  such  torment  as  may 
be  imagined,  for  salvation  or  ruin  hung  in  the  scales  for  him. 
But  at  sunrise,  instead  of  Claparon  he  saw  a  policeman  in  the 
uniform  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  bearing  a  judgment 
in  due  form  and  requiring  him  to  come  away  to  Clichy. 

Cerizet  had  come  to  an  understanding  with  one  of  the 
hapless  notary's  creditors,  and  had  promised  to  get  him  ar- 
rested in  consideration  of  half  the  sum  owed.  Thus  the 
victim  of  this  piece  of  treachery  was  compelled  to  pay,  on  the 
nail,  six  thousand  francs  out  of  the  ten  thousand  promised 
to  Claparon,  in  order  to  avoid  imprisonment;  this  was  the 
whole  amount  of  the  debt. 

As  he  netted  his  share  of  this  swindle: 

"These  thousand  cro\vns,"  said  Cerizet,  "will  enable  me 
to  get  rid  of  Claparon." 

Cerizet  went  back  to  the  notary  and  said  to  him : 

"Claparon  is  a  rogue,  monsieur!  He  has  taken  fifteen 
thousand  francs  from  the  purchaser,  who  will  certainly  remain 
the  owner.  Threaten  him  with  telling  his  creditors  where  he 
is  hidden  and  with  an  indictment  for  fraudulent  bankruptcy ; 
he  will  give  you  half  readily  enough." 

The  notary,  in  a  fury,  wrote  a  fulminating  letter  to  Cla- 
paron. Claparon;  in  his  turn,  dreaded  an  arrest,  and  Cerizet 
undertook  to  get  him  a  passport. 


144  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"You  have  played  me  many  a  trick,  Claparon,"  said  C6ri- 
zet;  "but  listen:  you  shall  pronounce  judgment  on  me — I 
have  a  thousand  crowns  and  not  another  penny  in  the  world. 
I  will  give  them  to  you.  Sail  for  America  and  there  found 
your  fortune  as  I  am  making  mine  here." 

That  evening,  Claparon,  disguised  by  Cerizet  as  an  old 
woman,  set  out  in  the  diligence  for  le  Havre.  Cerizet  was 
now  master  of  the  fifteeen  thousand  francs  demanded  by 
Claparon,  and  he  awaited  la  Peyrade  calmly  and  without 
haste.  This  man,  of  really  remarkable  intelligence,  had  a 
bidder  who,  under  the  name  of  a  creditor,  for  two  thousand 
francs,  was  to  make  a  bid,  but  not  soon  enough  to  save  the 
sale.  This  was  an  idea  of  Dutocq's  which  he  proceeded  to 
put  into  execution.  Fifteen  thousand  francs  more  must  be 
insisted  on  to  bribe  this  new  bidder;  consequently  he  would 
get  seven  thousand  five  hundred  more;  and  he  needed  it  to 
settle  an  affair  absolutely  similar  to  that  of  Thuillier,  pointed 
out  to  him  by  Claparon,  who  was  stupefied  by  disaster.  The 
matter  in  question  was  a  house  in  the  Rue  Geoffroy-Marie, 
which  was  to  be  sold  for  sixty  thousand  francs.  The  Widow 
Poiret  offered  him  ten  thousand  francs,  the  wine-mer- 
chant did  the  same,  and  bills  for  ten  thousand  more. 
These  thirty  thousand  francs  and  what  he  was  to  get,  added  to 
six  thousand  that  he  had  of  his  own,  allowed  him  to  tempt 
fortune  with  all  the  more  reason  because  the  twenty-five  thou- 
sand due  from  la  Peyrade  seemed  a  certainty. 

"The  time  is  up,"  thought  Theodose,  as  he  went  to  ask 
Dutocq  to  send  Cerizet  to  see  him,  "suppose  I  try  to  shake  off 
my  leech." 

"You  can  only  settle  this  business  in  Cerizet's  office,  since 
Claparon  is  in  it,"  said  Dutocq. 

So  between  seven  and  eight  o'clock  Theodose  made  his  ap- 
pearance in  the  usurer's  den,  Dutocq  having  announced  in 
the  morning  that  the  man  of  capital  intended  to  call. 

La  Peyrade  was  ushered  into  the  hideous  kitchen  where 
misery  was  made  into  mince-meat,  and  where  the  tortures 
were  concocted  of  which  we  have  had  a  glimpse.  The  two 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  145 

men  walked  up  and  down  the  room  exactly  like  beasts  in  a 
cage  while  playing  this  scene. 

"Have  you  brought  the  fifteen  thousand  francs?" 

"No?  but  I  have  them  at  home." 

"Why  not  in  your  pocket?"  said  Cerizet  with  asperity. 

"That  I  will  tell  you/'  replied  the  lawyer,  who  between  the 
Hue  Saint-Dominique  and  1'Estrapade  had  decided  on  his 
line  of  conduct. 

The  Provengal,  while  turning  on  the  gridiron  on  which 
his  partners  had  stretched  him,  had  a  bright  idea  that 
flashed  from  the  heart  of  the  hot  coals.  Danger  has  its  mo- 
ments of  illumination.  He  would  trust  to  the  power  of  truth- 
fulness, which  can  move  any  man,  even  a  scoundrel.  A  duel- 
ist is  almost  always  favorably  disposed  towards  an  adversary 
who  strips  to  the  waist. 

"Hm !"  said  Cerizet.     "Now  the  fun  begins !" 

The  words  were  sinister,  and  spoken  through  his  nose  with 
an  ominous  accent. 

"You  have  placed  me  in  a  splendid  position,  and  I  will 
never  forget  it,  my  good  friend,"  said  Theodose,  with  deep 
feeling. 

"Oh  !     If  that's  all !"  said  Cerizet. 

"Listen  to  me.    You  do  not  know  what  my  intentions  are/' 

"Indeed  I  do !"  replied  the  usurer. 

"No." 

"You  do  not  intend  to  pay  up  those  fifteen  thousand " 

Theodose,  with  a  shrug,  looked  hard  at  Cerizet,  who, 
startled  by  his  expression,  stopped  short. 

"Would  you  stand  in  my  place,  knowing  that  you  were  with- 
in range  of  a  gun  loaded  with  grape-shot,  without  wanting 
to  put  an  end  to  the  situation?  Now,  just  listen  to  me. 
Your  business  is  very  risky,  and  it  would  be  a  good  thing  for 
you  to  have  a  trustworthy  protector  at  the  headquarters  of 
justice  in  Paris.  I,  by  going  steadily  on  my  way,  may,  in 
three  years,  be  public  prosecutor,  or  even  advocate-general. 
Now  and  here,  I  offer  you  an  unfailing  friendship  which  will 


146  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

certainly  serve  your  turn  if  only  to  recover  a  respectable  posi- 
tion later.  These  are  my  conditions " 

"Conditions!"  exclaimed  Cerizet. 

"Within  ten  minutes  I  will  bring  you  twenty-five  thousand 
francs,  in  exchange  for  all  the  claims  you  hold  against  me." 

"And  Dutocq,  and  Claparon?"  cried  Cerizet. 

"Leave  them  in  the  lurch,"  whispered  Theodose,  in  his 
friend's  ear. 

"That  is  a  neat  trick !"  retorted  Cerizet.  "And  you  have 
invented  this  little  thimble-rig  since  you  had  fifteen  thou- 
sand francs  in  your  palm  which  don't  belong  to  you !" 

"I  have  added  ten  thousand.  And,  after  all,  we  know  each 
other." 

"If  you  can  get  ten  thousand  francs  out  of  your  old  buf- 
fers," exclaimed  Cerizet  eagerly,  "you  can  extract  fifteen. 
Thirty  thousand  and  I'm  your  man.  If  you  are  frank,  so 
am  I." 

"You  ask  for  the  impossible !"  exclaimed  Theodose.  "At 
this  moment,  if  you  had  a  Claparon  to  deal  with,  your  fifteen 
thousand  francs  would  be  gone,  for  the  house  belongs  to 
Thuillier/' 

"I  will  go  and  tell  him,"  replied  Cerizet,  pretending  to  go 
and  consult  Claparon  upstairs  in  the  room  whence  Claparon 
had  departed,  packed  into  a  hackney  cab,  ten  minutes  before 
Theodose  came. 

The  antagonists  had,  as  may  be  supposed,  talked  in  under- 
tones, and  if  Theodose  raised  his  voice,  Cerizet  conveyed  to 
him  by  a  gesture  that  Claparon  might  be  listening.  The  five 
minutes  during  which  la  Peyrade  heard  a  hum  of  two  voices, 
as  he  believed,  were  agonizing,  for  his  whole  life  was  at  stake. 

Cerizet  presently  came  down,  a  smile  on  his  lips,  his  eyes 
sparkling  with  infernal  malice,  tremulous  with  glee,  terrific 
in  a  cheerful  mood. 

"I  know  nothing  myself,"  said  he,  shrugging  his  shoulders, 
"but  Claparon  has  friends;  he  has  been  working  for  bankers 
of  the  upper  class,  and  he  went  into  fits  of  laughter,  saying, 
'Just  what  I  expected !' — You  will  have  to  bring  me  those 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  14? 

twenty-five  thousand  francs  you  offered  me,  and  to  redeem 
your  bills  all  the  same,  my  boy." 

"And  why?"  asked  Theodose,  feeling  his  spinal  marrow 
turn  fluid,  as  if  melted  by  the  discharge  of  some  internal  elec- 
tric shock. 

"The  house  is  ours!" 

"How  is  that?" 

"Claparon  bid  a  higher  price  in  the  name  of  the  first  man 
who  proceeded  against  him,  a  little  toad  named  Sauvaignou. 
Desroches,  the  attorney,  has  the  matter  in  hand,  and  you  will 
have  formal  notice  to-morrow  morning.  It  is  such  a  capital 
job  that  it  is  worth  our  while — Claparon's,  Dutocq's,  and 
mine — to  find  the  cash.  Where  should  I  be  without  Cla- 
paron ?  And  I  have  forgiven  him.  I  forgive  him,  and  though 
you  may  hardly  believe  me,  my  dear  fellow,  we  have  kissed 
and  made  friends.  You  must  modify  your  conditions." 

The  last  words  were  appalling,  especially  as  emphasized  by 
Cerizet's  countenance;  he  was  allowing  himself  the  pleasure 
of  playing  a  scene  out  of  Le  Legataire,  while  studying  the 
Provengal  character. 

"Oh !  Cerizet,"  cried  Theodose,  "and  I  meant  so  well  by 
you !" 

"You  see,  my  dear  boy,"  replied  Cerizet,  "between  you  and 
me,  this  is  what  is  wanted  !"  And  he  struck  his  heart.  "You 
have  none.  As  soon  as  you  fancy  you  have  a  hold  over  us  you, 
try  to  squeeze  us  flat.  I  rescued  you  from  the  horrors  of  ver- 
min and  starvation,  but  you  will  die  like  a  fool.  We  brought 
you  face  to  face  with  fortune;  we  slipped  you  into  the  hand- 
somest society-skin;  we  put  you  where  you  had  only  to  help 
yourself — and  after  all  that !  Now  I  know  you.  We  march 
under  arms." 

"This  is  war!"  said  Theodose. 

"You  fired  first,"  said  Cerizet. 

"But  if  you  do  for  me,  good-bye  to  all  your  hopes;  and 
even  if  you  let  me  alone,  you  make  me  your  enemy." 

"That  is  what  I  said  yesterday  to  Dutocq,"  said  C6rizet 
coolly.  "But  what  can  I  do?  We  will  choose  between  the 


148  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

two  alternatives,  and  act  according  to  circumstances.  I  am  a 
good  sort/'  he  went  on,  after  a  pause ;  "bring  me  that  twenty- 
five  thousand  francs  to-morrow  morning  at  nine  o'clock,  and 
Thuillier  shall  keep  the  house.  We  will  still  do  our  best  for 
you,  at  both  ends,  and  you  must  pay.  .  .  .  Now,  after 
what  has  passed,  my  boy,  is  not  that  very  handsome  treat- 
ment?" 

And  Cerizet  slapped  him  on  the  shoulder  with  a  sort  of 
cynicism  that  was  a  worse  brand  than  that  of  the  executioner's 
iron. 

"Well,  give  me  till  midday/'  said  the  Provencal,  "for  there 
will  be  a  tough  pull,  as  you  say/' 

"I  will  try  to  persuade  Claparon,  but  he  is  a  man  in  a 
hurry." 

"Well,  then,  till  to-morrow,"  said  Theodose,  in  a  tone  of 
determination. 

"Good-night,  my  friend/'  said  Cerizet,  in  a  nasal  tone, 
which  degraded  the  noblest  word  in  the  language.  "There  is 
a  fellow  who  has  powers  of  suction  !"  said  he  to  himself,  as  he 
watched  Theodose  walking  down  the  street  with  the  uncer- 
tain gait  of  a  bewildered  man. 

When  Theodose  turned  into  the  Eue  des  Postes,  he  went  at 
a  swift  pace  to  the  Collevilles'  house,  working  himself  up  by 
talking  aloud.  And  under  the  heat  of  his  seething  passions, 
the  sort  of  interior  fire  that  is  known  to  many  Parisians — 
for  such  hideous  situations  are  common  enough  in  Paris — he 
rose  to  a  pitch  of  frenzy  and  rhetoric  which  one  word  will  de- 
pict. At  the  corner  of  the  Eue  Saint-Jacques  du  Haut-Pas, 
in  the  Eue  des  Deux  Eglises,  he  cried  aloud : 

"I  will  kill  him !" 

"There  is  a  man  who  is  not  best  pleased !"  observed  a  work- 
man, whose  ironical  comment  served  to  quench  the  incan- 
descent madness  that  was  coming  upon  Theodose. 

As  he  left  Cerizet,  the  idea  had  occurred  to  him  of  confid- 
ing in  Flavie,  and  confessing  everything  to  her.  This  is  the 
way  with  Southern  natures;  strong  up  to  the  verge  of  certain 
passions  which  overbalance  them. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  149 

He  went  in.  Flavie  was  alone  in  her  room ;  when  she  saw 
Theodose  she  thought  he  had  come  to  possess  her  or  to  kill 
her. 

"What  is  the  matter  ?"  she  cried. 

"The  matter  ! — Do  you  love  me,  Flavie  ?" 

"Can  you  doubt  it?" 

"Wholly,  positively — even  as  a  criminal." 

"Has  he  murdered  somebody  ?"  thought  she.  She  answered 
with  a  nod. 

La  Peyrade,  thankful  to  clutch  at  that  willow-bough, 
crossed  from  his  chair  to  the  sofa,  and  two  streams  of  tears 
flowed  from  his  eyes,  with  sobs  that  would  have  touched  the 
heart  of  an  old  judge. 

"Not  at  home  to  anybody !"  Flavie  called  out  to  the  maid. 

She  shut  the  doors  and  came  back  to  Theodose,  feeling  her- 
self moved  to  the  most  maternal  pity.  She  found  the  son  of 
the  South  stretched  at  full  length,  with  his  head  thrown  back, 
and  crying  bitterly.  He  had  taken  out  his  handkerchief,  and 
when  Flavie  tried  to  take  it  from  him  it  was  soaked  in  tears. 

"But  what  is  it  ?    What  is  the  matter  ?"  she  asked. 

Nature,  keener  far  than  art,  served  Theodose  well ;  he  was 
not  playing  a  part  now ;  he  was  himself ;  these  tears,  this  hys- 
terical weeping,  were  the  signature  to  the  farce  he  had  been 
acting. 

"You  are  a  baby!"  said  she  in  soft  tones,  as  she  stroked 
Theodose's  hair,  and  his  eyes  grew  dry. 

"You  are  to  me  the  only  creature  in  the  world !"  cried  he, 
kissing  Flavie's  hands  with  a  sort  of  frenzy,  "and  if  you  are 
true  to  me — if  you  are  to  me  as  the  body  is  to  the  soul — nay, 
as  the  soul  is  to  the  body,"  he  added,  correcting  himself  with 
much  grace,  "then,  then,  I  can  have  courage." 
'  He  rose  and  paced  the  room. 

"Yes,  then  I  can  fight ;  I  can  recover  my  strength,  like  An- 
taeus, by  embracing  my  mother.  And  I  will  throttle  in  my 
grasp  the  serpents  that  entwine  me,  that  give  me  serpents' 
kisses,  that  slaver  my  cheeks,  and  thirst  to  suck  my  blood — 
my  honor !  Oh  !  What  a  thing  is  poverty !  How  great  are 


150  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

the  men  who  can  stand  and  face  it  with  a  proud  mien!  I 
should  have  done  better  to  let  myself  die  of  hunger  on  my 
camp-bed  three  years  and  a  half  ago.  The  grave  is  a  couch 
of  ease  as  compared  with  the  life  I  lead.  For  eighteen  months 
I  have  been  crammed  with  respectable  citizens,  and  just  as  I 
had  a  chance  of  an  honest  and  happy  existence,  of  a  splendid 
future — just  as  I  was  stepping  forward  to  take  a  seat  at  the 
table  of  the  world's  banquet,  the  executioner  must  tap  me  on 
the  shoulder.  Yes !  the  ruffian  taps  me  on  the  shoulder  and 
says,  Tay  your  tithe  to  the  devil,  or  die !'  And  am  I  not  to 
trample  on  them,  not  to  ram  my  fist  down  their  throats  to 
their  very  bowels !  But  I  will,  oh,  yes,  I  will !  You  see, 
Flavie,  my  eyes  are  dry.  Oh,  I  can  laugh,  now;  I  feel  my 
power,  and  I  have  recovered  my  strength.  Tell  me  that  you 
love  me;  tell  me  again.  The  words  at  this  moment  are  like 
the  word  Tardon'  to  a  criminal." 

"You  are  terrible,  my  dear !"  said  Flavie,  "oh,  you  are 
crushing  me !" 

She  could  not  understand,  but  she  sank  onto  the  sofa,  half 
dead  and  overset  by  this  scene.  Theodose  fell  on  his  knees 
before  her. 

"Forgive  me,  forgive  me,"  he  cried. 

"But  what  is  it  all  about?"  said  she. 

"They  are  bent  on  ruining  me.  Oh  !  promise  me  that  I  shall 
marry  Celeste,  and  you  will  see  what  a  happy  life  you  shall 
share.  If  you  hesitate — well,  that  will  mean  that  you  shall  be 
mine — I  will  have  you !" 

And  he  started  forward  with  such  vehemence  that  Flavie 
was  terrified,  and  began  to  walk  about. 

"Ah,  my  angel !  At  your  feet — there — a  miracle !  God  is 
certainly  on  my  side ;  I  had,  as  it  were,  a  lightning  flash  !  A 
sudden  idea  came  to  me !  Thanks,  thanks,  my  good  angel, 
great  Theodosius !  Thou  hast  saved  me  !" 

Flavie  admired  this  chameleon  creature;  kneeling  on  one 
knee,  his  hands  crossed  on  his  breast,  and  his  eyes  raised  to 
heaven  in  religious  rapture,  he  repeated  a  prayer ;  he  was  the 
most  fervent  Catholic;  he  crossed  himself.  It  was  as  glori- 
ous as  the  ecstasy  of  Saint  Jerome. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  151 

"Good-bye,"  said  he,  with  a  tone  of  melancholy  that  was 
fascinating. 

"Oh !"  cried  Flavie,  "leave  me  that  handkerchief." 

Theodose  ran  downstairs,  like  a  lunatic,  into  the  street, 
and  away  to  the  Thuilliers' ;  but  he  looked  round,  saw  Flavie 
at  her  window,  and  waved  his  hand  in  triumph. 

"What  a  man !"  said  she  to  herself. 

"My  dear  fellow,"  said  Theodose  to  Thuillier,  in  a  calm, 
soothing,  almost  coaxing  voice,  "we  are  in  the  power  of  atro- 
cious villains,  but  I  am  going  to  give  them  a  little  lesson." 

"What  is  wrong?"  said  Brigitte. 

"Why,  they  want  twenty-five  thousand  francs,  and  to  get 
the  law  on  their  side,  the  notary,  or  his  accomplices,  have 
outbid  us.  Put  five  thousand  francs  in  your  pocket,  Thuillier, 
and  come  with  me ;  I  will  secure  the  house  for  you.  I  am  mak- 
ing myself  mortal  enemies  !"  he  exclaimed.  "They  will  be  the 
death  of  me,  morally  speaking.  So  long  as  you  despise  their 
vile  calumnies,  and  never  change  to  me,  that  is  all  I  ask.  And 
what  is  it,  after  all,  but  this?  If  I  succeed,  you  will  have 
paid  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  francs  for  the  house 
instead  of  a  hundred  and  twenty." 

"And  it  will  not  begin  again?"  asked  Brigitte,  very  un- 
easily; her  eyes  were  dilated  with  horrible  suspicion. 

"Only  the  creditors  on  the  schedule  have  a  right  to  raise 
the  price,  and  as  this  one  only  has  exercised  it,  we  are  safe. 
His  claim  is  for  no  more  than  two  thousand  francs,  but  in  a 
business  of  this  sort  the  attorneys  have  to  be  paid,  and  it  is 
as  well  to  make  the  creditor  a  present  of  a  thousand  francs." 

"Go,  Thuillier,  and  get  your  hat  and  gloves,"  said  Brigitte ; 
"you  will  find  the  money,  you  know  where." 

"As  I  have  let  fifteen  thousand  francs  slip  through  my 
fingers  for  nothing,  I  will  have  no  more  money  pass  through 
my  hands.  Thuillier  himself  shall  pay  it,"  said  Theodose, 
when  he  found  himself  alone  with  Brigitte.  "You  have 
saved  at  least  twenty  thousand  francs  over  the  bargain  I  made 
for  you  with  Grindot.  He  thought  he  was  working  for  the 
notary,  and  you  have  got  a  freehold  house  which,  in  five  years, 


152  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

will  be  worth  near  on  a  million  francs.  It  is  at  the  corner  of 
a  boulevard." 

Brigitte  listened,  but  with  uneasy  attention,  exactly  like  a 
cat  that  smells  mice  under  the  floor.  She  looked  into  la  Pey- 
rade's  eyes,  and  in  spite  of  her  acute  penetration  she  had  her 
doubts. 

"What  is  it,  little  aunt?" 

"Oh !  I  shall  be  on  tenter  hooks  till  the  house  is  ours." 

"You  would  give  twenty  thousand  francs,  now,  wouldn't 
you,"  said  Theodose,  "to  see  Thuillier  in  undisputed  posses- 
sion? Well,  you  must  remember  that  I  have  made  twice  as 
much  for  you." 

"Where  are  we  going?"  asked  Thuillier. 

"To  call  on  Godeschal,  whom  we  must  employ  as  our  at- 
torney." 

"But  we  refused  to  let  him  marry  Celeste,"  exclaimed  the 
old  maid. 

"That  is  the  very  reason  I  am  going  to  him,"  replied  Theo- 
dose. "I  have  a  high  opinion  of  him ;  he  is  a  man  of  honor, 
and  he  will  feel  it  a  fine  thing  to  do  you  a  service." 

Godeschal,  Derville's  successor,  had,  for  more  than  ten 
years,  been  Desroches'  managing  clerk.  Theodose,  who  knew 
this)  had  heard  the  name  spoken  in  his  ear,  as  it  were,  by  an 
inner  voice,  in  the  midst  of  his  despair,  and  he  saw  a  chance 
of  placing  the  weapon,  which  Cerizet  had  aimed  at  him,  in 
Claparon's  hands.  But  first  and  foremost  the  advocate 
wanted  to  get  into  Desroches'  office,  and  gain  information  as 
to  the  position  of  the  foe.  Godeschal  alone,  in  virtue  of  the 
intimacy  existing  between  a  master  and  a  head-clerk,  could 
help  him  in  this. 

The  attorneys  of  Paris,  when  they  are  on  such  good  terms  as 
Godeschal  and  Desroches  were,  live  in  real  brotherhood,  and 
the  result  is  a  certain  facility  for  arranging  any  matters  that 
can  be  arranged.  They  obtain  from  each  other,  turn  and  turn 
about,  such  concessions  as  are  admissible,  applying  the  pro- 
verb "One  good  turn  deserves  another,"  which  is  acted  on,  in 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  153 

fact,  in  every  profession,  among  ministers,  officers,  lawyers, 
and  merchants,  everywhere,  indeed,-  where  hostility  has  not 
raised  too  strong  a  barrier  between  the  parties  concerned. 

"I  am  getting  fairly  good  pay  on  this  transaction,"  is  an 
argument  which  need  not  be  spoken;  it  is  expressed  in  a  ges- 
ture, a  tone,  a  look.  And  as  attorneys  can  always  meet  on 
this  common  ground,  the  matter  is  arranged.  The  counter- 
poise to  this  good-fellowship  lies  in  what  may  be  called  the 
professional  conscience.  For  instance,  society  is  bound  to 
believe  the  physician,  who,  as  a  witness  in  medical  law  says, 
"This  substance  contains  arsenic;"  no  consideration  can  over- 
come the  professional  pride  of  an  actor,  the  sense  of  honor  of 
a  lawyer,  the  incorruptibility  of  a  minister.  And  a  Paris  at- 
torney says,  with  no  less  blunt  frankness,  "You  will  never 
get  that  done;  my  client  is  obstinate,"  and  the  adversary  re- 
plies, "Well,  well,  we  will  see." 

Now,  la  Peyrade,  a  wide-awake  person,  had  dragged  his 
gown  about  the  courts  long  enough  to  know  that  legal  ameni- 
ties would  serve  his  purpose. 

"Wait  in  the  carriage,"  said  he  to  Thuillier,  when  they  ar- 
rived in  the  Rue  Vivienne,  where  Godeschal  was  now  master 
of  the  office  where  he  had  served  his  apprenticeship.  "You 
need  not  come  up  unless  he  undertakes  the  job." 

It  was  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  and  la  Peyrade  was  not  dis- 
appointed in  his  expectation  of  finding  a  newly  fledged  at- 
torney busy  in  his  office  even  so  late  as  this. 

"To  what  do  I  owe  a  visit  from  you,  Monsieur  1'Avocat?" 
said  Godeschal  rising  to  meet  la  Peyrade. 

Foreigners  and  country  folks,  and  even  people  of  fashion, 
may  perhaps  not  know  that  advocates — or  barristers — are  to 
attorneys  what  generals  are  to  marshals;  there  is  a  line  of 
demarcation  very  strictly  observed  between  the  two  classes 
of  lawyers  in  Paris.  However  old  an  attorney  may  be,  how- 
ever competent,  he  must  wait  on  the  advocate.  The  attorney 
is  the  tactician  who  traces  the  plan  of  battle,  collects  the  mu- 
nitions of  war,  and  sets  everything  in  motion;  the  advocate 
does  the  fighting.  It  is  no  more  ascertainable  why  the  law 


154  THE  MIDDLE  GLASSES 

gives  a  client  two  men  instead  of  one,  than  why  an  author 
needs  a  printer  and  a  bookseller.  The  Association  of  Advo- 
cates forbids  the  members  to  do  any  legal  act  which  is  essen- 
tially the  right  or  duty  of  the  attorney.  Very  rarely  does  any 
great  pleader  set  foot  in  an  office;  they  meet  in  court.  Still, 
in  society,  these  barriers  do  not  exist,  and  occasionally  an  ad- 
vocate, especially  in  la  Peyrade's  position,  condescends  so  far 
as  to  call  on  an  attorney;  but  the  cases  are  exceptional,  and 
generally  justified  by  some  special  urgency. 

"Well,  to  tell  the  truth,  the  matter  is  serious,  and  a  very 
delicate  question  must  be  settled  by  you  and  me.  Thuillier  is 
down  stairs  in  a  coach,  and  I  have  come  to  you  not  as  a 
pleader,  but  as  Thuillier's  friend.  You,  and  you  alone,  are 
able  to  do  him  an  immense  service,  and  I  told  him  you  had 
too  noble  a  soul — for  you  are  the  worthy  successor  of  Der- 
ville — not  to  place  all  your  abilities  at  his  command.  This 
is  the  state  of  affairs." 

After  setting  forth,  altogether  to  his  own  advantage,  the 
trick  he  wished  to  balk  by  skill — for  attorneys  meet  with 
more  clients  who  tell  lies  than  who  tell  the  truth — la  Pey- 
rade  proceeded  to  his  plan  of  campaign. 

"You,  my  dear  Maitre,  must  go  this  very  evening  to  see 
Desroches,  explain  to  him  the  whole  plot,  persuade  him  to 
see  his  client  Sauvaignou  to-morrow  morning ;  among  us  we 
will  extract  the  truth  from  him,  and  if  he  wants  a  thousand 
francs  over  and  above  what  is  due  to  him,  we  will  fork  out,  to 
say  nothing  of  five  hundred  to  you  and  as  much  to  Desroches, 
if  Thuillier  has  a  letter  renouncing  his  bid  before  ten  o'clock 
to-morrow  morning.  What  can  Sauvaignou  want  but  his 
money?  Well,  then,  he  is  not  likely  to  resist  the  bait  of  a 
thousand-franc  note,  even  if  he  is  but  the  stalking-horse  of 
some  avaricious  speculator.  The  conflict  between  those  who 
are  making  use  of  him  does  not  concern  us.  Come,  get  the 
Thuilliers  out  of  this  scrape/' 

"I  will  be  off  to  Desroches  this  instant,"  said  Godeschal. 

"No;  not  before  Thuillier  has  given  you  a  power  of  attor- 
ney, and  paid  you  five  thousand  francs.  In  any  case,  cash  in 
hand  is  essential." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  155 

After  an  interview  at  which  Thuillier  was  present,  la  Pey- 
rade  took  Godeschal  in  the  carriage  to  Desroches'  office  in  the 
Rue  de  Bethisy,  saying  that  they  must  go  that  way  to  the  Hue 
Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer,  and  on  Desroches'  doorstep  la  Pey- 
rade  fixed  for  their  next  meeting  at  seven  next  morning.  La 
Peyrade's  future  life  and  fortune  depended  on  the  upshot  of 
this  meeting;  so  we  need  not  be  astonished  to  find  him  over- 
looking the  customs  of  his  brotherhood  by  coming  to  Des- 
roches' office  in  order  to  study  Sauvaignou,  and  to  mingle  in 
the  fray  in  spite  of  the  danger  he  ran  in  venturing  under  the 
eye  of  the  most  formidable  of  Paris  attorneys. 

As  he  went  in  and  made  his  bow  he  examined  Sauvaignou. 
He  was,  as  Theodose  had  supposed  from  his  name,  a  Mar- 
seillese,  a  superior  workman,  who  filled  the  place  of  foreman 
or  clerk  of  the  works,  intermediary  between  the  master  car- 
penter of  the  building  and  the  workmen,  and  superintendent 
of  the  execution  of  the  work.  The  profit  of  the  contractor 
consists  of  the  difference  between  the  price  fixed  by  the  fore- 
man and  the  price  paid  by  the  builder  after  deducting  the 
cost  of  materials,  in  regard  only  to  the  labor. 

The  master  carpenter  having  been  made  bankrupt,  Sauvai- 
gnou had  entered  his  name  under  a  judgment  of  the  Tribunal 
of  Commerce  as  a  creditor  with  a  claim  on  the  unfinished 
building,  and  had  registered  his  claim.  This  little  business 
was  the  end  of  the  general  collapse.  Sauvaignou,  a  small, 
square  man,  wearing  a  gray  drill  blouse  and  a  cap  on  his  head, 
was  seated  in  an  armchair.  Three  banknotes  for  a  thousand 
francs  each,  lying  before  him  on  Desroches'  table  showed  la 
Peyrade  that  the  skirmish  was  over,  and  that  the  attorneys 
had  failed.  Godeschal's  eyes  were  indeed  eloquent,  and  the 
look  flashed  by  Desroches  on  the  advocate  of  the  poor  was 
like  the  stroke  of  a  pick  in  a  grave.  Stimulated  by  danger, 
the  Provencal  rose  to  the  occasion ;  he  was  grand,  he  laid  his 
hand  on  the  three  notes  and  folded  them  up  to  put  them  into 
his  pocket. 

"Thuillier  does  not  want  to  deal,"  said  he  to  Desroches. 

"Then  we  are  all  agreed,"  said  the  terrible  attorney. 
VOL.  14—36 


156  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Yes.  Your  client  must  repay  fifty  thousand  francs  spent 
on  the  structure  under  the  contract  between  Thuillier  and 
Grindot.  I  did  not  mention  that  to  you  yesterday,"  he  added 
to  Godeschal. 

"You  hear  that?"  said  Desroches  to  Sauvaignou.  "That 
will  lead  to  a  lawsuit  that  I  cannot  undertake  without  a  guar- 
antee." 

"But,  gentlemen,"  said  Sauvaignou,  "I  cannot  say  any- 
thing till  I  have  seen  the  worthy  man  who  gave  me  five  hun- 
dred francs  on  account  for  having  signed  a  power  of  attorney 
to  him." 

"Are  you  from  Marseilles?"  said  Theodose  to  Sauvaignou 
in  the  dialect  of  the  district. 

"Oh,  if  once  he  begins  talking  patois  it's  all  up  !"  said  Des- 
roches to  Godeschal  in  a  whisper. 

"Yes,  monsieur." 

"Well,  my  poor  boy,"  Theodose  went  on,  "they  only  want 
to  ruin  you.  Do  you  know  what  you  had  better  do  ?  Pocket 
these  three  thousand  francs,  and  when  the  other  man  comes 
take  your  foot-rule  and  give  him  a  thrashing,  and  tell  him  he 
is  a  rascal,  that  he  was  trying  to  make  a  cat's-paw  of  you,  that 
you  revoke  the  power  of  attorney,  and  will  return  him  his 
money  when  two  Sundays  come  in  the  middle  of  the  week. 
And  then,  with  these  three  thousand  francs  and  whatever 
you  have  saved,  get  off  to  Marseilles.  And  if  anything  goes 
wrong,  come  to  this  gentleman.  He  will  always  know  where 
to  find  me,  and  I  will  get  you  out  of  the  scrape ;  for  not  only 
am  I  a  good  Provengal,  but  I  am  one  of  the  leading  advocates 
in  Paris,  and  the  friend  of  the  poor." 

When  the  workman  found  support  in  a  fellow-countryman, 
sanctioning  the  reasons  he  had  for  playing  the  usurer  false, 
he  capitulated,  bargaining  for  three  thousand  five  hundred 
francs. 

The  fifteen  hundred  francs  being  granted,  "Not  a  bad 
haul !"  said  Sauvaignou,  "and  it's  worth  it,  for  he  may  have 
me  up  for  breach  of  contract." 

"No.  Do  not  strike  the  blow  till  he  begins  to  talk  big ;  then 
it  will  be  self-defence." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  157 

When  Desroches  had  assured  him  that  la  Peyrade  was  an 
advocate  in  practice,  Sauvaignou  signed  the  deed  of  renun- 
ciation, including  a  receipt  for  the  costs,  interest,  and  prin- 
cipal of  his  claims,  in  duplicate  as  between  Thuillier  and  him- 
self, each  witnessed  by  their  respective  attorneys  that  the  dis- 
charge might  be  final. 

"We  leave  you  the  fifteen  hundred  francs,"  said  la  Peyrade 
confidentially  to  Desroches  and  Godeschal,  "on  condition  of 
your  handing  over  the  discharge  to  me.  I  will  take  Thuillier 
to  sign  it  before  Cardot,  his  notary;  the  poor  man  never 
closed  an  eye  all  night." 

"Very  well,"  said  Desroches.  "And  you,"  said  he,  as  he 
made  Sauvaignou  write  his  name,  "may  congratulate  yourself 
on  having  earned  fifteen  hundred  francs  with  great  ease." 

"But  are  they  really  mine,  Master  Scrivener?"  asked  the 
Provengal  uneasily. 

"Oh,  quite  lawfully !"  replied  Desroches.  "Only  you  must 
now  revoke  the  powers  you  placed  in  the  hands  of  your  rep- 
resentative, dated  yesterday.  Go  into  my  office  there — through 
there." 

Desroches  explained  to  his  head-clerk  what  was  to  be  done, 
and  desired  one  of  his  pupils  to  take  care  that  the  messenger 
was  at  Cerizet's  before  ten  o'clock. 

"I  am  infinitely  obliged  to  you,  Desroches,"  said  la  Pey- 
rade, pressing  the  attorney's  hand.  "You  think  of  everything ; 
I  shall  not  forget  this  service." 

"Do  not  hand  your  bid  in  to  Cardot  till  after  twelve 
o'clock." 

"And  you,  old  boy,"  cried  Theodose  to  Sauvaignou,  "take 
your  Poll  to  Belleville  for  the  day;  don't  go  home,  whatever 
you  do." 

"I  understand,"  said  Sauvaignou,  "nabbed  to-morrow !" 

"I  believe  you,"  said  la  Peyrade,  with  a  peculiar  Provengal 
cry. 

"There  is  something  beneath  all  this,"  said  Desroches  to 
Godeschal,  just  as  the  advocate  came  back  into  the  private 
room  from  the  office. 


158  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"The  Thuilliers  have  secured  a  fine  property  for  nothing, 
that's  all/'  said  Godeschal. 

"La  Peyrade  and  Cerizet  are  to  me  just  like  two  divers 
fighting  under  water.  What  am  I  to  say  to  Cerizet,  who  sent 
the  job  to  me  ?"  asked  Desroches  of  the  lawyer,  after  making 
this  keen  remark  in  an  undertone. 

"That  Sauvaignou  forced  your  hand,"  replied  la  Peyrade. 

"And  you  are  not  afraid  ?"  said  Desroches,  point-blank. 

"I !"  said  Theodose.     "I  can  give  him  points !" 

"I  will  know  all  about  it  to-morrow,"  said  Desroches  to 
Godeschal.  "A  beaten  man  will  always  blab." 

La  Peyrade  went  off  with  his  declaration.  By  eleven 
o'clock  he  was  in  waiting  on  the  magistrate,  calm  and  resolute, 
and  as  he  saw  Cerizet  come  in  pale  with  rage,  his  eyes  glis- 
tening with  venom,  he  said  in  his  ear : 

"My  dear  fellow,  I  am  good-natured  too!  I  still  have  the 
twenty-five  thousand  francs  at  your  service  in  exchange  for 
all  the  bills  you  hold  in  my  name."  Cerizet  looked  at  him, 
incapable  of  saying  a  word;  he  was  green;  his  bile  had  risen. 

"I  am  a  landowner,  in  full  possession !"  exclaimed  Thuil- 
lier,  as  he  came  home  from  seeing  Jacquinot,  Cardot's  son-in- 
law  and  successor.  "No  human  power  can  deprive  me  of  my 
house;  they  have  told  me  so." 

Middle-class  men  believe  a  notary  far  rather  than  an  at- 
torney ;  the  notary  is  closer  to  them  than  any  other  ministerial 
official.  A  Paris  citizen  is  not  without  some  alarm  when  he 
goes  to  see  his  attorney,  whose  pugnacious  daring  bewilders 
him,  while  he  always  goes  with  fresh  pleasure  to  call  on  the 
notary,  and  admires  his  wisdom  and  good  sense. 

"Cardot,  who  is  looking  out  for  a  handsome  residence,  is 
ready  to  take  a  second  floor  apartment,"  said  he,  "and  on  Sun- 
day, if  I  like,  he  will  introduce  me  to  a  landlord  who  will 
take  the  whole  house  to  sublet,  for  a  lease  of  eighteen  years, 
at  forty  thousand  francs  a  year,  he  to  pay  the  rates  and  taxes. 
What  do  you  think,  Brigitte  ?" 

"We  must  wait,"  replied  she.  "Ah!  our  dear  Theodose 
gave  me  a  terrible  fright." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  159 

"Hallo!  My  dear.  But  you  do  not  know  that  Cardot 
asked  me  who  had  put  me  in  the  way  of  this  stroke  of  busi- 
ness, and  said  I  owed  him  a  present  of  ten  thousand  francs,  at 
least.  In  fact,  I  owe  him  everything." 

"But  he  is  like  pur  own  child,"  replied  Brigitte. 

"Poor  boy,  and  to  do  him  justice,  he  asks  for  nothing." 

"Well,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  la  Peyrade,  coming  in  from, 
court  at  about  three  o'clock,  "so  here  you  are,  immensely 
rich !" 

"And  by  your  act,  my  dear  Theodose." 

"And  you,  little  aunt ;  are  you  alive  again  ?  You  were  not 
half  so  frightened  as  I  was.  I  take  more  care  for  your  inter- 
ests than  for  my  own.  I  did  not  breathe  freely  till  eleven 
o'clock  this  morning ;  and  now  I  am  certain  I  have  two  mortal 
foes  at  my  heels  in  the  two  men  I  have  thrown  over  for  you. 
As  I  came  home  I  could  not  help  wondering  what  the  influ- 
ence was  that  you  have  over  me  to  make  me  commit  this  kind 
of  crime,  and  whether  the  happiness  of  being  one  of  your 
family,  of  becoming  your  son,  can  wipe  out  the  stain  I  feel  on 
my  conscience." 

"Pooh,  you  will  get  rid  of  it  at  confession,"  said  Thuillier, 
the  free-thinker. 

"Now,"  Theodose  went  on  to.  Brigitte,  "you  can  pay  the 
price  of  the  property  in  perfect  security,  eighty  thousand 
francs,  and  thirty  thousand  to  Grindot;  a  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  francs  in  all;  with  your  share  of  the  costs, 
these  last  twenty  thousand  make  it  up  to  a  hundred  and 
forty  thousand.  If  you  let  the  house  to  a  tenant  for  sublet- 
ting, make  him  pay  a  year's  rent  in  advance,  and  reserve  the 
first  floor  above  the  entresol  for  my  wife  and  me.  Even  then 
you  can  get  forty  thousand  francs  a  year,  for  twelve  years.  If 
you  should  wish  to  leave  this  neighborhood  and  live  nearer  to 
the  Chamber,  you  will  have  ample  room  to  live  with  us  in  that 
spacious  first  floor,  reserving  the  coach-house  and  stables  and 
everything  needed  for  a  handsome  style  of  living.  And  now, 
Thuillier,  I  mean  to  get  you  the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor." 


160  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

At  this  last  flash  of  hope  Brigitte  exclaimed : 

"On  my  word,  boy,  you  have  managed  our  business  so  well, 
that  I  leave  it  to  you  to  conclude  the  bargain  for  the  house." 

"Do  not  abdicate,  my  lady  aunt,"  said  Theodose.  "And 
God  preserve  me  from  ever  taking  a  step  without  you !  You 
are  the  good  genius  of  the  family.  I  am  thinking  only  of  the 
day  when  Thuillier  sits  in  the  Chamber.  You  will  have  forty 
!  thousand  francs  in  hand  within  the  next  two  months ;  and 
that  will  not  hinder  Thuillier  from  getting  his  ten  thousand 
francs  at  the  end  of  the  first  quarter." 

Having  given  the  old  maid  this  hope,  and  leaving  her  jubi- 
lant, he  led  Thuillier  into  the  garden,  and  without  beating 
about  the  bush,  he  said: 

"My  dear  fellow,  find  some  excuse  for  asking  your  sister  to 
give  you  ten  thousand  francs,  and  never  let  her  suspect  that 
they  pass  into  my  hands.  Tell  her  the  money  is  insisted  on 
in  the  office  to  enable  you  to  be  made  chevalier  of  the  Legion 
of  Honor,  and  that  you  know  to  whom  to  give  it." 

"That  will  do,"  said  Thuillier.  "Besides,  I  can  repay  her 
out  of  the  rent." 

"Get  the  cash  by  this  evening,  my  good  fellow ;  I  am  going 
out  to  see  about  the  Cross,  and  to-morrow  we  shall  know  where 
we  are." 

"What  a  man  you  are !"  cried  Thuillier. 

"The  Ministry  will  not  stand  much  longer,  we  must  get 
this  out  of  them !"  said  Theodose  shrewdly. 

La  Peyrade  hastened  off  to  see  Madame  Colleville,  and 
said,  as  he  went  in: 

"I  have  won !  We  shall  have  secured  a  property  worth  a 
million  francs  for  Celeste;  Thuillier  will  settle  it  on  her  in 
reversion,  by  her  marriage  contract.  But  we  must  keep  the 
secret,  or  Celeste  will  have  peers  of  France  paying  court  to 
her.  And  the  settlements  will  have  to  include  me.  Now 
dress,  and  come  with  me  to  call  on  the  Comtesse  du  Bruel; 
she  can  get  the  Cross  for  Thuillier.  While  you  are  putting 
on  your  war-paint,  I  will  go  and  say  something  pretty  to 
Celeste;  you  and  I  can  chat  in  the  carriage." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES.  161 

La  Peyrade  had  caught  sight  of  Celeste  and  Felix  Phellion 
in  the  drawing-room;  Flavie  had  such  perfect  confidence  in 
her  daughter  that  she  had  left  her  with  the  young  professor. 

Since  the  grand  triumph  he  had  won  that  morning,  Theo- 
dose  felt  the  necessity  of  paying  his  first  addresses  to  Celeste. 
The  moment  for  getting  up  a  quarrel  between  these  two  had 
come;  he  did  not  hesitate  to  put  his  ear  to  the  drawing-room 
door,  before  going  in,  to  hear  what  little  of  the  word  love  they 
had  by  this  time  come  to,  and  he  was  really  invited,  so  to 
speak,  to  commit  this  domestic  breach  of  faith  by  certain 
tones  of  voice  which  led  him  to  conclude  that  they  were  quar- 
reling. Love,  says  one  of  our  poets,  is  the  privilege  in  which 
two  beings  indulge  of  causing  each  other  a  great  deal  of  grief 
over  nothing  at  all. 

Having,  once  for  all,  made  Felix  the  choice  of  her  heart  as 
her  companion  for  life,  Celeste  felt  less  desire  to  study  his 
character  than  to  become  united  to  him  by  that  communion 
of  soul  which  is  the  foundation  of  all  true  affection,  and 
which  in  young  minds  means  an  involuntary  cross-question- 
ing. The  dispute  which  Theodose  was  fated  to  overhear  had 
its  origin  in  a  difference  of  opinion  which  had  simmered  for 
some  days  between  the  mathematician  and  Celeste. 

The  girl,  the  outcome,  morally,  of  the  period  when  Madame 
Colleville  was  endeavoring  to  repent  of  her  sins,  was  immov- 
ably pious;  she  was  of  the  true  flock  of  the  faithful,  and  in 
her  unflinching  Catholicism,  tempered  by  the  mysticism 
which  appeals  to  youthful  souls,  was  the  poetry  of  her  heart, 
the  life  within  her  life.  From  this  stage  girls  go  on  to  be 
saints  or  very  frivolous  women.  But  during  that  phase  of 
their  youth  they  have  in  their  souls  a  touch  of  dogmatism,  the 
ideal  of  perfection  is  always  before  the  e}re  of  their  fancy,  for 
them  everything  must  be  celestial,  angelic,  or  divine. 
Nothing  outside  that  ideal  can  be  allowed  to  exist ;  everything 
else  is  mud  and  filth.  And  this  idea  often  leads  to  the  rejec- 
tion of  a  flawed  diamond  by  a  girl,  who,  as  a  woman,  will  wor- 
ship paste. 

Now  Celeste  had  discerned  that  in  matters  of  faith  Felix 


162  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

• 

was  not  irreligious  but  indifferent.  Like  most  geometricians, 
mathematicians,  chemists,  and  great  naturalists,  he  had  sub- 
jected religion  to  argument,  and  had  found  it  a  problem  as 
insoluble  as  the  squaring  of  the  circle.  A  deist  at  heart,  he 
still  professed  the  religion  of  most  Frenchmen  without  at- 
taching any  more  importance  to  it  than  to  the  laws  of  last 
July.  There  must  be  a  God  in  heaven  as  there  must  be  the 
bust  of  a  King  at  the  Mairie. 

Felix  Phellion,  the  worthy  son  of  his  father,  had  not  at- 
tempted to  conceal  his  mind;  he  allowed  Celeste  to  read  it 
with  the  frankness  and  simplicity  of  an  inquirer ;  and  the  girl 
confused  the  religious  and  the  practical  questions;  she  had  a 
deeply  seated  horror  of  atheism,  and  her  confessor  had  told 
her  that  a  deist  is  first  cousin  to  an  atheist. 

"Have  you  remembered,  Felix,  to  do  what  you  promised 
me  ?"  asked  Celeste  as  soon  as  her  mother  had  left  the  room. 

"No,  my  dear  Celeste,"  replied  Felix. 

"Oh !  can  you  break  a  promise !"  said  she  gently. 

"It  would  be  profanation,"  said  Felix.  "I  love  you  so 
much,  and  my  love  makes  me  so  weak  to  your  wishes,  that  I 
promise  a  thing  against  my  conscience  Conscience,  Celeste, 
is  our  greatest  treasure,  our  strength,  our  support.  How 
could  jon  wish  me  to  go  into  a  church  to  kneel  before  a  priest 
who  is  to  me  no  more  than  a  man  ?  You  would  have  despised 
me  if  I  had  obeyed  you." 

"And  so,  my  dear  Felix,  you  will  not  go  to  church?"  said 
Celeste,  with  a  tearful  glance  at  her  lover.  "If  I  were  your 
wife,  you  would  leave  me  to  go  alone  ? — you  do  not  love  me  as 
I  love  you ! — for  till  this  moment  I  have  cherished  in  my 
heart  a  feeling  for  an  atheist  antagonistic  to  what  God  would 
have  in  me." 

"An  atheist !"  cried  Felix,  "no,  no !  Listen,  Celeste.  There 
is  a  God,  no  question;  I  believe  in  Him,  but  I  have  a  loftier 
idea  of  Him  than  your  priests  have.  I  do  not  lower  Him  to 
my  level.  I  try  to  rise  to  His.  I  listen  to  the  voice  He  has 
placed  within  me  which  honest  men  call  their  conscience,  and 
I  try  not  to  darken  the  rays  of  divine  light  that  come  to  me. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  163 

Never  will  I  do  anybody  an  injury,  never  will  I  sin  against 
the  law  of  universal  morality  which  was  that  of  Confucius, 
of  Moses,  of  Pythagoras,  of  Socrates,  and  of  Jesus  Christ.  I 
dwell  in  the  presence  of  God;  my  actions  are  my  prayers.  I 
will  never  lie,  my  word  is  sacred,  I  will  never  do  anything 
base  or  vile.  These  are  the  tenets  I  derive  from  my  excellent 
father,  and  these  I  will  bequeath  to  my  children.  I  will  do  all 
the  good  I  can  in  the  world  even  if  I  should  suffer  for  it. 
What  more  can  you  ask  of  a  man?" 

Celeste  shook  her  head  mournfully  over  this  profession  of 
faith. 

"Eead  the  Imitation  of  Christ"  said  she,  "and  read  it  at- 
tentively. Try  to  be  converted  to  the  Holy  Catholic,  Apos- 
tolic, Eoman  Church,  and  you  will  understand  how  foolish 
your  words  are.  Listen,  Felix.  According  to  the  Church, 
marriage  is  not  the  affair  of  a  day,  the  satisfaction  of  desire; 
it  is  a  bond  for  eternity.  What,  are  we  to  live  united  by  day 
and  night,  and  be  one  flesh,  one  spirit,  and  can  we  have  in  our 
hearts  two  languages,  two  religions,  a  perpetual  ground  of 
dissensions?  Wpuld  you  condemn  me  to  weeping  in  secret 
over  the  state  of  your  soul ;  could  I  appeal  to  God  if  I  con- 
stantly beheld  His  right  hand  armed  to  punish  you?  Your 
deistic  blood,  your  convictions,  might  dwell  in  my  children ! 
Oh,  Heaven,  how  many  sorrows  for  a  wife !  No,  the  idea  is 
intolerable.  0  Felix,  be  of  my  faith,  for  I  can  never  be  of 
yours.  Do  not  set  a  yawning  gulf  between  us.  If  you  loved 
me,  by  this  time  you  would  have  read  the  Imitation  of 
Christ." 

The  Phellions,  sons  of  the  Constitutionnel,  had  no  love  of 
priests.  Felix  was  so  rash  as  to  answer  this  sort  of  supplica- 
tion uttered  by  a  yearning  soul. 

"You  are  repeating  a  lesson  taught  you  by  your  confessor, 
Celeste."  said  he,  "and  nothing  is  more  fatal  to  happiness 
than  the  intervention  of  priests  in  domestic  matters " 

"Oh !"  cried  Celeste,  indignantly,  for  love  alone  had  made 
her  speak,  "you  do  not  love  me.  The  voice  of  my  heart  is  not 
heard  in  yours.  You  have  not  understood  me  because  you 


164  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

have  not  apprehended  my  meaning,  and  I  forgive  you,  for 
you  know  not  what  you  say." 

She  wrapped  herself  in  proud  silence,  and  Felix  went  to  the 
window,  where  he  sat  drumming  with  his  fingers  on  the  glass, 
a  sort  of  music  very  familiar  to  those  who  lose  themselves  in 
bitter  reflections.  Felix,  in  fact,  was  putting  these  curious 
but  crucial  questions  to  his  Phellion  conscience: 

"Celeste  is  a  wealthy  heiress,  and  if  I  yield  to  her  views  in 
opposition  to  the  voice  of  natural  religion,  it  would  be  that 
I  might  make  an  advantageous  marriage,  which  is  a  base  ac- 
tion. As  a  father  of  a  family  I  could  not  allow  priests  to  have 
the  smallest  influence  in  my  home ;  if  I  give  way  now,  I  shall 
be  guilty  of  an  act  of  weakness  that  would  lead  to  many  more, 
equally  fatal  to  the  authority  of  a  husband  and  father.  All 
this  is  unworthy  of  a  philosopher." 

He  went  back  to  his  beloved  Celeste. 

"Celeste,"  said  he,  "on  my  knees  I  implore  you  not  to  con- 
fuse things  which  the  law  in  its  wisdom  has  divided.  We  live 
for  two  worlds,  that  of  society  and  that  of  Heaven.  Each  one 
must  go  his  own  way  to  work  out  his  salvation ;  but  as  to  social 
life,  is  not  the  observance  of  its  law  obedience  to  God  ?  Christ 
said,  'Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's.'  Caesar 
is  the  political  world. — Now,  let  us  forget  this  little  quarrel." 

"A  little  quarrel !"  exclaimed  the  enthusiast.  "I  desire  that 
you  should  have  my  heart,  whole,  as  I  would  have  yours,  and 
you  divide  it  into  two  parts !  Is  not  this  dreadful  ?  You  for- 
get that  marriage  is  a  sacrament." 

"Your  priests  have  turned  your  brain !"  cried  the  mathema- 
tician, out  of  all  patience. 

"Monsieur  Phellion,"  said  Celeste,  hastily  interrupting 
him,  "enough  of  this  subject." 

It  was  at  this  moment  that  Theodose  thought  it  necessary 
to  intervene;  he  found  Celeste  pale  and  the  young  professor 
uneasy,  as  a  lover  must  be  who  has  just  vexed  his  mistress. 

"I  heard  the  word  enough — has  there  been  too  much  ?"  he 
asked,  looking  at  Celeste  and  Felix  by  turns. 

"We  were  speaking  of  religion,"  replied  Felix,  "and  I  was 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  165 

explaining  to  mademoiselle  how  fatal  clerical  influence  must 
be  to  the  privacy  of  home 

"That  was  not  the  point,  monsieur/'  cried  Celeste,  with 
asperity.  "The  question  is,  can  a  husband  and  wife  make  but 
one  heart  when  one  is  an  atheist  and  the  other  a  Catholic?" 

"Are  there  any  atheists?"  cried  Theodose,  with  an  expres- 
sion of  the  deepest  amazement.  "Can  a  Catholic  marry  a 
Protestant  ?  No  salvation  is  possible  for  a  couple  excepting  in 
absolute  conformity  on  all  points  of  religious  opinion.  I,  to 
be  sure,  I  am  a  native  of  the  Comtat,  and  of  a  family  which 
once  gave  a  pope  to  Eome,  for  our  coat-of-arms  is  gules,  a  key 
argent  with  a  friar  carrying  a  church,  and  a  pilgriirl  holding  a 
staff  or,  and  the  motto,  'J'ouvre  et  je  ferine? — and  I,  I  say, 
am  fiercely  immovable  on  the  subject.  However,  in  these 
days,  thanks  to  the  modern  system  of  education,  such  discus- 
sions are  not  thought  extraordinary !  I,  as  I  say,  would  not 
marry  a  Protestant  even  if  she  had  millions — not  even  if  I 
went  mad  for  love  of  her!  Faith  admits  of  no  discussion: 
Una  fides,  unus  Dominus — that  is  my  motto  in  politics." 

"You  hear!"  cried  Celeste  triumphantly,  as  she  turned  to 
Felix. 

"I  am  no  bigot,"  la  Peyrade  went  on.  "I  go  to  mass  at  six 
in  the  morning  when  no  one  sees  me;  I  fast  on  Friday;  in 
short,  I  am  a  son  of  the  Church,  and  I  would  never  begin 
any  serious  undertaking  without  preliminary  prayer,  after  the 
manner  of  our  forefathers.  No  one  sees  anything  of  my  reli- 
gion. During  the  Revolution  of  1789  an  incident  occurred 
in  my  family  which  attached  us  all  more  closely  than  ever 
to  our  holy  Mother  Church.  There  was  a  poor  Demoiselle  de 
la  Peyrade,  of  the  senior  branch,  the  owners  of  the  little  estate 
of  la  Peyrade — for  we  are  la  Peyrade  des  Canquoelles,  though 
the  two  branches  inherit  reciprocally.  This  young  lady  had 
married,  six  years  before  the  Revolution,  a  lawyer  who,  in  the 
fashion  of  the  time,  was  a  Voltairean,  that  is  to  say,  an  unbe- 
liever; or,  if  you  choose,  a  deist.  He  took  up  revolutionary 
notions  and  went  in  for  those  pleasing  rites  of  which  you  have 
heard,  in  honor  of  the  goddess  Reason,  He  came  back  to 


166  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

our  part  of  the  world  soaked  to  fanaticism  in  the  Convention. 
His  wife  was  extremely  handsome;  he  compelled  her  to  play 
the  part  of  Liberty.  The  unfortunate  woman  went  mad — 
she  died  mad.  Well,  and  in  the  present  state  of  things  we 
may  very  well  see  another  1793." 

This  romance,  invented  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  made 
so  deep  an  impression  on  Celeste's  fresh  and  innocent  im- 
agination that  she  rose  and,  bowing  to  the  two  young  men. 
went  to  her  room. 

"Monsieur!  wha't  have  you  said!"  cried  Felix,  stricken  to 
the  heart  by  the  cold  glance  which  Celeste  bestowed  on  him 
with  an  affectation  of  utter  indifference.  "She  fancies  herself 
figuring  already  as  the  goddess  Reason." 

"What,  then,  was  the  subject  in  dispute  ?" 

"My  indifference  on  religious  matters," 

"The  curse  of  our  age !"  replied  Theodose,  with  solemnity. 

"Here  I  am,"  said  Madame  Colleville,  appearing,  very 
handsomely  dressed.  "But  what  is  the  matter  with  my  poor 
child?  She  is  crying " 

"Crying,  madame  ?"  exclaimed  Felix.  "Tell  her,  pray,  that 
I  will  forthwith  study  the  Imitation  of  Christ" 

And  Felix  went  downstairs  with  Theodose  and  Flavie,  the 
lawyer  pressing  her  arm  significantly  to  make  her  understand 
that  he  would  explain  to  her  in  the  carriage  what  had  so 
greatly  agitated  the  young  professor. 

An  hour  later,  Madame  Colleville,  w.ith  Celeste,  Colleville, 
and  Theodose,  went  in  to  dine  with  the  Thuilliers.  Theodose 
and  Flav;e  led  Thuillier  into  the  garden,  where  Theodose 
said,  "My  dear  fellow,  you  will  have  the  Cross  within  a  week. 
Here,  this  sweet  friend  will  tell  you  all  about  our  visit  to 
Madame  la  Comtesse  du  Bruel " 

And  Theodose  left  them  together  on  seeing  Desroches  ap- 
proaching in  the  wake  of  Mademoiselle  Thuillier,  A  fearful 
and  chilling  presentiment  led  him  to  go  forward  to  meet  the 
attorney. 

"My  dear  sir,"  said  Desroches  in  la  Peyrade's  ear,  "I  have 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  167 

come  to  see  whether  you  can  command  twenty-five  thousand 
francs,  and  two  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty  francs,  sixty 
centimes,  for  costs." 

"Then  you  are  acting  for  Cerizet  ?"  cried  the  advocate. 

"He  has  handed  the  papers  over  to  Louchard,  so  you  know 
what  awaits  you  after  arrest.  Now,  is  Cerizet  wrong  in  sup- 
posing you  to  have  twenty-five  thousand  francs  in  your  desk  ? 
You  offered  them  to  him,  and  to  him  it  seems  only  natural 
that  you  should  not  keep  them  locked  up " 

"I  am  much  obliged  for  your  kind  intent,"  said  Theodose, 
"but,  my  dear  sir,  I  foresaw  this  move." 

"Between  you  and  me,"  said  the  attorney,  "you  tricked  him 
handsomely.  The  old  rogue  will  go  any  lengths  for  revenge, 
for  if  you  cast  your  gown  to  the  sharks  and  go  to  prison  he 
will  lose  every  penny." 

"I !"  cried  Theodose.  "Oh,  I  will  pay.  But  there  are  five 
more  bills  out  each  for  five  thousand  francs;  what  does  he 
mean  to  do  with  them  ?" 

"Well,  after  this  morning's  business,  I  cannot  say ;  but  my 
client  is  a  cunning  dog  and  a  mangy  one;  he  has  his  little 
plans,  no  doubt." 

"Come,  now,  Desroches,"  said  Theodose,  taking  the  lean, 
unbending  attorney  by  the  waist,  "are  the  papers  still  in  your 
hands?" 

"Do  you  mean  to  pay  ?" 

"Yes;  give  me  three  hours." 

"Very  good.  Be  at  my  place  at  nine  o'clock.  I  will  take 
your  cash  and  give  you  the  bills;  but  by  half-past  nine  Lou- 
chard  has  them " 

"All  right — to-night  at  nine,"  said  Theodose. 

"At  nine,"  replied  Desroches,  whose  eye  had  taken  in  the 
whole  family  then  assembled  in  the  garden. 

Celeste,  with  reddened  eyes,  was  chatting  with  her  god- 
mother. Colleville  and  Brigitte,  Flavie  and  Thuillier,  were 
on  the  steps  of  the  broad,  double  flight  from  the  garden  up  to 
the  entrance  hall.  Said  Desroches  to  Theodose,  who  had  led 
him  back  there- 


768  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"You  can  certainly  afford  to  pay  your  notes  of  hand." 

At  a  single  glance  Desroches  had  understood  all  that  the 
advocate  had  taken  in  hand. 

On  the  following  morning,  at  break  of  day,  Theodose  went 
to  the  "poor  man's  banker"  to  see  what  effect  had  been  pro- 
duced on  the  foe  by  the  payment  so  punctually  made  over- 
night, and  to  make  one  more  effort  to  free  himself  from  this 
gad-fly. 

He  found  Cerizet  up  and  stirring,  in  colloquy  with  a  wo- 
man, and  was  somewhat  imperatively  desired  to  keep  his 
distance  so  as  not  to  disturb  the  interview.  This  left  la  Pey- 
rade  at  leisure  to  conjecture  what  gave  this  woman  her  im- 
portance— an  importance  to  which  the  usurer's  anxious  ex- 
pression bore  ample  testimony.  Theodose  had  a  suspicion, 
though  a  very  vague  one,  that  the  purport  of  this  conference 
would  in  some  way  affect  Cerizet's  intentions,  for  he  could 
see  in  the  man's  countenance  the  complete  change  that  comes 
of  hope. 

"But,  my  good  Hainan  Cardinal " 

"Well,  my  worthy  monsieur " 

'What  do  you  want  ?" 


"You  must  make  up  your  mind- 


Such  beginnings  or  endings  of  sentences  were  the  only 
gleams  of  light  cast  on  the  motionless  listener  by  this  eager 
conversation,  carried  on  as  it  was  lip  to  ear  and  ear  to  lip; 
and  la  Peyrade's  attention  was  riveted  on  Madame  Cardinal. 

Madame  Cardinal  was  one  of  Cerizet's  chief  customers. 
She  was  a  costermonger  trading  in  fish.  Though  Parisians 
may  be  familiar  with  this  class  of  beings  peculiar  to  their  soil, 
foreigners  never  suspect  their  existence;  and  technically 
speaking,  Madame  Cardinal  was  worthy  of  the  interest  she 
had  aroused  in  the  lawyer.  So  many  women  of  the  type  are 
to  be  seen  in  the  streets  that  the  ordinary  foot-passenger  pays 
no  more  heed  to  them  than  to  the  three  thousand  pictures  in 
an  exhibition.  But  here,  in  these  surroundings,  Madame  Car- 
dinal had  all  the  importance  of  an  isolated  masterpiece,  for 
she  was  a  perfect  example  of  her  kind. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  169 

She  stood  high  in  muddy  wooden  shoes;  but  her  feet,  be- 
sides being  carefully  wrapped  in  sock-linings,  were  also  clad 
in  stout,  wrinkled  stockings.  Her  print  gown,  heavy  with  a 
flounce  of  mud,  showed  the  wear  of  the  strap  which  supports 
the  saleswoman's  basket,  cutting  across  the  back  rather  below 
the  waist.  Her  principal  wrap  was  a  shawl  of  rabbit-wool,  so 
called,  and  the  two  ends  were  tied  in  a  knot  above  her  bustle, 
for  this  word  alone  can  describe  the  effect  produced  by  the 
strap  across  her  skirts,  bunching  them  up  in  a  roll.  A  coarse 
knit,  tied  round  her  neck  as  a  scarf,  showed  a  red  throat, 
crossed  with  wrinkles,  like  the  ice  on  the  pool  of  la  Villette 
after  skating.  On  her  head  she  wore  a  yellow  bandana 
twisted  into  a  not  unpicturesque  turban. 

Short  and  burly,  with  a  fine  high  color,  Madame  Cardinal 
no  doubt  relished  her  glass  of  brandy  first  thing  in  the  morn- 
ing. She  had  been  handsome.  Her  "pals"  of  the  market  ac- 
cused her  in  their  vigorous  figure  of  speech  of  having  earned 
many  a  day's  wages  by  night.  To  bring  her  voice  down  to  the 
pitch  of  civil  conversation,  it  had  to  be  stifled  and  subdued 
as  if  she  were  in  a  sick-room,  and  then  it  came  thick  and 
wheezy  from  a  throat  accustomed  to  shout  the  name  of  each 
fish  in  its  season  in  tones  that  rang  in  the  highest  garret. 
Her  nose  a  la  Roxalane,  her  not  ill-shaped  mouth,  her  blue 
eyes,  all  that  had  once  been  beauty  was  buried  in  the  rolls  of 
superfluous  fat  stamped  with  the  traces  of  a  life  in  the  open 
air.  The  stomach  and  bust  were  of  an  amplitude  to  please 
Kubens. 

"And  do  you  want  to  see  me  lying  on  straw?"  said  she 
to  Cerizet.  "What  do  I  care  for  the  Toupilliers?  Am  I 
not  a  Toupillier  myself? — And  how  do  you  expect  me  to  find 
these  Toupilliers  ?" 

This  ferocious  outburst  was  silenced  by  Cerizet  with  a  long 
hush-sh  such  as  every  conspirator  submits  to. 

"Well,  then,  go  and  see  what  you  can  do,  and  come  back 
again,"  said  Cerizet,  pushing  the  woman  to  the  door  and 
saying  a  few  words  in  her  ear. 

"Well,  my  good  friend,"  said  Theodose  to  Cerizet,  "you 
have  got  your  money." 


170  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Yes/'  replied  Cerizet,  "we  have  measured  our  claws — 
they  are  equally  sharp,  equally  long,  equally  strong — what 
then?" 

"Am  I  to  tell  Dutocq  that  you  were  paid  twenty-five  thou- 
sand francs  last  night  ?" 

"Oh,  my  dear  fellow,  if  you  love  me,  not  a  word!"  cried 
Ce'rizet. 

"Listen  to  me,"  said  Theodose.  "I  must  know  once  for 
all  what  you  want.  I  am  fully  determined  not  to  lie  another 
twenty-four  hours  on  the  gridiron  where  you  have  put  me. 
You  may  swindle  Dutocq,  I  do  not  care  a  straw;  but  you 
and  I  must  come  to  an  understanding.  Twenty-five  thou- 
sand francs  is  a  fortune,  for  you  must  have  ten  thousand 
francs  made  in  business,  and  you  have  enough  to  be  honest 
upon.  Cerizet,  if  you  let  me  alone,  if  you  do  not  hinder 
my  becoming  Mademoiselle  Colleville's  husband,  I  shall  rise 
to  be  attorney-general  in  Paris,  or  something  very  like  it. 
You  cannot  do  better  than  secure  a  friend  in  such  high 
places/' 

"These,  then,  are  my  terms — not  open  to  discussion; 
you  take  'em  or  leave  Jem :  You  will  secure  for  me  the 
lease,  for  eighteen  years,  of  Thuillier's  house  as  principal 
landlord,  to  sublet,  and  I  will  hand  over  to  you  one  more 
of  those  I.  0.  U.'s  of  yours,  receipted.  I  shall  stand  out 
of  your  way,  and  you  must  settle  with  Dutocq  for  the  other 
four.  You  have  done  with  me,  and  Dutocq  is  no  match  for 
you." 

"Well,  I  agree  to  your  terms  if  you  will  pay  forty-eight 
thousand  francs  a  year  for  the  house,  payable  in  advance, 
the  lease  to  date  from  next  October." 

"Very  good;  but  I  will  give  only  forty-three  thousand  in 
cash ;  your  bill  will  make  up  the  forty-eight.  I  have  seen  the 
house,  I  have  inspected  it  thoroughlv;  it  is  just  what  I 
want." 

"One  thing  more,"  said  Theodose,  "You  will  help  me  to 
tackle  Dutocq." 

"No,   no!"    said    Cerizet;    "you    have   done    him    brown 


THE  MIDDLE  GLASSES  171 

enough  without  my  helping  to  bake  him  any  more.  You 
can  toast  him  dry.  There  is  reason  in  all  things.  The 
poor  man  does  not  know  which  way  to  turn  for  the  last  fif- 
teen thousand  francs  to  pay  for  his  place,  and  it  is  quite 
enough  for  you  to  know  that  you  can  get  your  bills  back  for 
fifteen  thousand  francs/' 

"Well,  then,  give  me  a  fortnight  to  get  you  your  lease." 

"Not  a  day  beyond  Monday  next !  On  Tuesday  your  bill 
for  five  thousand  francs  will  be  in  Louchard's  hands,  unless 
you  pay  on  Monday  or  Thuillier  has  granted  me  the  lease." 

"Well,  Monday,  then  !"  said  Theodose.    "Are  we  friends  ?" 

"We  shall  be  on  Monday,"  replied  Cerizet. 

"Very  well,  till  Monday.  You  will  treat  me  to  a  dinner  ?" 
said  Theodose,  laughing. 

"At  the  Rocker  de  Cancale,  if  I  have  the  lease.  Dutocq 
too.  We  will  have  a  laugh.  It  is  a  very  long  time  since  I 
laughed." 

Theodose  and  Cerizet  shook  hands,  saying: 

"Till  we  meet  again !" 

It  was  not  without  reason  that  Cerizet  had  been  so  easily 
mollified.  In  the  first  place,  as  Desroches  would  say,  "Bile 
does  not  help  business;"  and  the  usurer  had  felt  the  truth 
of  this  too  deeply  not  to  take  stock  coolly  of  the  position, 
and  to  bleed  the  crafty  Provengal. 

"It  is  fair  revenge,"  said  Desroches,  "and  you  have  the 
fellow  on  the  hip.  Wring  him  dry." 

Now,  in  the  course  of  the  past  ten  years,  Cerizet  had 
seen  several  men  enriched  by  the  business  of  subletting 
houses.  The  first  leaseholder,  in  Paris,  is  to  the  owner  what 
a  farmer  is  to  the  landed  proprietor.  All  Paris  knows  how 
one  of  the  great  tailors  built  a  most  sumptuous  house  at  his 
own  cost  on  the  famous  site  of  Frascati,  paying  fifty  thou- 
sand francs  as  the  rent  of  this  structure,  which  in  nine- 
teen years  was  to  become  the  property  of  the  ground  land- 
lord. Notwithstanding  the  expense  of  building — about 
seven  hundred  thousand  francs — by  the  end  of  the  nineteen 
years  the  profits  are  very  considerable. 
14—37 


172  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Cerizet,  on  the  lookout  for  a  business,  had  considered  the 
chances  of  profit  to  be  derived  from  renting  the  house 
which  Thuillier  had  positively  stolen,  as  he  told  Desroches, 
and  he  had  seen  that  it  could  be  let  out  for  more  than  sixty 
thousand  francs  within  six  years'  time.  It  had  four  shop 
fronts,  two  on  each  side,  as  it  stood  at  the  corner  of  a  boule- 
vard. 

Cerizet  expected  to  make  ten  thousand  francs  a  year,  at 
least,  for  twelve  years,  irrespective  of  incidental  profits  and 
premiums  on  renewals  of  the  shop  leases,  which  he  would 
grant  only  for  six  years  at  a  time. 

He  intended  to  sell  the  good-will  of  his  money-lending 
business  to  Madame  Poiret  and  Cadenet  for  ten  thousand 
francs;  he  had  more  than  thirty  thousand  in  hand,  so  he 
was  well  able  to  pay  the  year's  rent  in  advance,  which  the 
owner  commonly  demands  from  the  first  lessee  as  a  guaran- 
tee. Cerizet  had  spent  a  night  in  bliss;  he  had  slept  with 
happy  dreams;  he  saw  himself  on  the  highroad  to  an  honest 
business,  to  becoming  a  respectable  citizen  like  Thuillier,  like 
Minard,  like  a  hundred  others.  He  gave  up  the  idea  of  pur- 
chasing the  house  that  was  being  built  in  the  Eue  Geoffroy- 
Marie. 

But  he  awoke  to  luck  he  little  expected;  he  found  fortune 
standing  before  him  pouring  riches  on  him  from  her  golden 
horn,  in  the  person  of  Madame  Cardinal. 

He  had  always  been  on  good  terms  with  this  woman, 
and  for  the  last  year  he  had  promised  her  the  sum  requisite 
for  the  purchase  of  an  ass  and  a  small  truck,  that  she  might 
be  able  to  trade  on  a  larger  scale,  and  go  out  of  Paris  into 
the  suburbs.  Madame  Cardinal,  the  widow  of  a  stalwart 
market  porter,  had  an  only  daughter  whose  beauty  had  been 
much  praised  to  Cerizet  by  other  women,  his  customers. 
Olympe  Cardinal  was  about  thirteen  years  of  age  when,  in 
1837,  Cerizet  had  set  up  as  money-lender,  and  with  a  view 
to  the  vilest  profligacy,  he  was  most  accommodating  to  the 
mother;  he  raised  her  from  the  depths  of  misery,  hoping 
to  make  Olympe  his  mistress.  However,  in  1838,  the  daugh- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  173 

ter  had  run  away,  and  was  no  doubt  "seeing  life,"  to  use 
the  expression  by  which  the  people  describe  the  abuse  of  the 
most  precious  gifts  of  nature  and  of  youth. 

Now,  to  seek  a  girl  in  Paris  is  like  hunting  for  a  bleak  in 
the  Seine — you  must  take  the  chance  of  a  haul.  Madame 
Cardinal,  having  treated  a  "pal"  to  the  Theatre  de  Bobino, 
recognized  her  daughter  in  the  leading  lady,  who  for  three 
years  had  been  in  the  power  of  the  leading  "comic."  The 
mother,  charmed  at  first  to  find  her  progeny  in  gaudy,  tin- 
seled array,  her  hair  dressed  like  a  duchess',  with  silk  lace 
stockings  and  satin  shoes,  applauded  her  first  appearance 
on  the  stage;  but  she  presently  shouted  out  from  her  seat: 

"You  shall  hear  of  me  again,  you  blight  on  your  mother ! 
I  will  see  whether  you  rascally  play-actors  have  a  right  to 
carry  off  girls  of  sixteen!" 

She  tried  to  get  hold  of  the  girl  at  the  stage  door;  but 
the  damsel  and  her  comic  man  had  no  doubt  jumped  over 
the  footlights,  and  gone  out  with  the  public,  instead  of  by 
the  side  door,  where  the  Widow  Cardinal  and  her  ally,  Ma- 
dame Mahoudeau,  made  an  infernal  uproar  subdued  only 
by  two  functionaries  of  the  police.  These  august  authori- 
ties, before  whom  the  two  ladies  moderated  the  pitch  of 
their  voices,  pointed  out  to  the  mother  that  if  her  daughter 
was  sixteen,  she  was  of  the  age  to  go  on  the  stage,  so  that 
instead  of  shrieking  at  the  stage  door  for  the  manager,  she 
could  summons  the  girl  before  a  magistrate  or  in  a  criminal 
court,  whichever  she  preferred. 

Next  morning  Madame  Cardinal  thought  she  would  con- 
sult Cerizet,  since  he  worked  under  a  justice  of  the  peace; 
but  before  betaking  herself  to  his  den  in  the  Rue  des  Poules 
she  had  been  startled  by  the  arrival  of  the  porter  from  the 
house  where  her  uncle  lived,  old  Toupillier,  who,  as  the 
messenger  informed  her,  had  but  two  days  to  live. 

"Well,  how  can  I  help  that?"  replied  Madame  Cardinal. 

"We  put  our  trust  in  you,  my  dear  Madame  Cardinal; 
you  will  not  forget  the  good  turn  we  are  doing  you.  This 
is  how  things  stand.  In  the  last  few  weeks  your  uncle  has 


174  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

not  been  able  to  stir,  and  he  trusted  me  to  go  and  collect  the 
rents  of  his  house  in  Kue  Notre-Dame  de  Nazareth,  and 
the  arrears  of  dividends  on  a  treasury  bond  he  holds  for 
eighteen  hundred  francs " 

Madame  Cardinal's  eyes,  which  had  been  wandering,  sud- 
denly assumed  a  stare. 

"Yes,  my  beauty,"  the  worthy  Perrache  went  on, — a  little 
hunchback, — "and  seeing  that  you  are  the  only  person  that 
ever  thought  of  him  and  brought  him  a  bit  of  fish  now  and 
then,  and  came  up  to  see  him,  perhaps  he  will  remember  you 
in  his  will.  My  wife  has  been  nursing  him  and  sitting  up 
with  him  these  last  few  days ;  she  has  mentioned  you  to  him, 
but  he  would  not  let  us  tell  you  how  bad  he  was.  But  you 
see  it  is  time  you  should  drop  in.  Why,  it  is  close  on  two 
months  now  since  he  has  been  to  business." 

"You  may  say,  old  leather  puncher,"  said  she  to  the 
porter — a  shoemaker  by  trade — as  they  walked  at  a  great 
pace  to  the  Eue  Honore-Chevalier,  where  her  uncle  lodged 
in  a  squalid  garret,  "that  the  hair  would  be  thick  in  the 
palm  of  my  hand  before  it  ever  entered  my  head  that  Uncle 
Toupillier  was  a  rich  man !  What,  the  godly  old  beggar  of 
Saint-Sulpice !" 

"Aye !"  said  the  porter,  "and  he  fed  himself  comfortably ; 
he  took  his  deary  to  bed  with  him  o'  nights — a  fat  bottle 
of  Eoussillon.  My  wife  knows  the  taste  of  it;  but  he  always 
told  us  it  was  but  six  sous  a  bottle.  He  bought  it  at  the 
wine-shop  in  the  Eue  des  Canettes." 

"Now,  no  blabbing,  my  good  man,"  said  the  widow,  as 
she  parted  from  her  informant.  "I  will  remember  you — if 
there  is  anything." 

This  man  Toupillier,  once  a  drum-major  in  the  Guards, 
had  entered  the  service  of  the  Church  two  years  before  1789 
by  becoming  the  Suisse  or  beadle  of  the  Church  of  Saint- 
Sulpice.  The  Eevolution  had  deprived  him  of  his  functions, 
and  he  fell  into  abject  poverty.  He  then  took  up  the  busi- 
ness of  painters'  model,  for  he  was  a  finely  made  man. 

When  the  services  of  the  Church  were  restored,  he  re- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  175 

sumed  the  beadle's  halbert;  but  in  1816  he  was  dismissed 
from  office,  as  much  for  immoral  conduct  as  for  his  politi- 
cal opinions;  he  was  supposed  to  be  a  Bonapartist.  How- 
ever, by  way  of  pension,  he  was  allowed  to  stand  by  the  door 
and  offer  holy  water  to  the  worshipers. 

After  this,  a  luckless  business,  of  which  more  will  tran- 
spire ere  long,  deprived  him  of  his  sprinkler;  still  clinging 
to  the  church  by  hook  or  by  crook,  he  obtained  leave  to  sit 
outside  the  church  door,  a  licensed  beggar.  There,  being 
by  this  time  seventy-two  years  old,  he  gave  himself  out  to 
be  ninety-six,  and  traded  as  a  centenarian. 

Nowhere  in  Paris  could  you  see  such  hair  or  such  a  beard 
as  Toupillier's.  He  walked  bent  almost  double,  holding  a 
stick  in  a  shaking  hand,  a  hand  tawny  as  with  the  lichen 
that  grows  on  granite,  and  he  held  out  the  classic  hat,  greasy, 
broad-brimmed,  and  cobbled,  into  which  alms  fell  freely. 
His  legs,  wrapped  in  linen  rags,  dragged  a  pair  of  wretched 
hempen  shoes  comfortably  lined'  with  stout  horse-hair  soles. 
He  made  up  his  face  with  ingredients  that  looked  like  the 
traces  of  severe  illness  and  deep  wrinkles,  and  he  acted  the 
senility  of  old  age  to  perfection.  After  1830  he  was  a  hun- 
dred; in  reality  his  age  was  eighty  years.  He  was  the  chief 
of  the  beggars,  the  cock  of  the  walk;  and  all  who  came  to 
beg  under  the  church  porch,  protected  there  from  the  perse- 
cutions of  the  police  by  favor  of  the  Suisse,  the  verger,  the 
holy-water  giver,  and  the  parish  church,  paid  him  a  sort  of 
tribute  money. 

When  a  chief  mourner,  a  bridegroom,  or  a  godfather,  as 
he  came  out  of  church,  gave  a  sum  of  money,  saying, 
"Here,  this  is  for  you  all ;  no  begging,"  Toupillier,  as  repre- 
sentative of  the  Suisse,  pocketed  three-quarters  of  the  dole, 
and  gave  his  acolytes  but  one-fourth,  and  their  toll  was  a 
sou  a  day.  Money  and  wine  were  the  passions  of  his  later 
day?,  but  he  regulated  his  indulgence  in  drink  and  devoted 
himself  to  hoarding,  not,  however,  to  the  neglect  of  his 
personal  comfort.  Pie  drank  only  in  the  evening  after  the 
church  was  closed.  For  twenty  years  he  went  to  sleep  every 
night  in  the  arms  of  intoxication,  his  last  mistress. 


176  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

By  daybreak  every  morning  he  was  at  his  post  with  all  his 
munitions  of  war.  From  dawn  till  dinner — which  he  ate 
at  Pere  Lathuile's,  made  famous  by  Charlet — he  gnawed 
crusts  as  his  sole  food,  but  with  the  craft  of  an  actor,  and 
such  resignation  as  brought  him  abundant  alms. 

The  Suisse  and  the  holy  water  man,  with  whom  no  doubt 
he  had  an  understanding,  used  to  say  of  him: 

"He  is  the  recognized  church-beggar;  he  knew  the  Cure 
Languet,  who  built  Saint-Sulpice ;  he  was  Suisse  here  for 
twenty  years  before  and  after  the  Revolution ;  he  is  a  hun- 
dred years  old." 

This  little  biography,  familiar  to  every  worshiper,  was  the 
best  of  advertisements,  no  hat  was  better  filled  in  Paris. 
In  1826  he  bought  his  house,  and  in  1830  invested  in  the 
funds. 

Judging  from  the  price  of  these  two  securities,  he  must 
have  been  making  six  thousand  francs  a  year,  and  have 
turned  them  over  by  money-lending  of  the  same  type  as 
Cerizet's,  for  the  house  cost  forty  thousand  francs  and  he 
invested  forty-eight  thousand  in  the  funds.  His  niece, 
completely  deceived,  as  were  the  porter's  family,  the  minor 
church  officials,  and  the  charitable  souls,  believed  him  poorer 
than  herself;  and  when  her  fish  was  getting  high,  she  would 
take  it  to  the  poor  man. 

So  she  now  thought  herself  justified  in  taking  advantage 
of  her  liberality  and  her  charity  to  an  uncle  who  had  no 
doubt  a  crowd  of  unknown  relations,  since  she  was  the  third 
and  youngest  of  the  Toupillier  daughters;  she  had  four 
brothers,  and  her  father,  a  truck-porter,  had  told  her  in  her 
young  days  of  three  aunts  and  four  uncles  of  variously 
luckless  fortunes. 

After  visiting  the  invalid  she  returned  at  a  hand-gallop 
to  consult  Cerizet,  to  tell  him  how  she  had  found  her  daugh- 
ter, and  the  reasons,  suppositions,  and  indications  which  led 
her  to  believe  that  Uncle  Toupillier  hid  a  pile  of  gold  in  his 
wretched  mattress.  Madame  Cardinal  quite  understood  that 
she  was  not  clever  enough  unaided  to  get  possession  of  the 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  177 

inheritance  by  either  fair  or  foul  means,  so  she  put  her  trust 
in  Cerizet. 

The  petty  usurer,  like  a  rag-picker  in  luck,  had  at  length 
found  some  diamonds  in  mire  he  had  been  raking  for  four 
years  in  the  hope  of  one  of  those  strokes  of  chance  which 
occur,  it  is  said,  in  the  heart  of  these  districts  whence  rich 
men  sometimes  emerge  in  wooden  shoes.  This  was  the  secret 
of  his  civility  to  the  man  whose  ruin  was  a  sealed  doom. 
His  anxiety  may  be  imagined  as  he  awaited  Madame  Cardi- 
nal's return  after  showing  her  how  she  might  verify  her 
suspicions  as  to  the  existence  of  the  treasure,  promising  her 
complete  success  if  only  she  would  leave  it  to  him  to  har- 
vest the  crop.  This  dark  and  wily  conspirator  was  not 
the  man  to  hesitate  at  a  crime,  especially  if  he  could  com- 
mit it  by  other  hands  than  his  own  while  absorbing  the 
profits.  Then  he  would  buy  the  house  in  the  Rue  Geof- 
froy-Marie,  and  see  himself  at  last  a  citizen  of  Paris,  a 
capitalist  in  a  position  to  carry  on  an  extensive  business. 

"My  Benjamin,"  said  the  costermonger,  coming  with  a 
purple  face,  the  result  alike  of  greed  and  of  her  swift  re- 
turn, "my  uncle  is  lying  on  more  than  a  hundred  thousand 
francs  in  gold  pieces,  and  I  am  positive  that  the  Perraches, 
under  pretence  of  nursing  him,  have  an  eye  on  the  cash." 

"That  will  not  be  much,  divided  among  forty  heirs/'  said 
Cerizet.  "Listen  to  me,  mother;  I  will  marry  your  daugh- 
ter, give  her  your  uncle's  gold,  and  I  will  give  you  the  in- 
come from  the  house  and  securities  for  life." 

"And  we  shall  run  no  risk?" 

"None  whatever." 

"Done !"  said  Madame  Veuve  Cardinal,  clasping  hands 
with  her  future  son-in-law.  "Six  thousand  francs  a  year — 
a  jolly  life !" 

"And  me  for  a  son-in-law,  into  the  bargain,"  added  Ceri- 
zet. 

"Now,"  said  Cerizet,  after  a  pause  in  which  the  couple 
embraced  each  other,  "I  must  go  and  inspect  the  ground. 
Do  not  leave  this  place.  Tell  the  porter  you  are  expecting 


178  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

a  doctor — the  doctor,  that's  me.  Pretend  you  do  not  know 
me." 

"You  are  a  sharp  one,  you  old  rogue !"  cried  the  woman, 
giving  Cerizet  a  slap  on  the  stomach  by  way  of  farewell. 

An  hour  later,  Cerizet,  dressed  in  black,  disguised  in  a 
red  wig  and  an  artistically  made-up  face,  arrived  at  the  Rue 
Honore-Chevalier  in  a  decent  hired  vehicle.  He  asked  the 
shoemaker  porter  to  show  him  up  to  the  room  in  which  a 
pauper  lodged  named  Toupillier. 

"Then  you  are  the  doctor  Madame  Cardinal  is  expect- 
ing?" 

Cerizet  no  doubt  realized  the  gravity  of  the  part,  for  he 
made  no  reply. 

"Is  it  this  way?"  he  asked,  turning  to  one  side  of  the 
courtyard. 

"No,  monsieur/'  replied  the  worthy  Perrache,  leading  him 
to  the  backstairs  up  to  the  garret  where  the  patient  lodged. 

The  inquisitive  porter  remained  at  liberty  to  cross-question 
the  cab-driver,  and  we  will  leave  him  to  the  occupation  of 
carrying  out  his  investigations. 

The  house  in  which  Toupillier  lived  was  one  of  ,those 
which  are  fated  to  be  cut  in  half  by  the  widening  of  the 
street,  for  the  Eue  Honore-Chevalier  is  one  of  the  narrowest- 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Saint- Sulpice.  The  owner,  for- 
bidden by  law  to  raise  or  to  repair  the  structure,  was 
obliged  to  sublet  the  wretched  tenement  in  the  state  in 
which  he  had  bought  it.  It  was  a  hideous  building,  con- 
sisting of  one  story  over  the  ground  floor,  with  garrets  above, 
and  a  sort  of  wing  at  the  back  on  each  side.  The  court- 
yard thus  formed  ended  in  a  garden  planted  with  trees,  and 
let  with  the  first-floor  rooms.  This  plot,  divided  from  the 
courtyard  by  a  railing,  would  have  enabled  a  rich  owner 
to  sell  the  house  to  the  municipal  authorities  to  be  rebuilt 
on  the  whole  of  the  courtyard;  but  as  it  was,  the  whole  of 
the  first  floor  was  sublet  to  a  mysterious  lodger  who  held 
himself  aloof,  and  had  evaded  all  the  detective  efforts  of  the 
porter  and  the  curiosity  of  the  other  tenants. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  179 

This  resident,  now  seventy  years  of  age,  had,  in  1829, 
had  a  flight  of  steps  thrown  out  of  the  end  window  of  one 
of  the  wings  looking  on  the  garden,  so  as  to  be  able  to  go 
down  and  walk  in  it  without  crossing  the  courtyard.  The 
left-hand  side  of  the  ground  floor  was  occupied  by  a  book- 
stitcher,  who  had  turned  the  stables  and  coach-house  into 
work-rooms  ten  years  since;  the  other  half  was  rented  by  a 
binder.  The  binder  and  the  stitcher  each  inhabited  half  of 
the  garrets  to  the  street.  Those  on  one  side  of  the  yard 
were  let, with  the  first  floor,  to  the  mysterious  tenant;  and 
Toupillier  paid  a  rent  of  a  hundred  francs  for  the  loft  over 
the  other  little  wing  to  the  left,  to  which  there  was  a  stair- 
case dim  in  borrowed  lights.  The  carriage  entrance  formed 
a  bay,  an  indispensable  arrangement  in  a  street  so  narrow 
that  two  vehicles  could  not  pass. 

Cerizet  took  the  cord  that  served  as  a  holdfast  to  climb 
the  sort  of  ladder  that  led  to  the  room  where  the  aged  beggar 
lay  dying;  the  room  offered  the  hideous  aspect  of  poverty 
elaborately  shammed. 

Now,  in  Paris  everything  that  is  done  to  an  end  is  done  to 
perfection.  The  poor  are  in  such  matters  as  clever  as  shop- 
keepers are  in  dressing  their  windows,  or  as  the  falsely  rich 
in  getting  credit. 

The  floor  had  never  been  swept;  the  tiles  were  invisible 
under  a  litter  of  dirt,  dust,  dried  mud,  and  all  the  rubbish 
flung  down  by  Toupillier.  A  wretched  cast-iron  stove 
with  a  pipe  bricked  into  a  closed  fireplace  was  the  most 
conspicuous  object  in  this  den.  There  was  a  recess  with  a 
bed  in  it,  with  green  serge  curtains  hanging  from  a  pole, 
and  eaten  into  lace-work  by  moths.  The  window  was  almost 
opaque  with  the  thick  deposit  of  dirt,  which  made  a  blind 
unnecessary.  The  whitewashed  walls  had  a  fuliginous  tone 
from  the  smoke  of  charcoal  and  turf  burned  in  the  stove. 
There  was  a  chipped  water-jug  on  the  chimney  shelf,  with 
two  bottles  and  a  cracked  plate.  A  tumble-down,  worm- 
eaten  chest  of  drawers  contained  the  man's  linen  and  clean 
clothes.  The  rest  of  the  furniture  was  a  night-table  of  the 


180  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

commonest  kind,  a  table  worth  perhaps  forty  sous,  and  two 
kitchen  chairs  almost  bare  of  straw.  The  picturesque  cos- 
tume of  the  customary  beggar  hung  to  a  nail,  and  beneath 
it,  the  formless  hemp  shoes  he  wore,  with  his  enormous  staff 
and  his  hat,  composed  a  sort  of  panoply  of  pauperism. 

Cerizet,  as  he  went  in,  cast  a  rapid  look  at  the  old  man, 
whose  head  rested  on  a  pillow  brown  with  dirt,  and  with 
no  slip.  His  sharp  profile,  resembling  the  faces  which  en- 
gravers thought  it  amusing  to  make  out  of  the  precipitous 
rocks  in  a  landscape,  stood  out  darkly  against  the  green 
curtain.  Toupillier,  a  man  nearly  six  feet  high,  was  staring 
hard  at  some  imaginary  object  at  the  foot  of  his  bed;  he 
did  not  move  when  he  heard  the  door  creak — a  heavy  door 
lined  with  iron  and  furnished  with  a  strong  bolt  to  protect 
his  domicile. 

"Has  he  his  wits?"  asked  Cerizet,  and  Madame  Cardinal 
started  back,  recognizing  only  his  voice. 

"Pretty  well/'  said  she. 

"Come  out  on  the  stairs,  then,  that  he  may  not  hear  us. 
This  is  what  we  must  do,"  he  went  on,  speaking  in  his 
future  mother-in-law's  ear.  "He  is  weak,  but  he  does  not 
look  badly,  and  we  have  quite  a  week  before  us  yet.  Besides, 
I  will  find  a  doctor  to  suit  us.  I  will  come  in  one  evening 
with  six  poppy-heads.  In  the  state  he  is  in,  you  see,  a 
decoction  of  poppy-heads  will  make  him  sleep  soundly.  I 
will  send  you  in  a  truckle-bed  under  the  pretext  that  you 
want  to  spend  the  nights  with  him.  When  he  is  asleep  we 
will  lift  him  on  to  the  other  bed,  and  when  we  have  counted 
the  money  hidden  in  that  precious  piece  of  furniture,  we 
shall  easily  find  some  means  of  removing  it.  The  doctor 
will  say  that  he  has  some  days  yet  to  live,  and  above  all  that 
he  can  make  a  will." 

"My  son!" 

"But  we  must  find  out  who  the  tenants  are  of  this 
wretched  building.  Perrache  might  give  the  alarm,  and 
every  lodger  is  of  course  a  spy." 

"Well,  I  know  already,"  replied  Madame  Cardinal,  "that 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  181 

Monsieur  du  Portail,  who  has  the  first  floor,  takes  care  of  a 
mad  girl,  whom  I  heard  called  Lydie,  only  this  morning, 
by  an  old  Flemish  nurse  named  Katt.  The  old  man  has 
only  one  servant,  an  old  man  like  himself,  called  Bruno,  who 
does  everything  but  the  cooking." 

"But  the  binder  and  stitcher,"  said  Cerizet,  "they  work 
from  early  dawn.  Well,  we  must  see,"  he  added,  as  a  mai> 
having  no  fixed  plan.  "At  any  rate,  I  will  go  round  by  the 
Mayor's  offices  in  your  district  to  get  a  copy  of  Olympe's 
register  of  birth  and  have  the  banns  published.  Next  Satur- 
day week,  the  wedding!" 

"Go  it,  go  it !  old  rascal !"  said  Madame  Cardinal,  giving 
her  formidable  son-in-law  a  friendly  shove  with  the  shoul- 
der. 

As  Cerizet  went  downstairs  he  was  surprised  to  see  the 
little  old  man,  this  du  Portail,  walking  in  the  garden  with 
one  of  the  foremost  personages  of  the  government,  Count 
Martial  de  la  Roche-Hugon.  He  hung  about  the  court- 
yard examining  the  old  house,  built  in  time  of  Louis  XIV. ; 
its  yellow  walls,  though  of  good  masonry,  were  bowed  like 
old  Toupillier;  he  stared  into  the  workshops  and  counted  the 
hands  employed;  then,  finding  himself  observed,  Cerizet 
went  away,  reflecting  on  the  difficulty  of  extracting  the  sum 
hidden  by  the  sick  man,  small  in  compass  as  it  was. 

"How  can  I  get  it  away  at  night?  The  doorkeeper  is  on 
the  watch;  by  day  twenty  pairs  of  eyes  would  be  on  me.  It 
is  not  so  easy  to  stow  twenty-five  thousand  francs  in  gold 
about  one's  person." 

Social  existence  has  two  limit-lines  of  perfection.  The 
first  is  a  stage  of  civilization  in  which  the  moral  sense  being 
equally  developed  does  not  allow  of  crime,  even  in  thought: 
the  Jesuits  have  been  known  to  reach  this  sublime  height, 
which  was  normal  in  the  primitive  church;  the  second  is  a 
state  of  civilization  in  which  the  mutual  supervision  of  its 
members  makes  crime  impossible.  This,  which  is  the  stage 
aimed  at  by  modern  society,  makes  a  felony  so  difficult  to 
carry  out  that  a  man  must  be  really  out  of  his  mind  to  at- 


182  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

tempt  it.  In  fact,  none  of  the  misdeeds  which  the  law  fails 
to  touch  go  unpunished;  the  social  verdict  is  even  more  se- 
vere than  that  of  any  tribunal. 

If  a  will  is  destroyed  without  a  single  witness  to  the  deed, 
as  was  done  by  Minoret,  the  postmaster  of  Nemours,  the 
crime  will  be  traced  by  the  keen  eye  of  virtue,  as  a  theft  is 
detected  by  the  police.  No  act  of  dishonesty  goes  undis- 
covered; wherever  there  is  damage  done,  the  scar  remains 
discernible. 

Things  can  no  more  be  made  away  with  than  men,  so  thor- 
oughly are  they  numbered,  especially  in  Paris,  and  houses 
watched,  streets  guarded,  open  places  observed.  Crime,  to 
live  at  ease,  needs  sanction  like  that  granted  to  the  Bourse, 
like  that  given  to  Cerizet  by  his  clients,  who  never  com- 
plained and  would  only  have  been  alarmed  if  they  had  failed 
to  find  their  skinflint  in  his  kitchen  on  a  Tuesday  morn- 
ing. 

''Well,  my  dear  sir,"  said  the  porter's  wife,  going  out  to 
meet  Cerizet,  "how  is  the  poor  man,  the  favorite  of  God?" 

"I  am  not  the  doctor,"  said  Cerizet,  definitively  giving  up 
the  part.  "I  am  Madame  Cardinal's  man  of  business.  I 
have  advised  her  to  have  a  bed  brought  in  so  as  to  be  at  hand 
day  and  night  to  attend  to  her  uncle;  but  perhaps  he  may 
need  a  nurse." 

"I  could  nurse  him  very  well,"  said  Madame  Perrache; 
"I  have  been  a  monthly  nurse/' 

"Well,  we  shall  see,"  answered  Cerizet.  "I  will  settle  all 
that.  Who  lodges  on  the  first  floor?" 

"Monsieur  du  Portail.  Oh,  he  has  lived  here  for  thirty 
years.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  private  means,  sir,  a  highly 
respectable  party.  A  man  of  means,  who  lives  on  his  means, 
you  know.  He  used  to  be  in  business.  It  is  about  eleven 
years  since  he  began  to  try  to  restore  the  daughter  of  a 
friend  to  her  right  mind — Mademoiselle  Lydie  de  la  Pey- 
rade.  She  is  well  cared  for,  I  can  tell  you,  by  two  of  the 
most  famous  doctors.  Why,  only  this  morning  they  had  a 
consultation.  But  up  to  now  nothing  has  done  her  any 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  183 

good;  indeed,  she  has  to  be  closely  watched,  for  sometimes 
she  gets  up  in  the  night." 

"Mademoiselle  Lydie  de  la  Peyrade  I"  cried  Cerizet.  "Are 
you  quite  sure  of  the  name?" 

"Madame  Katt,  the  housekeeper,  who  does  their  little  bit 
of  cooking,  has  told  me  a  hundred  times;  though,  as  a  rule, 
neither  Monsieur  Bruno,  the  man-servant,  nor  Madame 
Katt,  will  talk  at  all.  As  to  asking  them  for  information, 
it  is  like  speaking  to  a  wall.  We  have  been  porters  here  these 
twenty  years,  and  never  heard  a  word  about  Monsieur  du 
Portail.  What  is  more,  monsieur,  he  owns  that  little  house 
alongside.  You  see  the  door  in  the  wall?  Well,  he  can 
go  out  when  he  pleases,  and  let  people  in  without  our  know- 
ing anything  about  it.  Why,  the  house-landlord  himself 
knows  no  more  than  we  do.  If  any  one  rings  at  the  side 
door  Monsieur  Bruno  goes  to  open  it." 

"So  you  did  not  see  the  gentleman  go  in  with  whom  the 
sly  old  devil  is  now  talking?" 

"Lord !— No,  indeed." 

"This  is  the  daughter  of  Theodose's  uncle/'  said  Cerizet 
to  himself,  as  he  got  into  his  cabriolet.  "Can  this  du  Por- 
tail be  the  man  who  in  past  days  sent  that  young  rascal  two 
thousand  five  hundred  francs?  Supposing  I  were  to  favor 
the  old  gentleman  with  an  anonymous  letter,  telling  him 
of  the  scrape  his  advocate  nephew  is  in  over  the  twenty-five 
thousand  francs  in  promissory  notes." 

An  hour  after  this  a  complete  camp-bed  came  in  for  Ma- 
dame Cardinal,  to  whom  the  inquisitive  porter's  wife  of- 
fered her  services  to  provide  her  with  food. 

"Would  you  like  to  see  Monsieur  le  Cure  ?"  asked  Madame 
Cardinal  of  the  old  man,  for  she  observed  that  the  arrival 
of  the  bed  had  roused  him  from  his  torpor. 

"I  want  some  wine,"  said  the  sufferer. 

"How  are  you  feeling,  Pere  Toupillier?"  asked  Madame 
Perrache,  in  her  most  insinuating  voice. 

"I  tell  you  I  want  some  wine,"  repeated  the  man,  with 
such  determined  energy  as  would  not  have  been  expected 
from  his  weak  condition. 


184  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"We  must  know  first  if  it  will  be  good  for  you,  Uncle 
Buncle,"  said  Madame  Cardinal,  in  coaxing  accents.  "Wait 
and  see  what  the  doctor  says." 

"The  doctor !  I  won't  have  one,  I  tell  you.  And  what  the 
devil  are  you  here  for?  I  want  nobody." 

"My  dear  uncle,  I  came  to  see  if  anything  would  tempt 
your  fancy.  I  have  some  nice  fresh  flounders.  Now  a  teeny 
flounder,  heh !  cooked  in  butter  with  a  relish  of  lemon- 


juice 


"Much  good  will  your  fish  do  me,"  replied  Toupillier;  "it 
is  sheer  rottenness.  The  last  you  brought  me,  six  weeks 
ago,  is  in  the  cupboard  still;  you  may  have  it  back." 

"Mercy,  how  ungrateful  these  sick  folks  are!"  said  the 
niece,  in  an  undertone,  to  Madame  Perrache. 

Meanwhile,  to  show  her  solicitude,  she  settled  the  pillow 
under  the  sick  man's  head,  saying: 

"There,  uncle  !    Is  not  that  better  now  ?" 

"Leave  me  alone,"  Toupillier  bellowed,  in  a  rage.  "I  want 
to  be  let  alone.  Wine,  I  say,  and  leave  me  in  peace." 

"Now,  don't  be  cross,  uncle,  and  we  will  fetch  you  the 
wine." 

"Wine  at  six  sous,  Eue  des  Canettes !"  cried  the  beggar. 

"Yes,"  said  Madame  Cardinal;  "but  wait  till  I  count 
over  my  cash.  I  want  to  make  your  place  look  decent.  Why, 
an  uncle,  you  see,  is  a  second  father,  and  I  should  stick  at 
nothing !" 

She  sat  down,  her  knees  wide  apart,  on  one  of  the  straw- 
less  chairs,  and  turned  out  all  the  contents  of  her  pocket 
on  her  apron — a  knife,  a  snuff-box,  two  pawntickets,  some 
crusts,  and  a  quantity  of  copper  cash,  from  among  which 
she  finally  extracted  a  few  silver  pieces. 

The  performance,  intended  to  prove  the  most  generous  and 
zealous  devotion,  had  no  effect  whatever.  Toupillier  did  not 
seem  even  to  have  seen  what  she  was  doing.  Exhausted  by 
his  delirious  energy  in  demanding  his  favorite  panacea,  he 
made  an  effort  to  change  his  position,  and,  turning  his  back 
on  bis  two  nurses,  after  muttering  again  "Wine — wine!"  he 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  185 

uttered  no  further  sound  but  the  stertorous  breathing  that 
showed  that  the  lungs  and  tubes  were  becoming  clogged. 

"I  must  get  him  his  wine,  at  any  rate,"  observed  Madame 
Cardinal,  restoring  to  her  pocket  all  the  cargo  she  had  un- 
loaded, in  no  pleasant  mood. 

"If  you  do  not  care  to  put  yourself  about,  Mere  Cardi- 
nal  "  said  the  porter's  wife,  ready  to  offer  her  services. 

The  market-woman  hesitated  for  a  moment;  then,  reflect- 
ing that  she  might  gain  some  light  from  a  conversation  with 
the  wine-seller,  and  also  that  so  long  as  Toupillier  was  hatch- 
ing the  treasure  the  woman  might  safely  be  left  with  him, 
she  said: 

"Thank  you,  Madame  Perrache,  but  I  may  as  well  get  into 
the  way  of  knowing  the  places  where  he  shops." 

Noticing  behind  the  night-table  a  dirty  bottle  that  would 
hold  at  least  two  litres : 

"Hue  des  Canettes,  I  think  he  said?"  she  asked  of  the 
porter's  wife. 

"Corner  of  the  Rue  Guisarde,"  replied  Madame  Perrache. 
"Master  Legrelu,  a  tall,  handsome  man  with  large  whiskers 
and  no  hair  on  his  head." 

Then  lowering  her  voice,  she  added: 

"His  six-sous  wine,  you  know,  is  prime  Roussillon.  How- 
ever, the  wine-seller  knows  all  about  that.  It  will  be  enough 
if  you  say  that  you  have  come  from  his  old  customer,  the 
Saint-Sulpice  beggar." 

"I  don't  need  telling  anything  twice,"  replied  Madame 
Cardinal,  opening  the  door  but  not  leaving  the  room. 

"By  the  by,"  said  she,  coming  back,  "I  wonder  what  he 
burns  in  his  stove,  if  I  wanted  to  heat  anything  to  do  him 
good." 

"Bless  you,"  said  the  porter's  wife,  "he  can't  have  laid  in 
firing  for  the  winter;  why,  it  is  midsummer " 

"And  not  a  pan  or  a  pot  of  any  kind,"  the  niece  went  on. 
"What  a  way  of  living,  good  God!  Nor  a  thing  to  go  to 
fetch  home  provisions  in,  for  I  declare  it  looks  dreadful 
mean  to  let  everybody  see  what  you  have  got  at  market." 


186  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"I  can  lend  you  a  flat  basket,"  said  the  porter's  wife, 
anxious  to  oblige. 

"No,  thank  you,  I  will  get  a  market-basket,"  replied  the 
fish-hawker,  thinking  more  of  what  might  have  to  be  car- 
ried out  of  the  house  than  of  what  she  should  bring  into 
it.  "There  must  be  an  Auvergnat  somewhere  near  by  who 
sells  wood  and  charcoal?" 

"At  the  corner  of  the  Rue  Feron  you  will  find  what  you 
want.  A  fine  shop,  too,  with  logs  painted  like  faces  in  an 
archway  over  the  door;  you  could  believe  they  were  going 
to  speak  to  you." 

"I  can  see  it !"  said  Madame  Cardinal. 

Before  finally  leaving  she  had  an  idea  of  the  deepest 
hypocrisy.  She  had  evidently  hesitated  to  leave  the  woman 
alone  with  the  sick  man.  She  now  said : 

"Madame  Perrache,  you  will  not  leave  him,  will  you? — 
poor  dear ! — not  till  I  come  back  ?" 

The  reader  may  have  observed  that  in  embarking  on  this 
undertaking  Cerizet  had  no  very  definite  plans  as  to  the  part 
he  would  play.  That  of  a  doctor,  which  he  had  at  first  thought 
of  assuming,  he  was  afraid  of  trying,  and  he  had  intro- 
duced himself  to  the  Perraches  as  Madame  Cardinal's  man 
of  business.  As  soon  as  he  was  alone  he  saw  more  clearly 
the  difficulties  of  the  case;  his  first  plan,  complicated  by  a 
doctor,  a  nurse,  and  a  notary,  was  encompassed  by  insur- 
mountable obstacles.  A  will  in  favor  of  the  niece  could 
not  be  made  on  the  spur  of  the  moment.  It  would  take  a 
long  time  to  accustom  the  old  beggar's  suspicions  and 
obstinate  temper  to  the  new  idea,  but  death  was  at  hand, 
and  in  the  winking  of  an  eye  might  balk  his  most  elaborate 
preparations. 

As  to  performing  the  scene  from  Regnard's  play  Le  Lega- 
taire,  it  was  out  of  the  question  in  the  midst  of  the  refined 
watchfulness  of  the  police,  and  of  a  state  of  civilization 
of  which  the  first  aim  would  seem  to  be  to  deprive  the 
romance  and  drama  of  life  of  the  last  breath  of  vital  air 
that  remains  to  them. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  187 

By  giving  up  the  notion  of  persuading  the  old  man  to 
make  his  will,  the  eighteen  hundred  francs  a  year  and  the 
house  in  the  Eue  Notre-Dame  de  Nazareth  would  of  course 
go  to  the  heirs-at-law,  and  Madame  Cardinal,  to  whom  he 
had  hoped  to  secure  these  two  items,  would  come  in  for 
no  more  than  her  share.  Still,  abandoning  this  visible  por- 
tion of  the  estate  was  the  surest  way  of  appropriating  what 
was  hidden.  Besides,  if  this  could  best  be  secured  to  begin , 
with,  what  would  hinder  a  subsequent  attempt  to  get  a  will 
signed  ? 

So  Cerizet,  reducing  the  operations  to  the  most  simple 
terms,  fell  back  on  the  manceuvre  before  mentioned  of  ad- 
ministering an  infusion  of  poppy-heads  and  trusting  to  this 
mode  of  warfare  alone.  He  was  on  his  way  back  to  Tou- 
pillier's  lodgings  to  give  Madame  Cardinal  fuller  instruc- 
tions when  he  met  her  with  the  basket  she  had  just  purchased 
on  her  arm.  In  it  she  had  the  desired  panacea. 

"Heyday  I"  said  the  money-lender,  "is  this  how  you  mount 
guard  ?" 

"I  had  to  go  out  to  get  him  some  wine,"  replied  the  woman. 
"He  bellowed  out  like  a  creature  on  hot  bars  that  I  was  to 
leave  him  in  peace,  and  that  he  wanted  to  be  alone,  and 
that  I  should  give  him  his  jorum !  The  man  is  persuaded 
that  strong  Eoussillon  is  the  best  cure  for  his  complaint, 
and  I  am  going  to  give  him  his  bellyful '  When  he  is 
screwed  he  will  be  quieter  perhaps." 

"You  are  right,"  said  Cerizet  pompously.  "Sick  people 
should  never  be  contradicted;  you  must  medicate  the  wine 
by  a  little  infusion  of  this" — and  he  raised  one  of  the  basket- 
lids  and  slipped  in  some  poppy-heads, — "you  will  secure  the 
poor  man  a  sound  nap  for  five  or  six  hours  at  least.  I  will 
look  in  this  evening,  and  there  will  be  nothing,  I  fancy,  to 
hinder  our  investigating  the  value  of  the  estate." 

"All  right,"  said  Madame  Cardinal,  with  a  wink. 

"Till  this  evening,"  said  the  usurer,  without  more  words. 

He  foresaw  a  difficult  and  discreditable  business,  and  did 

not  care  to  be  seen  talking  to  his  accomplice  in  the  street. 
VOL.  14—38 


188  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

On  returning  to  Toupillier's  garret,  the  woman  found  him 
still  in  the  same  torpid  state.  She  dismissed  Madame  Per- 
rache,  and  went  to  the  door  to  take  in  a  small  load  of  sawn 
logs  which  she  had  ordered  of  the  Auvergnat  in  the  Rue 
Feron.  She  had  provided  herself  with  an  earthen  pipkin, 
fitting  the  hole  at  the  top  of  the  stove  on  which  poor  folks 
set  the  pot  to  stew,  and  in  this  she  placed  the  poppy-heads, 
soaking  in  two-thirds  of  the  bottle  of  wine  she  had  brought; 
she  lighted  a  good  fire  beneath  so  "as  to  get  the  decoction 
as  soon  as  possible. 

The  crackling  of  wood,  and  the  warmth  that  soon  raised 
the  temperature  of  the  room,  roused  Toupillier  from  his 
heavy  slumbers.  When  he  saw  fire  in  the  stove : 

"What,  a  fire  ?"  cried  he.  "Do  you  want  to  burn  the  house 
down?" 

"Why,  uncle,"  said  Madame  Cardinal,  "I  have  bought  the 
wood  with  my  own  money  to  take  the  chill  oft*  the  wine.  The 
doctor  does  not  wish  you  to  drink  it  cold." 

"Well,  and  where  is  the  wine  ?"  asked  Toupillier,  some- 
what pacified  by  hearing  that  the  cooking  was  not  at  his  ex- 
pense. 

"You  must  wait  till  it  has  boiled,"  replied  she.  "The 
doctor  insisted  on  it.  However,  if  you  will  be  quiet  I  will 
give  you  just  a  drop  to  stay  your  stomach.  I  take  the  re- 
sponsibility, and  you  must  not  tell." 

"I  will  have  no  doctor!  Scoundrels  who  put  men  out  of 
the  world,"  cried  Toupillier,  roused  at  the  thought  of  a 
drink.  "Now,  where  is  that  wine  ?"  he  added,  in  the  tone  of 
a  man  whose  patience  has  run  out. 

Quite  sure  that  if  her  yielding  did  him  no  harm  it  would 
at  any  rate  do  him  no  good,  the  woman  half-filled  a  wine- 
glass and  held  it  with  one  hand,  while  with  the  other  she 
raised  him  into  a  sitting  posture  to  drink.  Toupillier 
clutched  the  glass  with  his  lean  and  greedy  fingers,  and  hav- 
ing swallowed  the  contents  at  one  gulp,  he  cried,  "What  a 
thimblefull!  and  watered  at  that!" 

"No,  you  must  not  say  that,  uncle.    I  went  myself  to  get 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  189 

it  from  Legrelu,  and  I  have  given  it  to  you  just  as  I  bought 
it.  But  wait  for  the  rest  to  simmer  a  bit;  the  doctor  said 
you  could  have  it  whenever  you  were  thirsty." 

Toupillier  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  submitted;  when, 
a  quarter  of  an  hour  after,  the  mixture  was  ready,  Madame 
Cardinal,  without  waiting  to  be  asked,  brought  him  a  cup 
full  to  the  brim. 

The  avidity  with  which  he  drank  it  gave  the  old  man  no 
time  to  observe  that  it  was  drugged;  but  at  the  last  mouth- 
ful he  was  aware  of  a  vapid,  nauseous  flavor,  and  flung  the 
cup  down  on  the  bed,  crying  out  that  she  had  poisoned  him. 

"Well,  look,  that  is  all  the  poison  in  it,"  replied  Madame 
Cardinal,  draining  the  few  drops  that  remained  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  mug,  and  she  then  assured  the  old  man  that  if  the 
wine  did  not  taste  as  usual  it  was  because  his  mouth  was 
foul. 

By  the  end  of  this  discussion,  which  was  carried  on  for 
some  time,  the  narcotic  began  to  take  effect,  and  in  an  hour 
the  invalid  was  sleeping  heavily. 

While  waiting  for  Cerizet,  having  nothing  to  do,  Madame 
Cardinal  had  an  idea.  It  struck  her  that  to  facilitate  the 
coming  and  going  which  might  be  necessary  when  the  time 
came  for  removing  the  treasure,  it  would  be  well  to  miti- 
gate the  vigilance  of  the  Perraches.  So,  after  taking  care  to 
throw  the  poppy-heads  away,  she  called  the  porter's  wife  and 
said: 

"Just  taste  his  wine,  Madame  Perrache.  Would  you  not 
have  thought  he  was  ready  to  drink  a  hogshead?  And  after 
one  cupful  he  wants  no  more !" 

"Here's  to  you,"  said  the  woman,  clinking  her  glass 
against  that  of  Madame  Cardinal,  who  took  care  to  fill  her 
own  with  pure  wine. 

Madame  Perrache,  not  so  keen  a  connoisseur  as  the  old 
beggar,  and  drinking  the  wine  cold,  detected  no  flavor  in 
the  insidious  liquor  which  could  lead  her  to  suspect  the  nar- 
cotic ;  on  the  contrary,  she  declared  that  it  was  "like  velvet," 
and  only  regretted  that  her  husband  was  not  at  home  to  take 
toll  of  it. 


190  THE  MIDDLE  GLASSES 

After  a  long  chat  the  women  parted.  Madame  Cardinal 
then  made  a  meal  off  some  cold  meat  she  had  bought,  and 
the  remains  of  the  Roussillon  in  the  bottle,  and  crowned  it 
with  a  nap.  To  say  nothing  of  the  excitements  of  the  day, 
the  fumes  of  one  of  the  strongest  wines  in  the  world  would 
amply  account  for  the  soundness  and  length  of  her  slum- 
bers; when  she  awoke  it  was  already  dark. 

Her  first  care  was  to  look  at  the  sick  man.  His  sleep  was 
disturbed,  and  he  was  dreaming  aloud. 

"Diamonds,"  said  he,  "diamonds?  When  I  am  dead — 
not  before." 

"Hallo!"  said  Madame  Cardinal.  "What  next?  He  has 
got  some  diamonds " 

And  seeing  that  Toupillier  seemed  to  be  suffering  from 
a  violent  nightmare,  instead  of  trying  to  relieve  him  by  a 
change  of  position,  she  leaned  over  him  to  catch  every  word, 
in  the  hope  of  hearing  some  important  revelation. 

At  this  juncture  a  sharp  tap  at  the  door,  from  which  this 
capital  sick-nurse  had  taken  care  to  remove  the  key,  an- 
nounced Cerizet's  return. 

"Well  ?"  said  he,  as  she  admitted  him. 

"Well,  he  took  the  drug.  He  has  been  sleeping  like  a  top 
these  four  hours.  Just  now,  while  dreaming,  he  talked  about 
some  diamonds." 

"Bless  me !"  said  Cerizet,  "it  would  not  astonish  me  to 
find  some.  When  these  paupers  once  set  their  heart  on 
riches,  there  is  nothing  they  will  not  pick  up " 

"And  pray,  my  good  friend,"  asked  the  woman,  "what 
possessed  you  to  go  and  tell  Mother  Perrache  that  you 
were  not  a  doctor,  but  my  man  of  business?  We  agreed  this 
morning  that  you  were  to  call  yourself  a  doctor " 

Cerizet  did  not  choose  to  confess  that  the  assumption  of 
such  a  title  had  seemed  to  him  too  rash;  this  might  have 
frightened  his  accomplice. 

"I  saw  that  the  woman  was  just  going  to  consult  me,  and 
I  got  rid  of  her  in  that  way." 

"I  see,"  said  Madame  Cardinal,  "great  wits  jump!  and 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  191 

it  was  my  game,  too,  to  turn  matters  the  other  way  round; 
that  I  should  have  a  man  of  business  here  seemed  to  put 
notions  into  the  cobbler-woman's  head.  Did  the  Perraches 
see  you  come  in?" 

"I  fancied  I  saw  the  woman  asleep  in  her  chair." 

"She  ought  to  be,"  said  Madame  Cardinal,  with  mean- 
ing. 

"What!    Keally?"  said  Cerizet. 

"Enough  for  one  is  enough  for  two,"  said  the  fish-hawker. 
"I  treated*  her  to  the  rest  of  the  mixture." 

"As  to  the  husband,  he  is  there,  sure  enough,"  said  Ceri- 
zet, "for  as  he  pulled  his  thread  he  gave  me  a  gracious  nod 
of  recognition  which  I  could  ven*  well  have  dispensed  with." 

"Wait  till  it  is  quite  dark,  and  we  will  get  up  a  little  per- 
formance that  will  puzzle  him  a  bit." 

And,  in  fact,  a  quarter  of  an  hour  later,  the  woman, 
with  an  amount  of  spirit  that  amazed  the  money-lender, 
carried  through  a  little  farce  of  seeing  out  a  gentleman 
who  pressed  her  to  take  no  such  trouble.  Making  a  great 
show  of  escorting  the  doctor  as  far  as  the  front  gate,  she  pre- 
tended, half-way  across  the  courtyard,  that  the  wind  had 
blown  her  candle  out,  and  then,  while  trying  to  relight  it, 
she  extinguished  Perrache's  candle  too.  All  this  little  scene, 
with  a  bewildering  flow  of  exclamations  and  talk,  was  so 
dexterously  managed  that  the  porter,  if  called  before  the 
bench,  would  not  have  hesitated  to  swear  that  the  doctor, 
whom  he  had  seen  come  in,  had  come  down  and  quitted  the 
premises  between  nine  and  ten  o'clock. 

As  soon  as  the  partners  were  thus  in  quiet  possession 
of  the  scene  of  their  operations,  Madame  Cardinal  quite 
unwittingly  acted  on  a  hint  of  Beranger's,  and  for  fear 
some  prying  neighbor  might  get  a  glimpse  of  their  proceed- 
ings, she  hung  her  rabbit-wool  shawl  over  the  window  like 
a  curtain,  as  though  to  screen  Lisette's  amours. 

In  the  Luxembourg  quarter  the  stir  of  life  is  over  at 
an  early  hour.  Before  ten  o'clock  every  sound  had  ceased, 
in  the  house  as  well  as  outside.  One  resident  alone,  bent,  on 


192  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

finishing  an  instalment  of  a  novel,  kept  the  conspirators  in 
check  for  some  little  time;  but  no  sooner  had  he  placed  the 
extinguisher  on  his  candle  than  Cerizet  was  anxious  to  set  to 
work.  By  beginning  at  once  there  was  a  better  chance  that 
the  sleeper  would  remain  under  the  influence  of  the  narcotic ; 
also,  if  it  did  not  take  them  too  long  to  discover  the  treas- 
ure, Madame  Cardinal  might  have  the  front  door  open  to 
let  her  out,  under  pretence  of  having  to  go  to  the  druggist 
for  some  remedy  unexpectedly  required.  It  might  be  hoped 
that  the  Perraches,  after  the  manner  of  gatekeepers  roused 
from  their  first  sleep,  would  pull  the  latch-cord  without  get- 
ting out  of  bed.  Thus  Cerizet  could  get  out  at  the  same  time, 
and  they  could  at  once  remove  a  part  of  the  coin,  at  any 
rate,  to  safe  hiding.  As  for  the  remainder,  it  would  be  easy 
to  find  some  way  of  disposing  of  it  in  the  course  of  the  mor- 
row. 

Cerizet,  great  in  council,  was  but  inefficient  in  action; 
without  the  woman's  stalwart  help  he  could  never  have  lifted 
what  may  be  called  the  corpse  of  the  ex-dr urn-major.  Dead 
asleep  and  absolutely  unconscious,  ToupUiier  was  an  inert 
weight  which  could  fortunately  be  handled  without  any  great 
caution.  The  athletic  fishwife,  doubly  strong  under  the  ex- 
citement of  avarice,  succeeded  in  transferring  her  uncle  to 
the  other  bed  without  misadventure,  and  the  mattress  was 
eagerly  searched. 

At  first  they  found  nothing;  the  woman,  being  pressed  to 
explain  how  she  had  persuaded  herself  in  the  morning  that 
her  uncle  was  lying  on  a  hundred  thousand  francs,  was 
obliged  to  own  that  the  gossip  of  the  Perraches  and  her  own 
perfervid  imagination  had  been  chiefly  responsible  for  her  al- 
leged conviction.  Cerizet  was  furious.  After  cherishing  the 
idea  and  hope  of  a  fortune  for  a  whole  day,  and  making  up 
his  mind  to  a  rash  and  compromising  undertaking,  to  find 
himself  at  last  face  to  face  with  emptiness !  The  disappoint- 
ment was  so  crushing  that,  had  he  not  feared  the  worst  from 
an  encounter  with  his  future  mother-in-law,  he  would  have 
been  tempted  to  raging  extremity. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  193 

At  any  rate,  he  could  vent  his  passion  in  words.  Ma- 
dame Cardinal,  violently  attacked,  would  say  no  more  than 
that  all  hope  was  not  yet  lost,  and  with  the  faith  that  re- 
moves mountains  tossed  the  bed  over  from  top  to  bottom, 
and  was  about  to  empty  the  mattress  after  rummaging  it  in 
all  its  corners,  but  that  Cerizet  would  allow  no  such  extreme 
measure,  remarking  that  the  autopsy  of  the  bedding  would 
leave  a  litter  of  straw  on  the  floor  which  would  give  rise  to 
suspicions. 

Madame  Cardinal,  to  leave  no  burden  on  her  conscience, 
insisted  on  removing  the  sacking  bottom  of  the  bed,  in  spite 
of  Cerizet,  who  thought  this  absurd;  and  certainly  the  ardor 
of  her  search  had  sharpened  her  senses,  for,  as  she  lifted 
the  wooden  frame,  she  heard  the  sound  of  some  small  object 
falling  out  onto  the  floor.  Ascribing  to  this  trifle,  which  any 
one  else  might  have  overlooked,  greater  importance  than 
seemed  at  all  likely,  the  spirit  of  research  moved  her  to  take 
the  candle,  and  after  feeling  about  for  some  time  in  the  filth 
that  covered  the  ground,  at  last  she  laid  her  hand  on  a  small 
object  in  polished  steel,  about  half  an  inch  long,  of  which 
the  use  was  to  her  a  perfect  mystery. 

"It  is  a  key !"  exclaimed  Cerizet,  who  had  looked  on  with 
no  little  indifference,  but  whose  imagination  now  went  off  at 
a  gallop. 

"Aha !  You  see  I"  said  Madame  Cardinal,  with  exultant 
pride.  "But  what  can  it  belong  to?"  added  she,  thought- 
fully. "A  doll's  trunk?" 

"Not  at  all,"  replied  Cerizet.  "It  is  a  modern  invention. 
Very  strong  locks  may  be  opened  with  this  little  key." 

And  as  he  spoke  he  glanced  rapidly  at  all  the  furniture  in 
the  room,  went  to  the  chest  of  drawers  and  pulled  them  all 
out,  peeped  into  the  stove,  under  the  table — nowhere  could  he 
see  a  sign  of  such  a  lock  as  the  little  key  might  fit. 

Suddenly  the  woman  had  a  flash  of  inspiration. 

"Stay,"  said  she,  '''I  remember  that  as  he  lay  on  his  bed 
the  old  thief  kept  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  wall  in  front  of  him." 


194  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"A  cupboard  concealed  in  the  wall?  That  is  not  impos- 
sible," said  Cerizet,  eagerly  taking  up  the  candle. 

But  after  having  carefully  examined  the  door  in  the  recess, 
which  faced  the  head  of  the  bed,  he  found  nothing  but  thick 
hangings  of  spiders'  webs  and  dust. 

He  then  tried  the  sense  of  touch,  which  is  in  some  ways 
keener,  tapping  and  feeling  the  wall  all  over.  At  the  spot 
off  which  Toupillier  had  never^  taken  his  eyes  he  certainly 
discerned  the  hollow  sound  of  a  space  within,  and  at  the  same 
time  he  felt  sure  that  he  was  tapping  on  wood.  He  rubbed 
the  place  hard  with  his  handkerchief  rolled  into  a  ball,  and 
'  under  the  layer  of  dirt  that  he  had  cleared  away  he  presently 
found  an  oak  plank  closely  fitted  into  the  wall;  at  one  edge 
of  this  board  was  a  tiny  round  hole — the  keyhole  of  the  lock 
to  which  the  key  belonged. 

While  Cerizet  turned  the  key,  which  worked  without  diffi- 
culty, Madame  Cardinal,  holding  the  light,  stood  pale  and 
gasping.  But,  dreadful  disappointment!  When  the  cup- 
board was  opened  nothing  was  visible  but  an  empty  space, 
vainly  illuminated  by  the  candle  she  eagerly  thrust  forward. 

Leaving  this  fury  to  fulminate  exclamations  of  despair 
and  to  shower  all  the  most  abusive  epithets  of  her  vocabulary 
on  her  uncle,  Cerizet  preserved  his  presence  of  mind.  He  put 
his  arm  into  the  opening  and  all  round  the  bottom  of  it. 

"There  is  an  iron  chest,"  said  he;  adding  impatiently, 
"Come,  show  me  a  light,  Madame  Cardinal!" 

Then,  as  the  glimmer  did  not  shine  far  enough  into  the 
space  he  wanted  to  investigate,  he  snatched  the  dip  out  of  the 
neck  of  a  bottle  in  which  Madame  Cardinal  had  stuck  it  for 
lack  of  a  candlestick,  and,  holding  it  in  his  fingers,  moved 
it  carefully  about  over  every  portion  of  the  iron  cover  he  had 
found  within. 

"No  lock !"  said  he,  after  a  minute  examination.  "There 
must  be  a  secret  spring." 

"What  a  cunning  villain  he  is,  the  old  hunks!"  said 
Madame  Cardinal,  while  Cerizet's  bony  fingers  poked  and 
punched  every  spot. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  195 

"Aha!  I  have  it!"  he  exclaimed,  after  feeling  about  for 
more  than  half  an  hour,  during  which  Madame  Cardinal's 
life  seemed  to  be  suspended. 

Under  Cerizet's  pressure  the  iron  lid  sprang  open.  Inside 
the  wall,  among  a  heap  of  gold  pieces  tossed  loosely  into  a 
fairly  large  space  thus  thrown  open,  a  red  morocco  jewel-case, 
was  seen,  which  by  its  dimensions  promised  splendid  booty. 

"I  will  take  the  diamonds  for  the  marriage  portion,"  said 
Cerizet,  when  he  saw  the  magnificent  set  contained  in  the 
case.  "You,  mother,  would  not  be  able  to  dispose  of  them. 
I  leave  you  the  gold  for  your  share.  As  to  the  consols  and 
the  house,  they  are  not  worth  the  worry  of  getting  the  old 
fellow  to  make  a  fresh  will." 

"Stop  a  minute,  my  boy!"  said  the  woman,  who  thought 
this  division  rather  too  summary.  "We  will  count  the  coin 
first." 

"Hark !"  said  Cerizet,  pausing  to  listen. 

"What?"  asked  she. 

"Did  you  not  hear  some  one  moving  below  ?" 

"No;  I  heard  nothing." 

Cerizet  signed  to  her  to  be  silent,  and  listened  more  at- 
tentively. 

"I  hear  steps  on  the  stairs,"  he  said  a  minute  after ;  and  he 
hastily  replaced  the  jewel-case  in  the  iron  chest,  which  he 
vainly  tried  to  close. 

While  he  was  ineffectually  struggling  with  it,  the  steps 
came  nearer. 

"Yes,  indeed ;  some  one  is  coming !"  gasped  Madame  Car- 
dinal in  terror.  Then,  clutching  at  a  straw,  she  added,  "Pooh ! 
I  dare  say  it  is  the  mad  girl.  They  say  she  often  wanders 
round  at  night." 

If  so,  the  crazy  woman  had  a  key  to  fit  the  door,  for  a  mo- 
ment later  it  was  turned  in  the  lock.  Madame  Cardinal 
hastily  measured  the  distance  between  herself  and  the  door; 
had  she  time  to  push  the  bolt  ?  But  calculating  that  she  had 
not,  she  blew  out  the  candle  to  give  herself  the  chance  of 
darkness. 


196  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

A  vain  precaution !  The  spoil-sport  who  came  in  had  a 
candle  in  his  hand.  As  soon  as  she  saw  that  the  enemy  was 
a  little,  frail-looking  old  man,  Madame  Cardinal,  with  flash- 
ing eyes,  flew  to  meet  the  visitor  like  a  lioness  about  to  be 
robbed  of  her  cubs. 

"Compose  yourself,  my  good  woman,"  said  the  old  man, 
with  sarcastic  coolness.  "I  have  sent  for  the  police ;  they  will 
be  here  in  a  minute." 

At  the  word  police,  you  might  have  knocked  Madame  Car- 
dinal down  with  a  feather,  as  the  saying  goes. 

"Why,  sir?  the  police !"  she  gasped.     "We  are  not  thieves." 

"I  would  not  wait  for  them,  all  the  same,  if  I  were  you," 
said  the  old  man.  "They  sometimes  make  awkward  mis- 
takes." 

"I  may  slope,  then?"  said  she  incredulously. 

"Yes;  as  soon  as  you  have  handed  over  to  me  anything 
you  may  by  chance  have  slipped  into  your  pockets." 

"Indeed,  my  good  sir,  I  have  nothing  in  my  hands,  nothing 
in  my  pockets.  I  want  to  harm  nobody;  what  I  came  for 
was  only  to  nurse  this  poor  innocent  uncle  of  mine — search 
me  if  you  like." 

"Well,  be  off  then,  all  right,"  said  the  little  old  man. 

Madame  Cardinal  did  not  wait  to  be  told  twice;  she  made 
off  down  the  stairs. 

C6rizet  seemed  inclined  to  follow  in  her  wake. 

"As  for  you,  monsieur,  it  is  another  matter,"  said  the 
stranger.  "We  shall  have  something  to  say  to  each  other. 
However,  if  you  prove  manageable,  everything  may  be  satis- 
factorily settled." 

Whether  the  effect  of  the  drug  was  exhausted,  or  the  com- 
motion going  on  close  to  him  had  roused  Toupillier,  he  now 
opened  his  eyes,  looked  about  him  as  if  he  did  not  quite  know 
where  he  was,  and  then,  seeing  his  precious  cupboard  open, 
his  excitement  gave  him  strength  to  shout  in  a  voice  that 
might  have  roused  the  whole  house:  "Thieves!  Thieves!" 

"No,  Toupillier,  you  are  not  robbed,"  said  the  little  old 
man,  "I  came  up  in  time,  and  nothing  is  touched." 


The  spoil-sport  who  came  in  had  a  candle  in  his  hand 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  197 

"And  are  you  not  going  to  have  that  villain  arrested?" 
cried  Toupillier,  pointing  to  Cerizet. 

"The  gentleman  is  not  a  thief,"  replied  the  old  man.  "On 
the  contrary,  he  is  a  friend  of  mine  come  up  with  me  to  lend 
me  support." 

Then,  turning  to  Cerizet,  he  went  on  in  a  lower  tone:  "I 
believe,  my  dear  fellow,  that  we  had  better  put  off  the  few 
words  I  have  to  say  to  you  till  to-morrow  at  ten — at  Monsieur 
du  Portail's,  the  house  adjoining  this.  After  what  has  taken 
place  this  night,  I  may  tell  you  that  it  will  be  awkward  for 
you  if  you  should  fail  to  keep  the  appointment.  I  should 
inevitably  find  you  again;  for  I  have  the  honor  to  know  who 
you  are — you  are  the  man  whom  the  opposition  papers  at 
one  time  called  Cerizet  the  brave." 

In  spite  of  the  ironical  point  of  this  reminiscence,  Cerizet, 
perceiving  that  he  would  be  no  more  severely  dealt  with  than 
Madame  Cardinal,  was  onlv  too  glad  to  foresee  such  a  termi- 
nation, and,  promising  to  be  punctual,  he  made  his  escape. 

Cerizet  did  not  fail  to  be  punctually  on  the  spot  as  he  had 
been  directed. 

He  was  examined  through  a.  wicket,  and  then,  on  giving 
his  name,  was  admitted  to  the  house  and  conducted  to  du 
PortaiPs  study,  where  the  old  man  was  writing. 

Without  rising,  and  merely  nodding  to  his  visitor  to  be 
seated,  the  old  man  finished  a  letter.  After  closing  it,  and 
sealing  it  with  such  care  and  accuracy  as  showed  him  to  be 
either  excessively  precise  and  fastidious,  or  else  a  man  who 
had  held  some  diplomatic  post,  du  Portail  rang  for  Bruno, 
his  man-servant,  and,  giving  him  the  letter,  desired  him  to 
take  it  to  the  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  the  district. 

He  elaborately  wiped  the  steel  pen  he  had  been  using,  re- 
arranged everything  symmetrically  on  his  table,  and  it  was 
not  till  all  these  fidgety  little  matters  had  been  attended  to 
that  he  addressed  Cerizet,  saying: 

"You  know  that  poor  Monsieur  Toupillier  died  in  the 
night  ?" 


198  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"No,  indeed/'  said  Cerizet,  assuming  the  most  sympathetic 
air  he  could  command.  "You,  monsieur,  give  me  the  first 
tidings." 

"You  might  at  least  have  expected  it.  When  a  dying  man 
is  dosed  with  a  large  cupful  of  hot  wine  which  has  been 
drugged  into  the  bargain — since  Madame  Perrache,  after 
drinking  a  wine-glassful,  has  lain  in  an  almost  lethargic 
sleep  all  night — it  is  clear  that  arrangements  have  been  made 
to  hasten  the  catastrophe." 

"I  cannot  know,  monsieur,  what  Madame  Cardinal  may 
have  given  to  her  uncle,"  said  Cerizet,  with  dignity.  "I  was 
rash  enough,  I  confess,  to  help  the  woman  in  her  care  and 
interest  to  preserve  the  property  to  which,  as  she  told  me,  she 
had  undoubted  right.  But  as  to  attempting  the  old  man's 
life,  I  am  incapable  of  such  a  thing ;  nothing  of  the  sort  ever 
entered  my  thoughts." 

"Was  it  you  who  wrote  me  this  letter?"  said  du  Portail, 
point-blank,  and  taking  from  under  a  Bohemian  glass  paper- 
weight a  note,  which  he  showed  to  the  money-lender. 

"That  letter?"  said  Cerizet,  with  the  hesitation  of  a  man 
who  doubts  whether  he  had  better  deny  or  confess. 

"I  am  sure  of  the  fact,"  du  Portail  went  on.  "I  happen  to 
have  a  mania  for  autographs.  I  have  one  of  yours,  picked  up 
at  the  time  when  the  opposition  had  bestowed  on  you  the 
glory  of  martyrdom.  I  have  compared  the  writing,  and  it  is 
you,  beyond  a  doubt,  who  yesterda)',  in  this  note,  informed 
me  of  the  pecuniary  straits  in  which  young  la  Peyrade  just 
now  finds  himself." 

"Knowing  that  you  had  in  your  care  a  young  lady  named 
la  Peyrade,"  said  the  money-lender,  "who  is  probably  Theo- 
dose's  cousin,  I  suspected  that  you  might  be  the  unknown 
protector  from  whom,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  my  friend 
has  received  the  most  liberal  assistance.  As  I  have  a  great 
affection  for  the  poor  boy,  in  his  interest  I  made  so  bold " 

"You  did  very  right,"  said  du  Portail.  "I  am  delighted 
to  have  met  a  friend  of  his.  Nor  need  I  conceal  from  you 
that  last  evening  it  wa?  this  very  fact  that  shielded  you. — 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  199 

But  what  is  the  history  of  these  twenty-five  thousand  francs' 
worth  of  promissory  notes?  Is  he  doing  badly  in  business? 
Does  he  lead  a  dissipated  life?" 

"Far  from  it,"  said  Cerizet;  "he  is  a  perfect  puritan.  He 
is  a  man  of  devout  habits,  and  as  an  advocate  will  plead  for 
none  but  the  poorest  clients.  Also  he  is  about  to  marry  a 
rich  woman." 

"Aha  !    He  is  going  to  be  married  1 — and  to  whom  ?" 

"There  is  an  idea  of  his  becoming  the  husband  of  Made- 
moiselle Colleville,  daughter  of  the  Secretary  to  the  Mayor 
of  the  Twelfth  Arrondissement.  The  girl  herself  has  no  for- 
tune, but  a  certain  Monsieur  Thuillier,  her  godfather,  mem- 
ber of  the  Municipal  Council,  has  promised  to  give  her  a 
suitable  portion." 

"And  who  is  working  the  matter?" 

"La  Peyrade  has  done  the  Thuilliers  great  services;  he 
was  introduced  to  them  by  Monsieur  Dutocq,  clerk  to  the 
justice  of  the  peace  for  that  district." 

"But  you  say  in  this  letter  that  the  notes  of  hand  were 
signed  in  favor  of  Monsieur  Dutocq.  Is  it  a  case  of  .matri- 
monial brokerage?" 

"Something  of  the  sort,  very  probably,"  replied  Cerizet. 
"As  you  know,  monsieur,  such  transactions  are  common 
enough  in  Paris;  the  clergy  even  do  not  scorn  to  meddle  in 
them." 

"Then  the  marriage  is  almost  settled?"  said  du  Portail. 

"Why,  yes;  within  the  last  few  days,  especially,  matters 
have  gone  on  rapidly." 

"Well,  my  dear  sir,  I  rely  on  you  to  see  that  it  comes  to 
nothing.  I  have  other  purposes  for  Theodose,  another  match 
to  propose  to  him." 

"Excuse  me,"  said  Cerizet,  "but  to  hinder  his  marriage 
would  be  to  make  it  impossible  for  him  to  pay  his  debts,  and 
I  may  respectfully  point  out  to  you  that  these  bills  are  seri- 
ous matter.  Monsieur  Dutocq  is  clerk  to  the  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  which  is  as  much  as  to  say  that  it  will  not  be  easy 
to  get  round  him  on  any  point  of  law  and  interest." 


200  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"As  to  Monsieur  Dutocq's  claims,  you  must  purchase  the 
bills/'  said  du  Portail.  "You  and  he  must  settle  that  be- 
tween you.  At  a  pinch,  and  if  Theodose  should  prove  refrac- 
tory to  my  purpose,  those  bills,  in  our  hands,  will  be  a  valu- 
able weapon.  You  will  make  it  your  business  to  prosecute 
in  your  own  name,  and  you  will  not  be  the  loser ;  I  will  under- 
take to  pay  the  original  sum  and  the  costs." 

"You  do  business  handsomely,  sir,"  said  Cerizet,  "it  is 
really  a  pleasure  to  work  for  you.  But  now  if  you  should 
think  the  time  had  come  to  inform  me  more  particularly  as  to 
the  mission  you  do  me  the  honor  to  entrust  to  me " 

"You  spoke  just  now,"  said  du  Portail,  "of  Theodose's 
cousin,  Mademoiselle  Lydie  de  la  Peyrade.  This  young  lady 
— no  longer  very  young,  for  she  is  nearly  thirty — is  the 
natural  daughter  of  the  famous  Mademoiselle  Beaumesnil, 
of  the  Theatre-Frangais,  and  of  la  Peyrade,  Commissioner- 
General  of  the  Police  under  the  Empire,  and  our  friend's 
uncle.  Till  the  hour  of  his  death,  which  was  sudden,  leav- 
ing his  daughter — whom  he  had  acknowledged  and  whom  he 
positively  worshiped — entirely  destitute,  I  had  lived  on 
terms  of  intimate  friendship  with  that  excellent  man." 

Cerizet,  proud  to  show  that  he  knew  something  of  du  Por- 
tail's  private  life,  observed: 

"And  you,  monsieur,  have  fulfilled  the  duties  of  that 
friendship  to  the  uttermost,  for,  by  taking  the  interesting 
orphan  to  dwell  under  your  roof,  you  undertook  a  difficult 
charge.  Mademoiselle  de  la  Peyrade's  health  requires,  I 
have  heard,  the  most  patient  and  tender  care." 

"Yes,"  said  the  old  man.  "At  the  time  of  her  father's 
death  the  poor  child  had  such  a  cruel  experience  that  her 
reason  remained  impaired;  but  a  happy  change  has  lately 
taken  place,  and  no  longer  ago  than  yesterday  I  called  a  con- 
sultation between  Doctor  Bianchon  and  the  two  head  physi- 
cians of  the  Salpetriere.  These  gentlemen  are  unanimously 
agreed  that  marriage  and  the  birth  of  a  child  would  certainly 
cure  her;  as  you  understand,  the  remedy  is  too  easy  and  too 
pleasant  not  to  be  tried." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  201 

"Then  it  is  to  Mademoiselle  Lydie  de  la  Peyrade  that  you 
wish  Theodose  to  be  married?"  said  Cerizet. 

"As  you  say,"  replied  du  Portail.  "But  you  must  not  sup- 
pose that,  if  our  young  friend  should  accept  this  arrange- 
ment, I  require  him  to  devote  himself  altogether  gratui- 
tously. Lydie  is  pleasing  in  person,  she  is  accomplished,  she 
has  a  charming  temper,  and  will  be  able  to  secure  for  her 
husband  a  handsome  position  in  public  business.  She  also 
has  a  nice  little  fortune,  consisting  partly  of  what  her  mother 
had  to  leave  her ;  of  all  I  possess — which,  as  I  have  no  direct 
heirs,  I  shall  settle  on  her  at  her  marriage ;  and,  finally,  of  a 
pretty  considerable  sum  that  has  come  to  her  this  past  night." 

"What !"  cried  Cerizet,  "did  old  Toupillier— 

"A  holograph  will — here  it  is — constitutes  her  the  old 
beggar's  sole  legatee.  So,  as  you  fcee,  it  was  handsome  on  my 
part  to  take  no  further  steps  in  the  matter  of  your  attempt 
last  night,  for  you  were  intending  to  rob  me  of  our  prop- 
erty." 

"Good  Heavens!"  said  Cerizet,  "I  do  not  think  of  excus- 
ing Madame  Cardinal's  aberration,"  said  Cerizet.  "At  the 
same  time,  as  heir-at-law,  dispossessed  in  favor  of  a  stranger, 
it  seems  to  me  that  she  has  some  claim  to  the  mercy  you  were 
prepared  to  show  her." 

"In  that  you  are  mistaken,"  replied  du  Portail,  "and  the 
handsome  legacy  by  which  Mademoiselle  de  la  Peyrade  seems 
to  have  been  enriched,  is  simply  a  restitution." 

"Restitution?"  said   Cerizet,  puzzled. 

"Yes,  and  nothing  is  easier  to  prove.  Do  you  remember 
a  great  diamond  robbery  committed  some  ten  years  since  by 
which  one  of  our  famous  actresses  lost  her  jewels  ?" 

"Certainly,"  said  Cerizet,  "I  was  at  that  time  editor  of  one 
of  my  papers  and  wrote  the  Paris  news  myself.  Wait  a  min- 
ute— the  actress  was  Mademoiselle  Beaumesnil." 

"Exactly  so.    Mademoiselle  Lydie  de  la  Peyrade's  mother." 

"And  so  that  wretch  Toupillier No,"  added  Cerizet, 

"I  remember  the  thief  was  punished.  His  name  was  Charles 
Crochard;  and  it  was  whispered,  I  recollect,  that  he  was  the 


202  THE  MIDDLE  GLASSES 

natural  son  of  a  great  personage,  the  Comte  de  Granville, 
Attorney-General  in  Paris  under  the  Restoration/' 

"Well,"  said  du  Portail,  "this  is  what  happened.  The 
theft,  as  you  will  also  remember,  was  committed  in  a  house 
in  the  Rue  de  Tournon  where  Mademoiselle  Beaumesnil 
lived.  Charles  Crochard,  a  handsome  young  fellow,  was  on  a 
very  intimate  footing  there,  it  would  seem." 

"Yes,  yes,"  said  Cerizet.  "I  recall  very  vividly  the  lady's 
embarrassment  when  she  was  called  upon  to  state  the  facts, 
and  the  loss  of  voice  she  suffered  from  when  the  presiding 
judge  asked  her  how  old  she  was." 

"The  robbery,"  said  du  Portail,  "was  boldly  committed  in 
broad  daylight,  and  Charles  Crochard,  having  possessed  him- 
self of  the  jewel-case,  went  to  the  church  of  Saint-Sulpice, 
where  he  had  made  an  appointment  with  an  accomplice  to 
meet  him.  As  chance  would  have  it,  instead,  of  the  man  he 
expected,  who  was  a  few  minutes  late,  Crochard  found  him- 
self face  to  face  with  a  famous  member  of  the  detective  force 
whom  he  perfectly  well  knew,  for  the  young  rascal  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  law  before  this.  The  absence  of  his 
assistant  and  the  presence  of  this  man,  who,  as  he  fancied, 
looked  at  him  with  suspicion,  the  disorder  of  his  conscience, 
and  finally  a  swift  turn  which,  by  the  merest  chance,  the  de- 
tective made  towards  the  door,  made  the  thief  suspect  that 
he  had  been  watched. 

"In  his  panic  he  lost  his  head;  his  first  point  was  to  get  rid 
of  the  jewel-case,  which,  if  found  upon  him,  would  prove  his 
guilt.  He  felt  certain  he  should  be  captured  on  leaving  the 
church,  imagining  it  to  be  surrounded  by  the  police,  and,  see- 
ing Toupillier  in  his  place  near  to  the  holy-water  vessel,  he 
went  close  up  to  him,  and  having  convinced  himself  that 
nobody  was  watching  them,  'Here,  my  good  man/  said  he, 
'will  you  take  care  of  this  parcel  for  me  ?  It  is  a  box  of  lace. 
I  am  going  to  a  house  close  by,  to  a  certain  Countess  who 
never  pays  her  bills;  instead  of  giving  me  my  money  she  is 
sure  to  ask  to  see  this,  which  is  something  quite  new,  and 
to  ask  me  to  let  her  have  it  on  credit.  I  would  rather  not 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  203 

have  it  about  me.  But  whatever  you  do/  he  added,  'do  not 
open  the  paper  it  is  wrapped  in,  for  there  is  nothing  so  diffi- 
cult as  to  refold  a  parcel  in  the  old  creases.' ': 

"What  an  idiot !"  cried  Cerizet  guilelessly.  "His  instruc- 
tions were  enough  to  make  the  man  eager  to  see  the  con- 
tents/' 

"You  are  a  shrewd  philosopher,"  said  du  Portail.  "An 
hour  later,  when  Charles  Crochard,  finding  no  cause  for 
alarm,  came  back  to  fetch  the  parcel,  Toupillier  had  disap- 
peared. As  you  may  suppose,  at  early  mass  next  morning 
Charles  Crochard  was  eager  to  meet  the  holy-water  server, 
and  found  him  duly  exercising  his  functions;  but  night,  they 
say,  brings  wisdom.  The  dear  man  audaciously  declared  that 
nothing  had  been  given  into  his  care  and  that  he  did  not 
know  what  Crochard  was  talking  about." 

"And  of  course  it  was  impossible  to  tackle  him  and  make 
a  commotion,"  observed  Cerizet,  who  was  very  near  sympa- 
thizing with  a  trick  so  neatly  done. 

"The  theft  had  no  doubt  already  become  known,"  du  Por- 
tail went  on,  "and  Toupillier,  who  was  p,  remarkably  clever 
fellow,  had,  of  course,  calculated  that  the  thief  by  accusing 
him  would  reveal  himself  and  be  obliged  to  give  up  his  plun- 
der. When  the  case  was  tried  Charles  Crochard  never  said 
a  word  about  the  way  he  had  been  tricked,  and  when  he  was 
sentenced  to  ten  years  with  hard  labor,  during  all  the  six 
years  he  spent  on  the  hulks — part  of  the  sentence  having 
been  remitted — he  never  opened  his  lips  to  a  living  soul  as 
to  the  breach  of  confidence  to  which  he  had  been  a  victim." 

"I  call  that  pluck !"  cried  Cerizet.  The  story  fired  him 
with  admiration;  he  viewed  it  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
connoisseur  and  artist. 

"During  this  time,"  du  Portail  said,  "Madame  Beau- 
mesnil  died,  leaving  her  daughter  some  remnants  of  a  large 
fortune,  and  more  especially  these  diamonds,  which  she  espe- 
cially mentioned,  in  the  event  of  their  ever  being  recovered.3'' 

"Aha !"  said  Cerizet,  "that  spoiled  the  game  for  Toupil- 
lier ;  for  having  such  a  man  as  you  to  deal  with " 

VOL.  14—39 


204  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Thinking  only  of  revenge,  Charles  Crochard's  first  act  on 
regaining  his  liberty  was  to  accuse  Toupillier  as  receiver  of 
the  stolen  jewels.  Toupillier  was  brought  to  trial,  but  de- 
fended himself  with  such  blunt  good-humor  that,  as  there 
was  absolutely  no  proof  against  him,  the  case  was  dismissed. 
He  nevertheless  lost  his  place  by  the  holy-water  vessel  in 
Saint-Sulpice,  and  only  with  great  difficulty  obtained  leave 
to  beg  at  the  church  door.  For  my  part,  I  was  convinced 
of  his  guilt;  notwithstanding  his  dismissal,  I  had  him  nar- 
rowly watched,  but  I  trusted  chiefly  to  my  own  vigilance. 
As  a  man  of  independent  means  and  ample  leisure,  I  stuck 
close  to  my  man  and  made  it  the  business  of  my  life  to  un- 
mask him. 

"At  that  time  he  was  living  in  the  Eue  du  Coaur  Volant ;  I 
contrived  to  rent  a  room  adjoining  his,  and  one  night, 
through  a  hole  patiently  made  with  a  gimlet  in  the  partition 
between,  I  saw  him  take  the  jewel-case  out  of  a  very  ingeni- 
ously contrived  hiding-place  and  spend  nearly  an  hour  in 
gazing  with  rapture  at  the  diamonds,  which  he  moved  about 
to  catch  the  play  of  light,  and  pressed  passionately  to  his 
lips.  The  man  loved  them  for  themselves,  and  had  never 
thought  of  making  money  of  them." 

"I  quite  understand,"  said  Cerizet.  "A  monomaniac,  like 
Cardillac  the  jeweler,  about  whom  a  melodrama  was  writ- 
ten." 

"Just  the  very  same  thing,"  said  du  Portail.  "Th& 
wretched  man  was  in  love  with  the  jewels;  indeed,  when  1 
called  upon  him  shortly  after  and  gave  him  to  understand 
that  I  knew  everything,  that  he  might  not  be  deprived  of 
what  he  called  the  comfort  of  his  life  he  implored  me  to  leave 
him  in  possession  of  them  for  life,  pledging  himself  in  re- 
turn to  leave  everything  he  had  to  Mademoiselle  de  la  Pey- 
rade.  He  at  the  same  time  told  me  that  he  owned  a  consid- 
erable sum  in  gold,  to  which  he  was  adding  every  day,  besides 
a  small  freehold  and  money  in  the  funds." 

"If  be  meant  to  act  honestly,"  said  Cerizet,  "the  bargain 
was  a  good  one.  The  interest  of  the  capital  sunk  in  the  set 
of  diamonds  was  quite  made  up  by  the  other  items." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  205 

"Well,  as  you  have  seen,  my  good  fellow,  I  was  not  ill- 
judged  in  trusting  him.  However,  I  took  sound  precautions. 
I  insisted  on  his  taking  a  room  in  the  house  I  lived  in,  so 
that  I  could  watch  him  closely;  the  hiding-place  of  which 
you  so  ingeniously  discovered  the  secret  was  contrived  under 
my  directions, — but  what  you  do  not  know  is  that  the  secret 
spring,  as  it  opens  the  iron  chest,  at  the  same  time  rings  a 
loud  bell  in  my  room,  to  warn  me  of  any  attempt  at  robbery 
that  may  endanger  our  hoard." 

"Poor  Madame  Cardinal,"  said  Cerizet,  with  a  laugh, 
"what  a  sell  for  her !" 

"This,  then,  is  the  present  situation,"  said  du  Portail. 
"The  interest  I  feel  in  my  old  friend's  nephew,  apart  from 
the  relationship  which  makes  me  think  the  alliance  suitable, 
has  led  me  to  wish  that  Theodose  should  marry  his  cousin 
and  her  fortune.  But  as  the  young  lady's  mental  condition 
might  possibly  make  la  Peyrade  averse  to  my  views,  I  have 
thought  it  as  well  not  to  propose  the  match  to  him  myself. 
You  crossed  my  path;  I  know  you  to  be  clever,  crafty,  and 
it  at  once  occurred  to  me  to  place  this  little  matrimonial 
negotiation  in  your  hands. 

"Now,  understand  clearly,  you  must  speak  of  a  young  lady 
of  wealth  who  suffers  indeed  from  a  drawback,  but  who  has  a 
makeweight — a  nice  little  fortune.  Name  no  one,  and  come 
to  me  at  once  to  report  how  the  idea  has  been  received." 

"Your  confidence,"  said  Cerizet,  "is  a  pleasure  and  an 
honor  to  me,  and  I  will  do  my  best  to  justify  it." 

"You  must  be  under  no  illusion,"  said  du  Portail.  "The 
first  impulse  of  a  man  who  has  another  engagement  in  view 
will  be  to  refuse;  but  we  will  not  confess  ourselves  beaten. 
I  do  not  readily  give  up  a  scheme  when  'I  believe  it  to  be 
right,  and  even  if  we  were  to  carry  our  zeal  for  la  Peyrade's 
happiness  so  far  as  to  have  him  imprisoned  for  debt  at 
Clichy,  I  am  determined  not  to  be  defeated  in  a  project  of 
which  the  results  will,  I  am  certain,  show  him  that  I  was 
happily  inspired.  So,  in  any  case,  take  the  credit  notes  off 
Monsieur  Dutocq's  hands." 


206  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"At  par?"  asked  CSrizet. 

"Yes,  at  par,  if  you  can  do  no  better.  We  need  not  look 
too  closely  at  a  thousand  francs  one  way  or  the  other.  Only, 
that  matter  once  settled,  Monsieur  Dutocq  must  promise  us 
his  support,  or  at  least  his  neutrality.  From  what  you  say 
of  the  other  match,  I  need  not  point  out  to  you  that  we  must 
lose  no  time  in  putting  the  irons  in  the  fire." 

"I  have  an  appointment  to  meet  la  Peyrade  two  days 
hence,"  Cerizet  observed.  "We  have  a  little  matter  to  settle. 
Do  not  you  think  that  it  would  be  as  well  to  wait  till  then  ? 
At  that  meeting  I  may  speak  of  this  match  incidentally.  In 
case  of  his  refusing,  that,  as  seems  to  me,  would  save  our 
dignity." 

"So  be  it,"  said  du  Portail;  "that  is  not  delay.  And  re- 
member, monsieur,  that  if  you  succeed  you  will  find  in  me, 
not  the  man  to  call  you  to  account  for  your  rashness  in  aid- 
ing Madame  Cardinal,  but  one  under  serious  obligations  and 
ready  to  serve  you  to  the  utmost;  a  man,  too,  whose  influence 
is  wider  than  may  generally  be  believed." 

After  such  a  kind  speech  the  two  men  could  only  part  in 
the  best  understanding,  and  equally  well  satisfied  on  both 
sides. 

Like  the  old  Turnstile,  the  Rocher  de  Cancale,  whither  the 
scene  is  now  to  be  transferred,  is  no  more  than  a  memory.  A 
wine-shop  with  a  pewter-plated  counter  has  taken  the  place 
of  that  Temple  of  Taste,  that  sanctuary  of  European  fame 
which  had  been  the  great  focus  of  gastronomy  all  through 
the  Empire  and  the  Eestoration. 

On  the  day  before  that  on  which  they  had  agreed  to  meet, 
la  Peyrade  had  this  brief  note  from  Cerizet : 

"To-morrow,  lease  or  no  lease,  at  the  Rocher — half-past 
six." 

As  to  Dutocq,  Cerizet  saw  him  every  day,  being  his  copy- 
ing-clerk; he  had  invited  him  by  word  of  mouth;  but  the 
attentive  reader  will  note  a  difference  in  the  hour  named 
to  this  second  guest.  "At  the  Rocker — a  quarter  past  six," 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  207 

Ce'rizet  had  said,  so  it  was  clear  that  he  wished  to  have  him 
to  himself  for  at  least  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  la  Pey- 
rade  should  arrive. 

The  money-lender  meant  to  spend  that  quarter  of  an  hour 
in  bargaining  for  the  purchase  of  la  Peyrade's  promissory 
notes;  and  he  fancied  that  his  offer,  made  point-blank,  with- 
out any  preparation,  would  be  more  cordially  accepted.  By 
not  giving  the  holder  time  to  consider  the  matter  he  might 
be  induced  to  sell  cheap;  and  having  once  acquired  the  bills 
below  par,  the  usurer  might  consider  whether  it  would  be 
better  for  him  to  keep  the  difference,  or  to  gain  credit  with 
du  Portail  by  handing  over  to  him  the  benefit  he  might  se- 
cure. It  may  be  said,  indeed,  that  apart  from  all  subsidiary 
considerations  Cerizet  would  have  tried  to  get  the  better  of 
his  friend.  In  him  it  was  instinct,  a  craving  of  nature.  He 
had  as  great  a  horror  of  the  straight  line  in  business  as  the 
admirers  of  English  gardens  have  in  laying  out  their  walks. 

Dutocq,  who  was  still  in  debt  for  a  part  of  the  price  of 
his  connection,  and  obliged  to  save  very  closely,  lived  so  fru- 
gally that  a  dinner  at  the  Rocher  de  Cancale  was  a  sort  of 
event  in  his  life.  He  appeared  with  the  punctuality  that 
showed  his  interest  in  the  appointment,  and  at  precisely  a 
quarter  past  six  walked  into  the  box  at  the  restaurant  where 
Cerizet  awaited  him. 

"Oddly  enough,"  said  he,  "here  we  are  in  exactly  the  same 
conditions  as  when  we  first  took  up  this  business  of  la  Pey- 
rade's; only  the  spot  for  the  meeting  of  the  three  emperors 
is  somewhat  better  chosen.  I  prefer  the  Tilsit  of  the  Hue 
Montorgueil  to  the  Tilsit  of  the  Rue  de  1'Ancienne- Come' die 
and  Pinson's  wretched  eating-house." 

"On  my  word,"  replied  Cerizet,  "I  hardly  know  whether 
the  results  justify  the  change;  for  where,  when  all  is  done, 
are  the  profits  from  the  formation  of  that  triumvirate?" 

"Well,  it  was  a  conditional  agreement,"  said  Dutocq,  "and 
we  cannot  complain  that  la  Peyrade  has  lost  time  in  achiev- 
ing his  establishment  at  the  Thuilleries,  if  I  may  be  allowed 
to  pun.  The  rascal  has  gone  ahead,  you  must  admit." 


208  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Not  so  fast,"  said  Cerizet,  "but  that  his  marriage  is  at 
this  moment  a  very  doubtful  matter." 

"Doubtful?     How?" 

"Yes.  I  have  been  instructed  to  propose  another  match  to 
him,  to  bolster  him  up;  and  I  very  much  doubt  whether  he 
will  have  any  choice  offered  him." 

"But  the  devil's  in  it,  man;  can  you  think  of  lending  a 
hand  to  promote  this  second  match,  when  we  have  a  mort- 
gage on  the  first?" 

"My  good  friend,  we  cannot  always  control  circumstances. 
I  plainly  saw  that  under  those  that  have  been  laid  before  me 
the  marriage  we  had  planned  is  simply  swept  down  stream. 
So  then  I  looked  to  see  what  could  be  saved  from  the  wreck." 

"Bless  me!  Are  they  fighting  for  this  boy,  Theodose? 
Who  is  the  girl?  Has  she  a  fortune?" 

"A  very  presentable  dowry;  quite  as  good  as  Mademoiselle 
Colleville's." 

"Then  she  may  go  hang.  La  Peyrade  backed  the  notes, 
and  he  shall  pay." 

"He  shall  pay — indeed!  That  is  the  question.  You  are 
not  in  business,  nor  is  Theodose.  It  might  occur  to  him  to 
repudiate  the  paper.  Who  can  tell  whether  the  Court,  when 
informed  as  to  their  origin,  seeing  that  the  Thuillier  match 
is  broken  off,  may  not  quash  them  as  drawn  without  value 
received  ?  I  can  snap  my  fingers  at  such  a  discussion ;  it  can- 
not affect  me;  besides,  I  have  taken  precautions.  But  you, 
as  clerk  to  a  justice  of  the  peace,  would  surely  after  such  an 
action  have  differences  to  settle  with  the  Chancellor's  office." 

"Indeed,  my  good  fellow,"  said  Dutocq,  with  the  temper 
of  a  man  who  finds  himself  confronted  with  an  argument  for 
which  he  has  no  answer,  "you  really  have  a  mania  for  med- 
dling in  things " 

"I  have  told  you,"  said  Cerizet,  "that  this  affair  came  to 
me,  and  I  saw  so  clearly  from  the  first  that  there  was  no 
chance  of  making  fight  against  the  evil  influence  which 
threatens  us,  that  I  made  up  my  mind  to  save  myself  by  a 
sacrifice." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  209 

"What  kind  of  sacrifice?" 

"Well,  I  sold  my  notes  of  hand,  and  left  it  to  the  pur- 
chaser to  fight  it  out  with  our  friend,  the  advocate." 

"And  who  took  them  of  you?" 

"Who  do  you  suppose  would  put  himself  into  my  shoes, 
but  some  one  who  had  an  interest  in  the  other  marriage,  so 
as  to  be  able  to  coerce  Master  Theodose,  by  curtailing  his 
liberty,  if  necessary." 

"Ah,  then  they  really  require  the  bills  I  hold?" 

"Certainly.  However,  I  would  not  deal  till  I  had  con- 
sulted you." 

"Well,  and  what  is  the  bid?" 

"What  I  was  willing  to  take  for  mine.  Knowing  better 
than  you  how  dangerous  their  rivalry  would  be,  I  agreed  to 
take  ready  money  at  a  bad  discount." 

"But  what  are  the  terms,  come?" 

"I  parted  with  them  for  fifteen  thousand." 

"Don't  tell  me,"  said  Dutocq,  with  a  shrug.  "Presumably 
you  see  your  way  to  recovering  the  difference  on  the  broker- 
age; and  the  whole  thing,  after  all,  may  be  a  got-up  business 
between  you  and  la  Peyrade." 

"You  do  not  mince  your  words,  my  good  friend.  A  ras- 
cally idea  enters  your  head,  and  you  blurt  it  out  with  beau- 
tiful candor!  But  fortunately  you  will  presently  hear  me 
make  the  proposal  to  Theodose,  and  you  can  judge  by  his 
demeanor  how  far  we  are  in  collusion." 

"Well,  well,"  said  Dutocq,  "I  withdrew  the  insinuation. 
But  really  your  principals  are  perfect  corsairs.  A  man 
is  not  to  be  bled  so  desperately;  and  besides  I  have  not,  as 
you  have,  a  premium  to  look  forward  to." 

"That,  my  poor  friend,  is  just  what  I  argued.  I  said  to 
myself:  Poor  Dutocq  is  dreadfully  hampered  for  money  to 
pay  off  the  last  debt  on  his  office;  here  he  has  a  chance  of 
clearing  it  off  at  one  stroke. — The  event  proves  how  risky  it 
would  be  to  compromise  la  Peyrade;  we  offer  you  cash  in 
hand  and  on  the  nail ;  it  is  not,  after  all,  such  a  bad  bargain." 

"Very  true — but  to  lose  two-fifths!" 


210  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Look  here,"  said  Cerizet,  "you  spoke  just  now  of  a  pre- 
mium. I  see  a  way  by  which  you  may  secure  one ;  if  you  will 
undertake  to  fight  tooth  and  nail  against  the  Colleville 
match,  and  take  the  opposite  side  from  that  on  which  you 
have  hitherto  stood,  I  do  not  despair  of  getting  you  the  round 
sum  of  twenty  thousand  francs." 

"Then  you  evidently  think  that  la  Peyrade  will  not  take 
kindly  to  this  new  scheme?  that  he  will  kick?  Pray,  is  the 
heiress  in  question  a  damsel  from  whom  he  has  already 
taken  something  on  account?" 

"All  I  can  tell  you  is  that  we  expect  a  tough  pull  before 
we  get  him  round/' 

"I  am  ready  and  willing  to  pull  on  your  side  and  annoy  la 
Peyrade;  but  five  thousand  francs!  think  of  it — that  is  too 
much  to  give  up." 

At  this  moment  the  door  of  the  box  was  opened  and  the 
waiter  announced  the  expected  guest. 

"You  can  bring  dinner,"  said  CSrizet,  "I  expect  no  one 
else." 

It  was  evident  that  Theodose  was  trying  his  flight  to  upper 
social  spheres;  he  constantly  gave  his  mind  to  the  decoration 
of  his  person.  He  was  in  evening  dress,  a  tailcoat  and  patent 
leather  shoes,  while  the  other  two  men  received  him  in  morn- 
ing dress,  with  muddy  boots. 

"I  am  afraid,  messeigneurs,  that  I  am  a  little  late,"  said 
he.  "But  that  infernal  Thuillier,  with  the  pamphlet  I  am 
correcting  for  him,  is  the  most  intolerable  nuisance.  I  un- 
fortunately agreed  that  we  should  correct  the  proofs  to- 
gether, and  we  have  a  fight  over  every  paragraph.  'What 
I  don't  understand/  says  he,  'the  public  won't  understand,' 
and  I  have  to  stand  out  for  every  word." 

"What  do  you  expect,  my  dear  boy,"  said  Dutocq;  "when 
a  man  wants  to  get  on  he  must  have  courage  enough  for  some 
sacrifices.  When  once  you  are  married  you  can  hold  up  your 
head." 

"Yes,  indeed !"  said  la  Peyrade,  "I  shall,  I  hope ;  for  since 
the  time  when  you  first  made  me  eat  this  bread  of  bitterness, 
I  have  become  very  tired  of  it." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  211 

"Cerizet  is  going  to  give  us  some  better  food,"  said 
Dutocq. 

At  first  they  devoted  themselves  wholly  to  doing  justice  to 
the  bill  of  fare  ordered  by  Cerizet — the  first  tenant,  and  to 
reminiscences  of  better  days.  As  always  happens  at  these 
business  dinners,  when  each  one  is  thinking  of  the  matters 
to  be  discussed,  and  yet  avoids  speaking  of  them  for  fear  of 
losing  some  advantage  by  seeming  too  eager,  the  conversa- 
tion for  some  time  was  on  general  subjects;  and  it  was  not 
till  dessert  was  served  that  Cerizet  made  up  his  mind  to  ask 
Theodose  what  had  been  decided  on  with  regard  to  his  lease. 

"Nothing,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  la  Peyrade. 

"Nothing — how  is  that?  I  gave  you  ample  time  to  come 
to  some  conclusion." 

"And  some  conclusion  has,  in  fact,  been  arrived  at:  there 
is  to  be  no  first  tenant.  Mademoiselle  Brigitte  herself  will 
sublet." 

"That  is  another  thing,"  said  Cerizet,  with  stern  reserve. 
"After  your  promises  to  me,  I  own  I  was  far'  from  expect- 
ing such  a  result." 

"How  can  I  help  it,  my  good  friend !  I  promised,  barring 
contingencies;  it  was  not  in  my  power  to  alter  matters. 
Mademoiselle  Thuillier,  as  a  masterful  woman  and  a  living 
instance  of  perpetual  motion,  made  up  her  mind  that  she 
could  manage  the  business  of  the  house,  and  put  into  her  own 
pocket  the  profit  you  hoped  to  make.  In  vain  did  I  repre- 
sent to  her  all  the  worry  and  anxiety  she  was  bringing  on 
herself. 

"  Tooh,  nonsense !'  said  she,  'it  will  keep  my  blood  stirring 
and  be  very  good  for  my  health.'  * 

"But  it  is  terrible !"  said  Cerizet.  "The  poor  woman  will 
not  know  which  way  to  turn;  she  has  no  idea  of  what  it  is 
to  have  an  empty  house  on  her  hands  to  be  filled  with  ten- 
ants from  top  to  bottom." 

"I  urged  all  those  arguments,"  said  Theodose,  "but  I  did 
not  begin  to  change  her  mind.  There  you  are,  my  worthy 
democrats ;  you  fomented  the  Eevolution  of  '89 ;  you  flattered 


212  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

yourselves  that  it  was  a  capital  speculation  to  dethrone  the 
nobility  in  favor  of  the  middle  class,  and  now  you  are  simply 
turned  out  of  doors.  It  may  sound  like  a  paradox,  but  it 
was  not  really  the  yokel  who  could  be  taxed  and  worked  to 
the  bone,  it  was  the  aristocrat.  The  aristocracy,  to  preserve 
their  dignity  by  prohibiting  themselves  a  vast  number  of 
vulgar  details,  even  that  of  learning  to  write,  found  them- 
selves dependent,  in  fact,  on  the  crowd  of  servants  whom 
they  necessarily  had  recourse  to,  and  were  compelled  to  trust 
for  three-fourths  of  their  daily  actions.  Those  were  the 
golden  days  of  the  intendants,  or  stewards — the  crafty  and 
wide-awake  factors  through  whose  hands  all  the  interests  of 
the  great  families  had  to  pass,  and  who,  though  they  may  not 
have  deserved  the  odious  reputation  they  earned,  by  the  force 
of  circumstances  grew  fat  on  the  mere  parings  of  the  vast 
fortunes  they  had  to  deal  with.  Nowadays  we  have  no  end 
of  practical  aphorisms.  'If  you  want  a  thing  well  done,  do 
it  yourself.  There  is  nothing  disgraceful  in  knowing  your 
own  business/  and  a  thousand  other  humdrum  axioms  which, 
by  making  every  man  a  man  of  business,  have  suppressed 
the  middleman. 

"How  can  you  expect  that  Mademoiselle  Brigitte  Thuillier 
should  not  try  to  manage  her  house  when  dukes  and  peers 
go  themselves  to  the  Bourse,  examine  their  leases,  have  every 
paper  read  to  them  before  signing,  and  go  to  discuss  every 
point  with  the  notary  whom  they  formerly  scorned  as  a 
scrivener  ?" 

During  la  Peyrade's  harangue  Cerizet  had  had  time  to 
recover  from  the  blow  that  had  taken  his  breath  away;  and, 
to  lead  by  a  transition  to  the  other  matter  entrusted  to  his 
management,  he  said,  with  an  air  of  indifference: 

"All  your  remarks,  my  dear  boy,  are  exceedingly  clever; 
but  the  thing  which  most  clearly  proves  our  discomfiture  is 
that  you  are  not  on  such  a  footing  of  personal  influence  with 
Mademoiselle  Thuillier  as  you  would  have  us  believe.  She 
slips  through  your  fingers  when  she  chooses,  so  it  strikes  me 
that  your  marriage  is  far  from  being  such  a  settled  thing 
as  Dutocq  and  1  were  willing  to  think  it." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  213 

"No  doubt,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "the  work  we  have  sketched 
still  needs  some  finishing  touches,  but  I  believe  it  to  be  well 
on  towards  completion." 

"I,  on  the  contrary,  am  sure  that  you  have  lost  ground, 
and  nothing  can  be  more  natural;  you  have  just  done  these 
people  a  very  great  service;  that  is  never  forgiven." 

"Well,  we  shall  see,"  said  Theodose.  "I  still  hold  them  by 
more  than  one  line." 

"No,  indeed ;  you  thought  you  could  do  wonders  by  loading 
them  with  kindness,  and  now  that  they  are  independent  they 
will  treat  you  as  dirt ;  the  human  heart  is  made  so,  especially 
the  heart  of  the  middle  classes.  It  is  not  only  that  I  myself, 
in  the  present  instance,  feel  the  blow  that  is  upsetting  you; 
in  your  place  I  should  not  think  I  was  standing  on  solid 
ground,  and  if  some  chance  were  afforded  me  to  turn 
back— 

"What !  Merely  because  I  have  failed  in  securing  the 
lease  for  you,  am  I  to  throw  the  handle  after  the  axe?" 

"As  I  tell  you,"  said  Cerizet,  "I  am  not  viewing  the  mat- 
ter from  the  standpoint  of  my  own  interest.  But,  as  I  have 
no  doubt  whatever  that  you  made  every  conceivable  effort, 
as  my  sincere  friend,  to  gain  the  point,  your  failure  and  dis- 
missal are  to  me  a  very  unsatisfactory  symptom.  In  fact, 
they  lead  me  to  speak  of  a  matter  which  I  should  not  other- 
wise have  mentioned,  since,  in  my  opinion,  when  a  man  has 
an  end  in  view  he  should  go  straight  on  to  it  without  looking 
in  front,  or  behind,  or  allowing  himself  to  be  diverted  from 
it  by  any  other  ambition." 

"Well,  well !"  said  la  Peyrade,  "what  is  all  this  tall  talk 
about?  What  do  you  want  me  to  do?  And  what  will  it 
cost?" 

"My  dear  boy,"  said  Cerizet,  ignoring  his  impertinence, 
"you  yourself  can  judge  of  the  value  of  such  a  find  as  a  young 
lady,  well  educated,  gifted  with  beauty  and  talents — and  a 
fortune,  at  least  equal  to  Celeste's,  of  her  very  own,  plus  fifty 
thousand  francs  worth  of  diamonds,  like  Mademoiselle 
George's  in  a  provincial  poster ;  besides,  what  must  chiefly  at- 


214  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

tract  a  man  of  an  ambitious  spirit,  some  influence  in  politi- 
cal circles  for  her  husband's  benefit." 

"And  you  have  this  jewel  in  your  pocket?"  asked  la  Pey- 
rade  incredulously. 

"Better  still;  I  am  authorized  to  make  you  the  offer.  I 
might  almost  say  I  am  commissioned  to  do  so." 

"My  good  man,  you  are  fooling  me,  unless  this  phoenix 
has  some  prohibitive  defect.*' 

"Ah,  I  confess,"  said  Cerizet,  "there  is  one  little  draw- 
back,— not  in  the  family  connection,  for,  to  tell  the  truth, 
the  lady  has  none." 

"Oho  !  a  natural  child  ! — and  moreover  ?" 

"Moreover,  she  is  not  so  young  as  she  was;  she  may  be 
nine-and-twenty ;  but  nothing  can  be  easier  than  to  picture  a 
maid  not  yet  quite  old  as  a  young  widow." 

"And  that  is  the  worst  you  have  to  say?" 

"Yes,  all  that  is  irremediable." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?    A  case  of  rhinoplastics  ?" 

The  word  as  addressed  to  Cerizet  was  singularly  offensive. 
In  fact,  this  tone  had  been  very  evident  in  all  the  lawyer 
had  said  during  dinner.  However,  it  was  not  the  usurer's 
game  to  seem  offended. 

"No,"  said  he,  "our  nose  is  as  well  made  as  our  figure  and 
foot;  but  we  are,  I  must  own,  somewhat  afflicted  with  hys- 
teria." 

"I  see,"  said  Theodose,  "and  as  there  is  but  one  step  from 
hysteria  to  insanity " 

"Just  so,"  Cerizet  eagerly  put  in.  "Troubles  have  left  our 
brain  slightly  affected,  but  the  doctors  are  unanimously 
agreed  that  at  the  birth  of  the  first  child  not  a  sign  will  re- 
main of  this  little  mental  disturbance." 

"The  doctors,  of  course,  are  infallible  !"  replied  the  lawyer, 
"but  in  spite  of  all  your  discouragement  you  must  excuse 
me,  my  good  friend,  if  I  continue  to  pay  my  addresses  to 
Mademoiselle  Colleville.  It  seems  an  absurd  confession,  but 
the  truth  is  that  I  am  gradually  falling  quite  in  love  with 
the  little  girl.  It  is  not  that  her  beauty  is  remarkable,  or 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  215 

that  the  splendor  of  her  fortune  has  dazzled  me ;  but  the  girl 
has  an  artless  soul  added  to  a.  strong  foundation  of  good 
sense,  and,  which  settles  the  question  in  my  mind,  there  is 
something  very  attractive  in  her  sincere  and  solid  piety.  I 
believe  she  will  make  her  husband  happy." 

"Yes,"  said  Cerizet,  who,  having  been  on  the  stage,  re- 
membered Moliere's  word,  "  'Your  hymen  will  be  soaked  in 
sweets  and  joys.' ': 

This  quotation  from  Tartuffe  nettled  la  Peyrade,  and  he 
retorted : 

"The  contact  of  her  innocence  will  purge  me  of  the  infec- 
tion of  the  low  company  I  have  hitherto  kept." 

"And  you  will  pay  your  notes  of  hand,"  added  Cerizet. 
"With  as  little  delay  as  possible,  if  you  take  my  advice,  for 
Dutocq,  here  present,  confessed  to  me  but  just  now  that  he 
would  not  be  sorry  to  see  the  color  of  your  money." 

"I?  Never!"  exclaimed  Dutocq.  "On  the  contrary,  our 
friend  is  well  within  the  time  allowed  by  law." 

"Well,  I,  for  my  part,  am  quite  of  Cerizet's  opinion,"  said 
Theodose.  "The  less  a  debt  is  legally  due,  and  the  more 
disputable  and  discreditable  it  is,  the  greater  haste  to  pay 
and  have  done  with  it." 

"But,  my  dear  la  Peyrade,"  said  Dutocq,  "you  speak  with 
such  bitterness !" 

La  Peyrade,  taking  out  his  pocket-book,  merely  said: 

"Have  you  the  bills  with  you,  Dutocq?" 

"Indeed,  my  dear  boy,  I  have  not,"  said  the  other,  "and 
am  the  less  likely  to  have  them  about  me  because  they  are 
now  in  Cerizet's  hands." 

"Well,"  said  the  advocate,  rising,  "whenever  you  like  to 
call,  I  pay  over  the  counter.  Cerizet  can  tell  you  that." 

"What,  are  you  off  without  waiting  for  coffee  ?"  said  Ceri- 
zet, utterly  amazed. 

"Yes ;  I  have  an  appointment  for  eight  o'clock  in  an  arbi- 
tration case.  And  we  have  said  all  we  had  to  say :  You  have 
not  got  the  lease;  you  have  got  your  twenty-five  thousand 
francs;  Dutocq's  are  ready  for  him  whenever  he  chooses  to 


216  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

call  at  my  office.  I  see  nothing  to  hinder  me  from  going 
where  my  business  calls  me,  wishing  you  a  very  good  even- 
ing." 

"Heyday!"  said  Cerizet,  as  Theodose  went  out,  "this  is  a 
rupture." 

"Aye,  and  made  as  emphatic  as  possible,"  remarked 
Dutocq.  "The  air  with  which  he  took  out  his  pocket-book !" 

"But  where  the  devil  did  he  find  the  money?"  asked  the 
money-lender. 

"In  the  same  place,  no  doubt,"  replied  Dutocq  ironically, 
"where  he  found  that  which  he  produced  to  redeem  the  notes 
you  were  obliged  to  let  him  have  so  cheap." 

"My  good  friend,"  said  Cerizet,  "I  will  explain  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  that  insolent  rogue  released  himself 
from  me,  and  you  will  see  if  he  did  not  literally  rob  me  of 
fifteen  thousand  francs." 

"That  is  very  likely;  but  you,  my  kind  agent,  wanted  to 
do  me  out  of  ten  thousand." 

"No,  indeed.  I  was  instructed  to  purchase  your  share  of 
the  bills ;  and  after  all,  I  had  gone  as  far  as  twenty  thousand 
when  our  gentleman  came  in " 

"At  any  rate,"  said  Dutocq,  "when  we  leave  I  will  go  to 
your  house  and  you  shall  give  me  his  notes  of  hand ;  for,  as 
you  may  suppose,  to-morrow  morning  at  the  earliest  human 
hour,  I  shall  call  at  what  monsieur  calls  his  office.  I  will 
not  give  his  paying  mood  time  to  cool/' 

"And  you  will  be  very  wise ;  for,  take  my  word  for  it,  there 
will  be  some  rough  play  in  his  career  before  long." 

"Then  do  you  really  mean  that  story  of  a  crazy  girl  whom 
he  is  to  marry?  I  must  confess  that,  in  his  place,  with  affairs 
looking  so  promising  of  success,  I  should  not  have  jumped 
at  the  offer.  Nina  and  Ophelia  are  very  interesting  on  the 
stage,  but  in  the  domestic  circle " 

"In  the  domestic  circle,  where  they  have  a  comfortable 
fortune,  you  are  only  the  guardian,"  said  Cerizet  sapiently, 
"in  point  of  fact,  you  get  the  fortune  without  the  wife." 

"Well,"  said  Dutocq,  "that  is  one  way  of  looking  at  it/' 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  217 

"If  you  like,  we  will  get  our  coffee  elsewhere,"  Cerizet  sug- 
gested. "This  dinner  has  ended  so  flatly  that  I  only  want 
to  get  out  of  the  place — it  is  very  stuffy." 

He  called  the  waiter.    "The  bill,"  said  he. 

"M'sieu',  it  is  paid." 

"Paid — and  by  whom?" 

"By  the  gentleman  who  went  out  just  now." 

"But  it  is  inconceivable !"  cried  Cerizet.  "I  ordered  the 
dinner,  and  you  allowed  a  stranger  to  pay  for  it." 

"It  is  no  fault  of  mine,"  said  the  waiter;  "the  gentleman 
paid  the  lady  at  the  desk.  She  supposed  it  was  all  right, 
no  doubt.  It  is  not  so  very  common  to  find  gentlemen  fight- 
ing for  the  pleasure  of  paying." 

"Well — all  right !"  said  Cerizet,  dismissing  the  waiter. 

"No  coffee,  gentlemen?"  said  the  man  before  he  left.  "It 
is  paid  for." 

"For  that  very  reason  we  will  not  have  it!"  said  Cerizet 
irritably.  "It  is  really  monstrous  that  in  a  house  of  this 
character  such  a  blunder  should  be  possible.  Can  you  con- 
ceive of  such  insolence?"  he  added,  when  the  waiter  was 
gone. 

"Faugh !"  said  Dutocq,  taking  his  hat ;  "it  is  a  schoolboy's 
trick  to  show  that  he  has  money  in  his  pocket.  It  is  a  new 
sensation,  evidently." 

"No,  no,"  said  Cerizet,  "it  is  not  that.  It  is  a  way  of  in- 
sisting on  the  quarrel.  'I  do  not  choose  to  be  indebted  to 
you  even  for  a  dinner' — that  is  what  it  means." 

"In  point  of  fact,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  Dutocq,  as  they 
went  down  the  steps,  "this  banquet  was  intended  to  celebrate 
your  enthronement  as  principal  tenant.  He  could  not  get 
you  the  lease;  so  I  can  understand  that  his  conscience  was 
ill  at  ease  under  the  notion  of  allowing  you  to  pay  for  a  din- 
ner which,  like  my  promissory  notes,  were  for  no  value  re- 
ceived." 

Cerizet  made  no  comment  on  this  ill-natured  explanation. 
They  were  in  front  of  the  desk  where  the  lady  presided  who 
had  allowed  herself  to  be  paid  by  the  wrong  man;  and  the 


218  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

usurer,  to  save  his  dignity,  felt  bound  to  speak  his  mind.  The 
two  men  then  went  out  together,  and  the  money-lender  took 
his  master  to  find  a  cup  of  coffee  in  a  poor  sort  of  tavern  in 
the  Passage  du  Saumon. 

Here  the  Amphitryon  who  had  got  off  so  cheaply  re- 
covered his  temper;  he  was  like  a  fish  out  of  water  restored 
to  its  element.  Sunk  as  he  was  to  such  a  level  as  makes  a 
man  ill  at  ease  in  places  where  better  company  is  to  be  met, 
it  .was  almost  with  delight  that  Cerizet  found  himself  in  his 
element  again  in  this  saloon  where  pool  was  being  noisily 
played  for  the  benefit  of  a  hero  of  the  Bastille. 

He  had  a  reputation  in  this  establishment  as  a  billiard- 
player,  and  was  requested  to  join  in  the  game  already  begun. 
He  bought  a  ball,  that  is  to  say,  one  of  the  players  sold  him 
his  turn  and  his  chances.  Dutocq  took  advantage  of  this 
arrangement  to  make  himself  scarce,  going  off,  as  he  said, 
to  inquire  after  a  sick  friend. 

Not  long  after,  just  as  Cerizet,  in  his  shirt-sleeves  and  with 
a  pipe  between  his  teeth,  had  achieved  one  of  those  masterly 
strokes  which  rouse  the  gallery  to  frenzied  admiration,  on 
casting  an  exultant  glance  behind  him  he  saw  a  terrible 
kill-joy. 

Among  the  lookers-on,  du  Portail  was  gazing  at  him  over 
his  stick,  as  it  were,  on  which  his  chin  was  propped. 

A  flush  spread  over  Cerizet's  cheeks,  and  he  hesitated  to 
recognize  and  bow  to  the  gentleman  whom  he  had  little  ex- 
pected to  meet  in  such  a  place.  Incapable  of  making  the 
best  of  this  unpleasant  incident,  he  lost  his  presence  of 
mind;  this  affected  his  play,  and  a  few  strokes  after  he 
found  himself  put  out. 

While  he  was  putting  on  his  coat,  feeling  very  cross,  du 
Portail  rose,  and  pushing  by  him  as  he  went  out,  said  in  an 
undertone : 

"Hue  Montmartre,  at  the  end  of  the  Passage." 

When  they  met,  Cerizet  was  so  clumsy  as  to  try  to  explain 
his  being  found  in  such  loose  attire  and  in  this  place. 

"But  to  see  you  there  I  was  necessarily  there  myself,"  said 
du  Portail. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  219 

"That  is  true/'  said  the  money-lender,  "and  I  was  con- 
siderably surprised  at  finding  a  peaceful  resident  of  the 
Saint-Sulpice  quarter  in  that  den." 

"Which  sufficiently  proves,"  said  the  gentleman,  in  a  voice 
which  stifled  curiosity  and  cut  off  all  explanations,  "that 
I  am  in  the  habit  of  going  everywhere  and  anywhere,  and 
that  my  lucky  star  can' guide  me  on  the  track  of  those  whom 
I  want  to  see.  I  was  thinking  of  you  just  as  you  came  in. 
Well,  what  have  you  done?" 

"Nothing  of  any  use,"  said  Cerizet.  "After  playing  me 
a  horribly  scurvy  trick  and  keeping  me  out  of  a  splendid 
stroke  of  business,  our  man  rejected  all  overtures  with  su- 
preme contempt.  There  is  no  hope  of  buying  in  Dutocq's 
bills;  la  Peyrade  is  in  funds,  it  would  seem,  for  he  wanted 
to  take  them  up  then  and  there,  and  will  undoubtedly  pay 
them  off  to-morrow  morning." 

"Then  he  regards  his  marriage  to  Mademoiselle  Colleville 
as  a  (Settled  thing?" 

"Not  only  that,  but  his  latest  pretence  is  to  give  out  that 
it  is  a  marriage  for  love.  He  favored  me  with  a  long  speech 
to  convince  me  that  he  was  sincerely  attached  to  her." 

"Very  good,"  said  du  Portail,  "stay  the  proceedings" — 
by  which  he  meant,  do  nothing  further  in  the  matter.  "I 
will  undertake  to  bring  our  gentleman  to  reason.  Come 
to  me  to-morrow  to  give  me  full  particulars  as  to  the  family 
he  wants  to  marry  into.  You  have  missed  one  stroke  of 
business;  do  not  let  that  worry  you;  by  helping  me  others 
will  turn  up." 

So  speaking,  he  called  a  hackney  coachman  who  hap- 
pened to  be  driving  past,  got  into  the  cab,  and  with  a 
friendly  but  patronizing  nod  to  Cerizet,  told  the  man  to 
drive  to  the  Kue  Honore-Chevalier. 

As  he   walked   down  the   Eue   Montmartre  towards   the 
Estrapade  quarter,  Cerizet  thrashed  his  brain  to  guess  who 
this  little  old  man  could  be,  with  his  abrupt  speech,  his  im- 
perious tone,  and  his  manner  when  he  addressed  people  as 
VOL.  14 — 40 


220  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

of  holding  them  with  grappling-irons;  who  came,  too,  so 
far  from  home  to  spend  his  evening  in  a  place  where  his  dis- 
tinguished superiority  made  him  appear  quite  out  of  his  ele- 
ment. 

He  had  got  as  far  as  the  Halle  without  hitting  on  any 
solution  of  this  problem ;  but  he  was  roughly  roused  from  his 
meditation  by  a  hearty  slap  on  the  back. 

He  hastily  turned  round,  and  found  himself  face  to  face 
with  Madame  Cardinal,  not  that  there  was  anything  to  as- 
tonish him  in  meeting  her  in  this  neighborhood,  whither 
she  came  in  the  small  hours  of  the  morning  to  lay  in  her 
stock  in  trade. 

Since  the  evening  they  had  spent  in  the  Eue  Honore-Che- 
valier,  in  spite  of  the  leniency  then  extended  to  her,  the 
good  woman  had  thought  it  prudent  to  pay  very  brief  visits 
to  her  own  lodgings;  and  for  the  last  two  days  had  been 
drowning  the  sore  of  her  discomfiture  in  liquor  taken  "short," 
and  called  "drops  of  comfort." 

Her  voice  was  thick  and  her  face  on  fire  as  she  said: 

"Hallo,  daddy!  And  how  did  you  get  on  with  the  little 
old  man?" 

"I  explained  to  him  in  a  very  few  words,"  said  the  money- 
lender, "that,  so  far  as  I  was  concerned,  he  was  under  a 
misapprehension.  You,  my  poor  woman,  have  behaved 
throughout  with  unpardonable  recklessness.  When  you 
asked  me  to  help  you  in  securing  your  uncle's  property,  how 
was  it  that  you  did  not  know  of  his  having  a  natural  daugh- 
ter, to  whom  he  long  since  left  all  he  had  by  will  ?  The  little 
old  man,  who  interrupted  you  in  your  absurd  attempt  to  an- 
ticipate the  inheritance,  was  neither  more  nor  less  than  the 
legatee's  guardian." 

"Oho !  So  that  is  a  guardian !"  said  the  woman.  "Well,  a 
pretty  sort  they  are — your  guardians !  To  talk  to  a  woman 
at  my  time  of  life — only  because  she  wishes  to  find  out  if  her 
uncle  has  anything  to  leave — about  sending  for  the  police! 
If  that  is  not  abominable,  disgusting !" 

"Come,  Madame  Cardinal,"  said  Cerizet,  "you  have  noth- 
ing to  complain  off;  you  got  off  cheap." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  221 

"And  you? — I  should  like  to  know!  You,  who  picked 
the  locks  and  wanted  to  pocket  the  diamonds  under  pretence 
of  marrying  my  daughter!  As  if  she  would  even  look  at 
you — my  daughter!  And  a  legitimate  daughter,  she  is! 
'Never,  mother,'  says  she,  'never  would  I  give  my  heart  to 
a  man  with  a  nose  like  that !' s> 

"The»  you  have  found  the  girl?" 

"No  longer  ago  than  last  evening.  She  has  given  up  her 
vermin  of  an  actor,  and  is,  I  flatter  myself,  in  a  splendid 
position,  eating  off  silver,  having  her  brougham  by  the 
month,  and  highly  respected  by  a  lawyer  who  would  marry 
her  out  of  hand,  but  that  he  must  wait  till  his  parents  die, 
because  his  father,  as  it  happens,  is  a  mayor,  and  such  a 
marriage  might  displease  the  government." 

"My  good  woman,  what  stuff  you  are  talking.  His  father 
is  his  mother?"* 

"Dear  me,  what  next !  Mayor  of  the  district  of  the  elev- 
enth arrondissement, — Monsieur  Minard,  a  retired  cocoa 
merchant,  enormously  rich." 

"Ah,  to  be  sure,  to  be  sure.  I  know  him.  And  Olympe, 
you  say.  is  with  his  son." 

"That  is  to  say,  they  do  not  live  together,  to  avoid  scandal, 
though  his  intentions  are  strictly  honorable.  He  lives  with 
his  father,  and  meanwhile  they  have  bought  all  their  furni- 
ture, and  it  is  housed,  with  my  daughter,  in  rooms  near  the 
Chaussee  d'Antin.  A  stylish  quarter,  isn't  it?" 

"Why,  that  seems  to  me  a  capital  arrangement,"  said 
Cerizet,  "and  as  it  is  clear  that  Heaven  did  not  mean  us  for 
each  other " 

"Yes,  that's  just  where  it  is.  I  believe  the  child  will  turn 
out  quite  a  comfort  to  me;  and  there  is  a  thing  I  want  to 
ask  your  advice  about." 

"What  is  that?"  asked  Cerizet. 

"It  is  just  this :  my  daughter  being  in  such  luck,  of  course 
I  cannot  go  on  crying  fish  in  the  streets,  and  since  I  am 
disinherited  by  that  uncle  of  mine,  don't  you  think  I  have  a 
right  to  ask  for  an  allowance  for  element?" 

*  Mere,  mother— maire,  mayor. 


222  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"You  are  dreaming,  my  good  woman;  your  daughter  is 
under  age;  it  is  you  who  ought  to  be  keeping  her,  and  not 
she  who  ought  to  allow  you  aliment." 

"And  so  those  who  have  not,  are  to  give  to  those  who 
have  I"  exclaimed  Madame  Cardinal,  her  temper  rising.  "A 
pretty  thing  is  the  law — as  well  as  your  guardians,  who  talk 
of  sending  for  the  police  for  a  mere  nothing.  All  right ! 
Let  Mm  fetch  the  police !  Let  him  have  me  executed.  That 
will  not  hinder  me  from  saying  that  rich  men  are  all 
thieves,  and  the  poor  people  ought  to  make  another  revolu- 
tion to  get  their  rights,  which  you,  my  boy,  and  my  daughter, 
and  her  lawyer  Minard,  and  tne  little  guardian,  will  have 
to  knock  under,  d'ye  see?" 

Seeing  that  his  ex-stepmother  had  reached  a  really  in- 
coherent pitch  of  excitement,  Cerizet  abruptly  left  her,  and 
when  he  was  fifty  paces  away  he  could  hear  himself  still 
pursued  by  abuse  which  he  promised  himself  he  would  pay 
her  out  for,  the  very  next  time  she  should  come  to  the 
bank,  in  the  Rue  des  Poules,  to  ask  him  to  make  things  easy 
for  her. 

As  he  got  near  the  house,  Cerizet,  who  was  anything 
rather  than  brave,  had  a  shock;  he  perceived  a  figure  in  am- 
bush by  the  door — a  man,  who,  on  his  approach,  moved  out 
and  was  evidently  coming  to  meet  him. 

Happiiy  it  was  only  Dutocq ;  he  had  come  for  la  Peyrade's 
notes  of  hand.  Cerizet  handed  them  over  to  him  with  some 
ill-humor,  complaining  of  the  distrust  implied  in  a  visit 
at  such  an  unseemly  hour. 

Dutocq  cared  little  enough  for  his  touchiness,  and  early 
next  morning  he  called  on  la  Peyrade. 

Theodose  paid  him  on  the  nail,  and  to  some  effusive 
speeches  which  Dutocq  was  tempted  to  make  when  he  felt 
the  cash  in  his  pocket,  he  replied  with  marked  coldness. 
Everything  in  his  demeanor  betrayed  the  attitude  of  a  slave 
who  had  just  broken  his  chains,  and  who  does  not  care  to 
make  any  particularly  Christian  use  of  his  freedom. 

As  he  let  his  late  creditor  out,  Dutocq  found  himself  con- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  223 

fronting  a  woman  dressed  like  a  servant,  who  was  about 
to  ring  the  bell.  She  was,  as  it  would  seem,  an  acquaintance 
of  Dutocq's,  for  he  said  to  her : 

"So-ho,  mother,  you  found  a  craving  to  consult  a  lawyer, 
heh  ?  You  are  quite  wise.  At  the  family  council  some  very 
serious  stories  were  told  about  you." 

"Heh !  Thank  God,  I  am  afraid  of  no  one,  and  I  can 
hold  up  my  head  and  march  on,"  replied  the  woman  thus 
addressed. 

"So  much  the  better!"  said  the  law  clerk,  "so  much  the 
better,  but  you  will  probably  be  summoned,  ere  long,  to 
account  for  this  business  before  the  judge.  But  after  all 
you  are  in  good  hands,  and  our  friend  la  Peyrade  can  give 
you  the  best  advice." 

"Sir,  you  are  quite  mistaken,"  replied  the  woman;  "it  was 
not  on  account  of  what  you  fancy  that  I  came  to  consult 
monsieur  the  lawyer." 

"Well,  well,  take  care  of  yourself,  my  good  woman,  for  I 
warn  you  that  you  will  be  plucked  in  style.  The  relations 
are  furious  with  you,  and  they  will  stick  to  the  notion  that 
you  are  very  rich/'' 

As  he  spoke,  Dutocq  fixed  an  eye  on  Theodose,  who  avoided 
his  gaze  and  desired  his  client  to  step  in. 

This  was  what  had  taken  place,  the  day  before,  between 
this  woman  and  la  Peyrade. 

La  Peyrade,  it  may  be  remembered,  was  in  the  habit  of 
going,  every  morning,  to  early  mass  in  his  parish  church. 
For  some  time  past  he  had  found  himself  the  object  of 
curious  attention  on  the  part  of  the  woman  who  had  just 
now  entered  his  room;  like  Dorine  in  Tartuffe,  she  had  been 
careful  to  attend  regularly  at  his  exact  hour,  and  these  pro- 
ceedings had  puzzled  him  greatly. 

An  unspoken  passion?  Such  an  explanation  was  incom- 
patible with  the  mature  age  and  pragmatical  devotion  of  the 
woman  who,  wearing  the  close-fitting  cap,  a  la  Janseniste, 
by  which  a  few  ardent  votaries  of  the  sect  may  still  be  identi- 
fied in  the  Saint-Jacques  quarter,  covered  up  all  her  hair 


224  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

like  a  nun ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  her  clothes  were  almost 
fastidiously  neat;  and  a  gold  cross  hanging  round  her 
neck  from  a  black  velvet  ribbon  excluded  the  hypothesis  of 
timid  poverty  anxious  to  delay  the  moment  when  it  must 
boldly  stand  confessed. 

On  the  morning  of  the  day  when  the  dinner  was  to  be 
given  at  the  Rocher  de  Cancale,  la  Peyrade,  tired  of  these 
manreuvres  which  were  at  last  beginning  to  occupy  his 
thoughts,  and  perceiving  that  this  puzzle  in  a  close  cap 
seemed  anxious  to  speak  to  him,  had  gone  up  to  the  woman 
and  asked  if  there  were  anything  he  could  do  for  her. 

"I  believe,  sir,  that  you  are  the  famous  Monsieur  de  la 
Peyrade,  the  advocate  of  the  poor?" 

"My  name  is  la  Peyrade,  and  I  have,  in  fact,  had  the  op- 
portunity of  helping  some  of  the  poorer  people  of  this  quar- 
ter." 

This  was  the  Provencal's  modest  version  of  the  matter — 
not,  at  that  moment,  too  excessively  a  Southerner. 

"If,  sir,  you  would  of  your  kindness  listen,  and  advise 
me." 

"The  place,"  said  Theodose,  "is  not  very  well  chosen  for 
such  a  consultation.  What  you  have  to  say  is  important, 
it  would  seem,  for  I  have  noticed  you  moving  about  me  for 
some  little  time;  I  live  close  by,  Rue  Saint-Dominique- 
d'Enfer,  and  if  you  will  take  the  trouble  to  come  to  my 

rooms " 

"I  shall  not  trouble  you  too  much,  sir?" 
"Not  at  all ;  it  is  my  business  to  attend  to  my  clients." 
"At  what  hour,  not  to  put  you  to  any  inconvenience,  sir  ?" 
"When  you  please;  I  shall  be  at  home  all  the  morning." 
"Then  I  will  attend  mass  again  and  take  communion; 
I  should  not  have  dared  to  do  so  at  this  service,  the  idea 
of  speaking  to  you,   sir,  would  have  distracted  my  mind. 
When  I  have  performed  my  devotions,  I  can  be  at  your  rooms 
by  about  eight,  if  that  suits  you,  sir." 

"Perfectly;  and  you  need  not  make  so  much  ceremony 
over  it,"  said  la  Peyrade  impatiently. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  225 

This  touch  of  irritation  may,  perhaps,  have  arisen  from 
a  little  professional  jealousy,  for  it  struck  him  that  he  had 
to  deal  with  a  practised  hand,  who  could  give  him  points. 

At  the  appointed  hour,  not  a  minute  before  or  after,  the 
bigot  rang  the  lawyer's  bell,  and  he,  after  persuading  her, 
with  some  difficulty,  to  sit  down,  desired  her  to  speak. 

The  good  woman  was  then  afflicted  with  the  little  post- 
poning cough  that  comes  in  to  secure  a  short  delay  when 
approaching  a  difficult  subject.  Finally,  making  up  her 
mind  to  the  plunge,  she  explained  the  object  of  her  visit. 

"I  came,"  said  she,  "to  ask  you,  sir,  to  be  so  good  as  to 
tell  whether  it  is  true  that  a  very  charitable  man,  now  dead, 
left  a  fund  for  rewarding  servants  who  have  done  well  by 
their  masters?" 

"That  is  to  say/'  replied  la  Peyrade,  "Monsieur  de  Mon- 
thyon  founded  a  set  of  prizes  which  have,  in  fact,  been  fre- 
quently given  to  zealous  and  exemplary  servants.  But  mere 
good  conduct  is  not  enough  to  earn  one  of  these  rewards; 
some  act  of  heroic  devotion  must  be  proved,  of  truly  Chris- 
tian self-sacrifice." 

"Eeligion,"  said  the  bigot,  "enjoins  humility,  and  I  cer- 
tainly should  not  dare  to  praise  myself;  but  for  more  than 
twenty  years  I  have  lived  in  the  service  of  an  old  man,  dull 
beyond  all  you  can  fancy,  who  has  spent  all  he  has  on  in- 
venting things,  and  whom  I  am  obliged  to  maintain — and 
there  are  persons  who  think  I  am  not  altogether  unworthy 
to  obtain  the  prize." 

"It  is,  no  doubt,  from  among  such  cases  that  the  Academy 
selects  the  candidates,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "What  is  your  mas- 
ter's name?" 

"Monsieur  Picot;  old  Father  Picot  he  is  always  called 
in  the  neighborhood ;  he  walks  about  dressed  like  a  guy  at 
carnival-time,  and  all  the  children  troop  at  his  heels,  crying 
after  him :  'Good-day,  Daddy  Picot.' — But  that  is  the  man 
all  over ;  he  never  cares  what  folks  think  of  him ;  he  is  always 
wool-gathering.  What  is  the  good  of  my  wearing  myself 
to  the  bone  to  cook  him  something  tasty  ?  If  you  asked  him 


226  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

what  he  had  for  dinner  he  could  not  tell  you. — A  clever 
man,  too,  who  has  turned  out  some  good  pupils;  perhaps, 
sir,  you  know  young  Phellion,  a  professor 'at  the  Saint-Louis 
school,  who  still  comes  pretty  frequently  to  our  house." 

"Then  your  master  is  a  mathematician  /"  said  la  Peyrade. 

"Yes,  sir;  and  mathematics  have  been  his  ruin.  He  has 
taken  up  some  queer  ideas,  in  which  it  would  seem  there  is 
no  sense  at  all,  after  ruining  his  eyesight  at  the  Observa- 
tory, near  by,  where  he  was  employed  for  a  good  many 
years/' 

"Well,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "you  must  get  some  testimonials 
to  prove  all  your  devotion  to  the  old  man,  and  I  will  then 
draw  you  up  a  form  of  application,  and  take  the  preliminary 
steps." 

"How  kind  you  are !"  cried  the  woman,  clasping  her 
hands.  "But  if  you  would  allow  me — there  is  a  little  diffi- 
culty  » 

"And  what  is  that?" 

"I  have  been  told,  sir,  that  to  get  a  prize  you  must  be 
very  poor  indeed." 

"Well,  not  quite  a  pauper;  at  the  same  time  the  Academy 
endeavors,  no  doubt,  to  help  those  who  are  in  poor  cir- 
cumstances, and  who  have  made  sacrifices  really  beyond  their 
means." 

"As  for  sacrifices,  I  may  flatter  myself  I  have  made 
enough,  when  the  whole  of  a  little  fortune  I  had  from  my 
parents  has  been  spent  in  the  housekeeping^;  and  for  more 
than  fifteen  years  I  have  never  had  a  penny  of  my  wages, 
which,  at  three  hundred  francs  a  year,  with  the  compound 
interest,  mounts  up  to  a  nice  little  sum,  as  you  will  allow, 
sir." 

At  the  words  "compound  interest,"  which  presupposed 
some  financial  experience,  la  Peyrade  looked  more  closely  at 
this  Antigone. 

"Then  the  difficulty  in  question ?"  said  he. 

"You  will  not  regard  it  as  an  objection,  I  hope,  sir,  that 
I  should  lately  have  lost  a  very  rich  uncle,  who  died  in  Eng- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  227 

land,  and  who,  after  doing  nothing  for  his  family  during 
his  lifetime,  left  me  by  his  will  the  sum  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand francs." 

"Of  course/'  said  la  Peyrade,  "nothing  can  be  more  natu- 
ral or  more  perfectly  legitimate." 

"And  yet,  sir,  I  Have  been  told  that  it  might  do  me  a 
mischief  in  the  opinion  of  the  judges." 

"That,  no  doubt,  is  possible,  because,  as  you  now  are  in 
easy  circumstances,  the  devotion  you  still  propose  to  show 
to  your  master,  as  I  suppose,  will  be  evidently  less  meri- 
torious." 

"I  certainly  will  never  desert  the  good  man,  in  spite  of  his 
faults,  although  the  poor  little  property  I  have  come  in  for 
will  be  in  the  greatest  peril." 

"How  so?"  asked  la  Peyrade,  who  was  curious. 

"Bless  me,  sir,  if  he  thinks  I  have  any  money,  if  it  is  but 
a  mouthful,  it  will  all  be  swamped  in  his  inventions  for  per- 
petual motion,  which  have  been  his  ruin,  and  mine  too." 

"Then,  as  I  understand,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "what  you  wish 
is  that  this  legacy  should  remain  a  secret  both  from  the 
Academy  and  from  your  master?" 

"You  are  so  clever,  sir ;  you  understand  so  well !"  said  the 
pious  dame,  smiling. 

"And  to  that  end,"  the  lawyer  went  on,  "you  do  not  wish 
to  keep  the  money  in  your  own  hands?" 

"That  my  master  may  find  it  and  grab  it ! — Besides,  as 
you  may  believe,  I  should  be  glad,  if  only  to  enable  me  to 
get  him  some  little  extra  treats,  that  the  money  should  bring 
in  some  interest." 

"And  the  more  the  better,"  observed  la  Peyrade. 

"Well,  sir,  say  five  to  six  per  cent." 

"Then  it  would  appear  that  what  you  want  my  advice  on 
is  not  only  a  memorial  to  apply  for  a  prize  for  virtue,  but 
also  a  sound  investment?" 

"You  are  so  kind,  sir,  so  charitable,  so  encouraging!" 

"The  form  of  application,  after  making  some  inquiry, 
will  not  be  difficult;  but  an  investment  affording  good  se- 


228  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

curity,  and  at  the  same  time  kept  absolutely  secret,  is  far 
less  easy  to  manage." 

"But  if  I  dared—     "  said  she. 

"What  ?"  said  la  Peyrade. 

"You  understand  me,  sir?" 

"I?— not  in  the  least." 

"I  prayed  to  Heaven  but  just  now  that  you  might  your- 
self take  charge  of  the  money.  I  should  feel  so  confident 
that  it  was  in  safe  hands,  and  that  nothing  would  be  said 
about  it." 

At  this  moment  la  Peyrade  was  reaping  the  reward  of 
the  farce  he  had  played  of  devotion  to  the  poorer  class. 
Nothing  could  have  inspired  this  woman  with  the  boundless 
confidence  she  felt  in  him,  unless  it  were  the  chorus  of 
praise  from  all  the  porters'  wives  in  the  neighborhood.  The 
thought  of  Dutocq  flashed  on  him,  and  he  felt  ready  to  be- 
lieve that  this  woman  had  been  sent  to  him  by  Providence. 
But  the  more  he  longed  to  take  advantage  of  such  a  chance 
of  purchasing  freedom,  the  more  it  behooved  him  to  seem  to 
yield  against  his  will ;  and  he  made  endless  difficulties. 

In  point  of  fact  he  had  no  great  belief  in  his  client's  char- 
acter, and  he  was  not  anxious,  in  robbing  Peter  to  pay 
Paul,  as  the  saying  goes,  to  throw  over  a  creditor  who,  after 
all,  was  in  the  same  boat  with  him,  in  favor  of  an  old  woman, 
who  might  become  troublesome  at  any  moment,  and,  in  her 
eagerness  to  recover  her  money,  might  make  such  a  fuss  as 
would  seriously  damage  his  reputation.  He  determined, 
therefore,  to  play  a  desperate  game. 

"My  good  woman,"  said  he,  "I  am  in  no  want  of  money, 
and  I  am  not  rich  enough  to  pay  you  the  interest  on  a  sum 
of  twenty-five  thousand  francs  without  investing  it.  The 
only  thing  I  can  do  is  to  put  it,  in  my  own  name,  in  the 
hands  of  a  notary,  Monsieur  Dupuis,  a  pious  man  whom 
you  may  see  any  Sunday  on  the  official  bench  in  the  parish 
church.  Notaries,  as  you  know,  give  no  form  of  receipt;  1 
shall  therefore  give  you  none.  I  can  only  pledge  myself 
to  leave  among  my  papers,  in  case  of  my  death,  a  note  that 


THE  MIDDLE  GLASSES  229 

secure  you  the  repayment  of  your  capital.  As  you  see, 
it  is  a  matter  of  blind  confidence — and  even  so,  I  take  the 
money  most  unwillingly  and  merely  to  oblige  a  person  who 
commends  herself  so  strongly  to  my  good-will  by  her  pious 
sentiments,  and  by  the  charitable  use  she  proposes  to  make 
of  her  little  fortune." 

"If  you  see  no  other  way,  sir " 

"This  is  the  only  plan  that  seems  to  me  possible/'  replied 
la  Peyrade.  "However,  I  do  not  despair  of  getting  you  six 
per  cent,  and  at  any  rate  you  may  be  certain  that  it  will 
be  punctually  paid.  Only  it  might  happen  that  the  notary 
could  not  command  the  capital  under  six  or  twelve  months' 
notice,  because  the  moneys  which  notaries  usually  invest 
in  mortgages  are  commonly  tied  up  for  a  longer  or  shorter 
term.  Also,  as  soon  as  you  have  gained  the  prize  for  virtue, 
which  in  all  probability  I  can  enable  you  to  get,  as  you  then 
may  no  longer  care  to  conceal  your  little  fortune — though 
J  quite  understand  your  wishing  to  do  so  at  present — I  must 
warn  you  that  in  case  of  any  indiscretion  on  your  part  the 
capital  will  be  immediately  returned  to  you,  and  I  shall  not 
hesitate  to  tell  the  world  at  large  how  you  have  concealed 
this  legacy  from  the  master  to  whom  you  profess  such  en- 
tire devotion.  This,  as  you  must  see,  will  reveal  you  as  a 
hypocrite,  and  detract  greatly  from  your  reputation  for 
piety." 

"Oh,  sir,"  said  the  woman,  "can  you  suppose  I  would  tell 
anything  I  ought  to  hold  my  tongue  about?" 

"Bless  me,  my  good  woman,  in  business  we  must  provide 
against  every  contingency.  Money  makes  quarrels  between 
the  best  friends,  and  leads  to  the  most  unforeseen  issues. 
So  take  time  and  think  it  over ;  come  again  a  few  days  hence. 
Between  this  and  then  you  may  have  thought  of  some  plan 
that  you  like  better,  and  I  myself,  though  proposing  so  reck- 
lessly an  arrangement  which  I  confess  does  not  please  me, 
may  have  discerned  difficulties  which  escape  me  at  the  pres- 
ent moment." 

This  threat,  hinted  at  in  conclusion,  was  certain  to  clinch 
the  matter. 


230  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"I  have  thought  it  all  over/'  said  the  woman.  "With  so 
religious  a  man  as  you,  sir,  there  can  be  no  risk." 

She  took  a  small  pocketbook  out  of  the  bosom  of  her  dress 
and  extracted  twenty-five  thousand-franc  banknotes. 

The  dexterity  with  which  she  counted  them  was  a  revela- 
tion to  la  Peyrade.  The  woman  was  evidently  used  to  finger- 
ing money,  and  a  queer  notion  flashed  through  his  brain— 
"Supposing  I  were  receiving  stolen  goods!" 

"No,  no,"  he  said.  "In  order  to  draw  up  the  petition  to 
be  presented  to  the  Academy,  I  must  first,  as  I  told  you, 
make  some  little  inquiry,  so  I  shall  be  calling  on  you  in  the 
natural  course  of  things  by  and  by.  At  what  hour  are  you 
alone?" 

"My  master  goes  out  at  about  four  to  take  a  turn  in  the 
Luxembourg." 

"And  where  do  you  live?" 

"Hue  du  Val-de-Grace,  No.  8." 

"Very  well,  at  four  o'clock  then ;  and  if — as  I  see  no  reason 
to  doubt — my  information  is  satisfactory,  I  will  then  take 
your  money.  Otherwise,  as  we  can  take  no  further  steps 
in  the  matter  of  the  prize  you  will  not  need  to  make  any 
mystery  of  your  legacy.  Then  you  can  invest  it  in  a  more 
ordinary  manner  than  I  have  been  obliged  to  suggest  to 
you." 

"Oh,  you  are  very  cautious,  sir,"  said  the  woman,  who 
had  fancied  the  business  settled.  "I  did  not  steal  the  money, 
thank  the  Lord !  And  you  can  make  every  inquiry  you  wish 
among  the  neighbors." 

"That  is  just  what  I  must  do,  whether  or  no,"  said  la 
Peyrade  dryly,  for  he  did  not  altogether  like  this  alert 
shrewdness,  which,  under  an  assumption  of  artlessness,  read 
all  his  thoughts.  "Prizes  for  virtue  are  not  given  for  the 
asking,  and  short  of  being  a  thief  you  may  not  be  a  Sister 
of  Charity;  there  is  a  wide  interval  between  the  two  ex- 
tremes." 

"As  you  please,  sir,"  said  the  woman.  "You  are  doing 
me  too  great  a  service  for  me  to  make  any  demur  to  your 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  231 

precautions."  And  with  a  most  unctuous  courtesy  she  de- 
parted, taking  her  money  with  her. 

"The  devil!"  thought  la  Peyrade,  "that  woman  is  more 
than  a  match  for  me.  She  swallows  an  affront  with  an  air  of 
gratitude  and  never  a  wry  face.  I  have  not  learned  to  control 
myself  so  effectually."  He  was  half  afraid  that  he  had  been 
too  cautions,  and  that  his  client  might  change  her  mind 
before  he  paid  her  the  call  he  had  promised. 

However,  the  mischief  was  done,  and  though  a  little  wor- 
ried at  the  thought  of  having  perhaps  missed  an  opportunity, 
he  would  sooner  have  lost  a  limb  than  yield  to  the  tempta- 
tion to  call  a  minute  earlier  than  the  hour  he  had  fixed. 

The  information  he  picked  up  in  the  neighborhood  was 
contradictory;  some  spoke  of  his  client  as  a  perfect  saint, 
others  thought  her  a  very  cunning  hussy;  still,  there  was 
nothing  on  the  whole  against  her  moral  conduct,  or  calculated 
to  scare  la  Peyrade  away  from  the  piece  of  good  luck  she 
had  put  in  his  way. 

When  he  saw  her  again  at  four  o'clock  she  was  still  in 
the  same  mind. 

It  was  with  this  money  in  his  pocket  that  he  went  to  the 
Rocher  de  Cancale;  perhaps  the  various  excitement  through 
which  he  had  passed  in  the  course  of  the  day  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  abrupt  and  hasty  way  of  his  rupture 
with  his  associates.  This  manner  of  behavior  was  very  ill- 
judged,  and  not  the  outcome  of  either  his  natural  or  his 
acquired  temperament.  In  fact,  the  money,  all  hot,  that 
he  had  in  his  pocket,  had  a  little  turned  his  brain,  and  the 
mere  touch  of  it  had  filled  him  with  an  eager  impatience 
for  freedom  which  was  beyond  his  control.  He  had  thrown 
Cerizet  overboard  without  even  consulting  Brigitte;  and 
yet  he  had  not  all  the  courage  of  his  treachery,  since  he 
had  ascribed  to  the  old  maid  a  purpose  which  was  the  off- 
spring solely  of  his  own  ill-will,  and  his  bitter  memories  of 
entanglements  with  the  man  who  so  long  had  him  in  his  power. 

Thus  all  through  the  day  la  Peyrade  had  come  short  of 
being  the  infallible  and  ever-ready  man  we  have  hitherto 


232  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

found  him.  Once  already,  when  holding  the  fifteen  thou- 
sand francs  given  to  him  by  Thuillier,  he  had  been  dragged 
by  Cerizet  into  an  illegal  action  which  had  compelled  him  to 
the  master-stroke  of  his  bargain  with  Sauvaignou. 

It  is,  no  doubt,  more  difficult  to  keep  a  level  head  in  good 
than  in  bad  fortune. 

The  Farnese  Hercules,  strong  in  quiescence,  shows  more 
fully  the  reserve  of  muscular  force  than  other  figures  of 
Hercules  in  violent  action,  represented  in  all  the  excitement 
of  their  labors. 


PART  II. 

BETWEEN  the  two  parts  of  this  narrative,  a  great  event  had 
occurred  in  the  Phellions"  life. 

Everybody  has  heard  of  the  disaster  of  the  Odeon,  the 
ill-starred  theatre  which  for  so  many  years  devoured  its 
managers.  Eightly  or  wrongly,  the  residents  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  this  dramatic  failure  are  convinced  that  they  take 
the  greatest  interest  in  its  prosperity,  and  more  than  once 
the  mayor  and  the  bigwigs  of  the  arrondissement  have  en- 
deavored, with  a  courage  that  does  them  honor,  to  promote 
various  schemes  for  galvanizing  the  corpse. 

Now,  to  have  a  finger  in  some  theatrical  pie  is  one  of  the 
perennial  ambitions  of  the  middle-class  man;  hence  the 
would-be  saviours  of  the  Odeon,  one  after  another,  thought 
themselves  magnificently  repaid  when  they  were  allowed 
the  semblance  of  a  vote  in  the  management  of  the  con- 
cern. 

It  was  as  a  member  of  a  board  of  this  kind  that  Minard, 
as  Mayor  of  the  eleventh  arrondissement,  was  appointed 
president  of  the  Beading  Committee,  with  liberty  to  select 
as  assessors  a  certain  number  of  notables  of  the  Quartier 
Latin. 

The  reader  will  ere  long  be  fully  informed  as  to  the 
point  reached  by  la  Peyrade  in  his  attempts  on  Celeste's 
fortune.  It  may  at  once  be  said  that  as  his  schemes  ad- 
vanced towards  maturity  they  had  inevitably  been  talked 
about;  and  since  at  this  stage  they  apparently  excluded  the 
pretensions  alike  of  the  younger  Minard  and  of  Felix  the 
professor,  the  prejudice  which  Minard  senior  had  allowed 
himself  to  betray  against  the  elder  Phellion  had  been  con- 
verted into  an  unequivocal  disposition  to  friendly  overtures, 
for  nothing  binds  and  subdues  men  more  effectually  than 
the  sense  of  a  common  repulse. 

(233) 


234  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Thus  seen  by  eyes  unblinded  by  paternal  rivalry,  Phellion 
was  to  Minard  as  a  noble  Koman  of  unimpeachable  in- 
tegrity, a  man  whose  little  books  had  been  adopted  by  the 
University — that  is  to  say,  a  healthy  and  well-tested  mind. 

So  when  it  was  the  Mayor's  duty  to  form  a  committee  for 
the  dramatic  custom-house  of  which  he  was  the  head,  he 
immediately  chose  Phellion;  and  this  noble  citizen,  on  the 
day  when  a  seat  was  offered  him  on  that  august  tribunal, 
felt  as  though  a  fillet  of  gold  crowned  his  brow.  It  may 
well  be  believed,  not  lightly  nor  unadvisedly  had  so  pompous 
a  mortal  as  Phellion  accepted  the  high  and  sacred  func- 
tions proposed  to  him.  He  was  called,  he  told  himself,  to 
exercise  a  magistracy,  a  priesthood. 

"To  form  an  opinion  of  men,"  said  he  to  Minard,  who 
was  surprised  at  his  hesitancy,  "is  an  alarming  task:  but 
to  judge  intellects!  Who  may  conceive  himself  equal  to 
euch  a  task?" 

And,  once  more,  family  considerations,  that  rock  ahead  of 
all  brave  resolve,  had  encroached  on  the  rights  of  conscience; 
the  thoughts  of  the  boxes  and  admissions  which  would  be 
at  the  disposal  of  a  member  of  the  board,  had  given  rise  to 
such  a  commotion  in  the  household,  that  for  a  moment  his 
free  option  had  seemed  to  be  in  danger-  Happily,  how- 
ever, Brutus  thought  himself  justified  in  deciding  on  the 
line  of  action  towards  which  the  consensus  of  the  whole  tribe 
of  Phellion  was  urging  him;  from  the  observations  made 
by  his  son-in-law  Barniol,  as  well  as  from  his  personal  judg- 
ment, he  saw  reason  to  believe  that  by  his  vote,  always  to 
be  recorded  in  favor  of  works  of  irreproachable  morality, 
and  by  his  firm  determination  always  to  oppose  any  drama 
to  which  a  mother  might  hesitate  to  take  her  daughter, 
he  would  be  enabled  to  do  the  most  signal  service  to  good 
principles  and  public  morals. 

So  Phellion  had  become  a  member,  to  use  his  own  words, 
of  the  Areopagus  presided  over  by  Minard,  and  he  had  just 
come  home  from  exercising  his  functions, — as  delicate  as 
they  were  interesting,  to  quote  him  once  more, — when  the 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  235 

conversation  took  place  which  is  now  to  be  reported.  As 
being  necessary  for  the  apprehension  of  the  subsequent 
events  of  this  story,  and  as  giving  expression  to  the  envious 
instinct  which  is  one  of  the  salient  features  of  the  middle- 
class  nature,  this  conversation  is  indispensable  in  this  place. 

The  committee  meeting  had  been  very  stormy. 

In  discussing  a  tragedy  entitled,  "The  Death  of  Hercules/' 
the  classical  and  the  romantic  factions,  which  the  Mayor 
had  carefully  balanced  in  the  selection  of  his  jury,  had  been 
ready  to  tear  each  other's  hair. 

Twice  had  Phellion  risen  to  speak,  and  his  colleagues 
had  been  amazed  at  the  flood  of  metaphor  a  major  of  the 
National  Guard  may  have  at  his  command  when  his  literary 
convictions  are  threatened. 

The  votes  being  take*n,  victory  was  declared  on  the  side 
of  which  Phellion  was  the  eloquent  mouthpiece,  and  as  they 
went  downstairs,  he  said  to  Minard: 

"We  have  done  good  work  to-day.  This  'Death  of  Her- 
cules' reminds  me  of  the  'Death  of  Hector'  by  poor  Luce 
de  Lancival,  who  died;  the  piece  we  have  just  read  is  full 
of  sublime  lines." 

"Yes,"  said  Minard,  "the  verse  is  neat  enough;  there  are 
some  good  passages,  and  I  confess  I  place  this  class  of 
literature  a  little  way  above  our  friend  Colleville's  ana- 
grams." 

"Oh,"  said  Phellion,  "Colleville's  anagrams  are  mere  play- 
ing with  words,  and  have  nothing  in  common  with  Melpom- 
ene's stern  accents." 

"But  I  assure  you,"  said  Minard,  "he  attaches  great  im- 
portance to  that  nonsense;  and  our  friend,  the  musician, 
has  taken  great  credit  to  himself  for  his  anagrams,  as  well 
as  for  many  other  matters.  In  fact,  since  they  moved  to 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Madeleine,  it  strikes  me  that  not 
Colleville  only,  but  his  wife,  his  daughter,  the  Thuilliers, 
and  their  whole  set,  have  given  themselves  airs  of  impor- 
tance, not  altogether  justifiable." 

"What  do  you  expect?"  said  Phellion.  "A  man  must  have 
VOL.  14—41 


236  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

a  strong  brain  to  stand  the  heady  fumes  of  opulence.  Our 
friends  have  gained  great  riches  hy  the  acquisition  of  the 
house  they  have  now  gone  to  live  in ;  we  must  allow  them  an 
interval  of  intoxication.  And,  really,  the  dinner  they  gave 
us  yesterday,  by  way  of  a  housewarming,  was  not  only 
abundant,  but  well  served." 

"Well,"  said  Minard,  "I  may  flatter  myself  that  I,  too, 
have  given  a  few  fairly  distinguished  dinners,  to  men  of 
high  position  in  the  state,  who  have  not  scorned  to  sit  at 
my- table,  but  I  am  not  therefore  unduly  puffed  up.  What 
I  have  always  been,  I  am  still." 

"You,  Monsieur  le  Maire,  have  long  been  accustomed  to 
the  handsome  mode  of  life  you  made  for  yourself  by  your 
remarkable  commercial  faculties.  Our  friends,  on  the  con- 
trary, so  recently  embarked  as  passengers  in  the  smiling 
barque  of  fair  fortune,  have  not  yet  got  their  sea-legs,  as  the 
phrase  is." 

And  to  cut  short  a  conversation,  in  which  the  Mayor's 
tone  was  to  Phellion's  mind  rather  too  caustic,  he  paused 
to  take  leave  of  him.  Their  way  home  lay  in  different  di- 
rections. 

"Are  you  going  through  the  Luxembourg  ?"  asked  Minard, 
not  choosing  to  lose  his  companion. 

"I  shall  cross  it,  but  not  remain  there.  I  am  to  meet 
Madame  Phellion  at  the  end  of  the  broad  walk,  where  she 
is  to  wait  for  me  with  the  Barniol  children." 

"Well,  then,"  said  Minard,  "I  will  give  myself  the  pleas- 
ure of  greeting  Madame  Phellion,  and  at  the  same  time 
breathe  a  mouthful  of  fresh  air;  for  even  listening  to  fine 
things  tires  the  brain,  in  such  work  as  we  have  been  doing." 

Minard  had  quite  understood  that  Phellion  did  not  meet 
him  half-way  in  response  to  his  rather  acrid  remarks  on 
Thuillier's  new  establishment.  So  he  made  no  attempt  to 
reopen  the  subject  with  him;  but  when  Madame  Phellion 
was  his  listener,  feeling  quite  sure  that  his  animadversions 
would  find  an  echo  in  her,  he  said: 

"Well,  lady  fair,  and  what  did  you  think  of  our  dinner 
yesterday  ?" 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  237 

"It  was  very  well  done,"  replied  Madame  Phellion,  "and 
the  moment  the  potage  a  la  bisque  was  served  I  perceived 
that  some  master-hand  such  as  Chevet  had  taken  the  place 
of  the  native  cook.  But  it  was  flat;  it  lacked  the  cordiality 
of  our  little  meetings  in  the  Quartier  Latin.  And  then 
did  it  strike  you>  as  it  did  me,  that  neither  Madame  nor 
Mademoiselle  Thuillier  seemed  thoroughly  at  home?  I  de- 
clare I  felt  at  last  as  if  I  were  dining  with  Madame — what 
is  her  name?  I  cannot  get  it  into  my  head." 

"Torna,  Comtesse  de  Godollo,"  said  Phellion,  interven- 
ing. "But  it  is  a  most  euphonious  name,  too." 

"As  euphonious  as  you  please,  my  dear;  to  my  ears  it  is 
no  name  at  all." 

"It  is  a  Magyar,  or,  to  speak  vulgarly,  a  Hungarian  name. 
Our  name,  now,  if  any  one  chose  to  quarrel  with  it,  might 
be  said  to  seem  borrowed  from  the  Greek." 

"Possibly.  But  we  have  the  advantage  of  being  well 
known,  not  only  in  our  own  neighborhood  but  the  whole 
educational  world,  where  we  have  succeeded  in  making  an 
honorable  position;  whereas,  that  Hungarian  Countess  who 
rules  the  roast  in  the  Thuilliers'  house — where  has  she  drop- 
ped from,  I  should  like  to  know?  Why  on  earth,  with  her 
fine-lady  airs — for  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  woman  has 
very  elegant  manners — why,  I  say,  has  she  thrown  herself 
into  the  arms  of  Brigitte,  who,  between  you  and  me,  smells 
of  the  sod,  and  is  the  porter's  daughter  to  a  degree  that  makes 
one  sick?  For  my  part,  I  believe  that  this  devoted  friend 
is  just  an  adventuress.  She  scents  a  fortune  and  is  plotting 
some  clever  way  of  turning  it  to  advantage." 

"Dear  me,"  said  Minard,  "are  you  still  in  ignorance  of 
the  beginnings  of  the  intimacy  between  the  Countess  and 
the  Thuilliers?" 

"She  is  one  of  their  tenants.  She  has  the  entresol  below 
them." 

"Very  true;  but  there  is  something  more  than  that.  Ze- 
lie,  my  wife,  had  it  from  Josephine,  who,  at  one  time, 
wanted  to  enter  our  service;  that  fell  through,  however, 


238  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

because  our  Frangoise,  who  was  leaving  to  get  married, 
changed  her  mind.  You  must  know  then,  lady  fair,  that 
it  was  owing  entirely  to  Madame  de  Godollo  that  the  Thuil- 
liers  migrated  at  all,  and  she,  in  fact,  was  their  upholsterer 
and  decorator." 

"What !  an  upholsterer !"  cried  Phellion,  "that  stylish 
woman  of  whom  one  might  truly  say :  Incessa  patuit  dea, 
which  we  very  inadequately  render  by  the  expression,  'she 
treads  like  a  queen.' '' 

"Nay,"  said  Minard,  "I  do  not  say  that  Madame  de  Go- 
dollo actually  deals  in  furniture.  But  at  the  time  when 
Mademoiselle  Thuillier,  by  la  Peyrade's  advice,  decided 
on  managing  the  subletting  of  the  house  by  the  Madeleine, 
that  young  gentleman,  whose  influence  is  not  so  paramount 
as  he  would  like  us  to  believe,  could  not  persuade  her,  with- 
out some  strong  measure,  to  go  and  inhabit  the  magnificent 
apartment  in  her  own  house,  where  she  received  us  yester- 
day. Mademoiselle  Brigitte  argued  that  she  must  alter  all 
her  habits, — that  her  old  friends  would  not  come  to  her  in 
a  distant  part  of  town." 

"It  is  perfectly  true,"  said  Madame  Phellion,  "that  if 
we  are  to  be  prepared  to  take  a  carriage  every  Sunday,  we 
must  have  some  better  amusement  in  prospect  than  that  we 
are  likely  to  find  in  their  drawing-room.  When  you  think 
that,  excepting  on  the  evening  when  they  had  that  little 
dance  in  honor  of  the  nomination  to  the  Municipal  Council, 
no  one  ever  dreams  of  opening  the  piano  !" 

"It  would  indeed  have  been  a  pleasure  to  find  such  a  talent 
as  yours  occasionally  called  into  requisition,"  said  Minard, 
"but  that  is  an  idea  that  would  never  enter  our  good  Bri- 
gitte's  head.  She  would  have  considered  that  two  more 
wax-lights  would  be  burning.  Five-franc  pieces  make  the 
music  she  loves.  So,  when  la  Peyrade  and  Thuillier  urged 
her  to  leave  the  apartment  in  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique- 
d'Enfer,  her  one  idea  was  the  expense  attending  the  removal. 
She  reflected,  and  very  rightly,  that  the  old  lumber  out  of 
that  house  would  look  queer  indeed  among  all  that  gilt  panel- 
ing." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  239 

"That  is  how  all  things  hang  together/'  exclaimed  Phel- 
lion,  "and  how,  beginning  at  the  top  of  the  social  scale, 
luxury,  filtering  down  to  the  lower  classes,  involves  em- 
pires, sooner  or  later,  in  ruin." 

"There,  my  dear  major,  you  touch  on  one  of  the  vexed 
questions  of  social  economy.  On  the  other  hand,  many  ju- 
dicious writers  are  of  opinion  that  luxury  is  a  very  impor- 
tant element  in  the  expansion  of  trade,  which  is,  no  douht, 
the  life  of  the  state.  This  view,  which  is  not  yours,  it  would 
seem,  is  that,  at  any  rate,  of  Madame  de  Godollo,  for  she  is 
said  to  have  furnished  her  own  rooms  very  daintily;  and 
to  tempt  Mademoiselle  Thuillier  into  her  own  elegant 
courses  she  made  this  proposition :  'One  of  my  friends,'  said 
she,  'a  Russian  princess,  for  whom  one  of  the  decorators 
in  Paris  has  just  made  a  magnificent  suite  of  furniture,  has 
been  suddenly  recalled  by  the  Czar,  a  gentleman  who  does 
not  understand  a  joke.  So  the  poor  woman  is  compelled 
to  turn  everything  she  possesses  into  ready  money,  and  I  am 
sure  that  she  will  part  with  all  her  furniture  for  a  quarter 
of  what  it  cost  her,  to  any  one  who  will  pay  on  the  nail.  It 
is  almost  new,  and  there  are  some  pieces  that  have  never 
been  used.' '' 

"So  then,"  said  Madame  Phellion,  "all  the  splendor  dis- 
played yesterday  is  cheap  and  second-hand  magnificence !" 

"Just  so,  madame,"  answered  Minard.  "And  the  thing 
that  brought  Mademoiselle  Brigitte  to  the  point  of  accept- 
ing this  splendid  offer,  was  not  so  much  her  wish  to  acquire 
new  furniture1  as  the  idea  of  securing  a  great  bargain. 
There  is  always  a  vein  of  Madame  la  Eessource,  in  I'Avare, 
in  that  woman." 

"I  think  you  are  mistaken,  Monsieur  le  Maire,"  said  Phel- 
lion. "Madame  la  Ressource  is  a  character  in  Turcaret,  a 
very  immoral  play  by  Le  Sage." 

"Do  you  think  so?"  said  Minard.  "Possibly. — What  at 
any  rate  is  quite  certain  is  that  while  the  advocate  made  his 
way  into  Brigitte's  good  graces  by  enabling  her  to  buy  the 
house,  it  was  by  this  jobbery  over  the  furniture  that  the  for- 


240  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

eign  lady  gained  such  a  footing.  Perhaps,  indeed,  you  may 
have  observed  that  there  is  the  beginning  of  a  struggle  be- 
tween the  two  powers — the  real  and  personal  estate !" 

"Yes,  indeed!"  cried  Madame  Phellion,  with  a  sort  of 
glee  that  showed  how  interesting  she  found  this  conversa- 
tion. "I  observed  that  the  great  lady  allowed  herself  to  con- 
tradict our  young  friend  the  lawyer,  and  that  she  even  did  so 
with  some  acerbity." 

"Oh !  it  is  very  marked,"  replied  Minard,  "and  he  is  too 
keen  not  to  be  quite  aware  of  it.  And  her  hostility  disturbs 
him  not  a  little.  He  easily  got  round  the  Thuilliers,  for, 
between  you  and  me,  they  are  not  very  wide-awake;  but  in 
her  he  feels  that  he  has  a  capable  adversary,  and  he  is 
anxiously  seeking  her  vulnerable  point." 

"Indeed,"  said  Madame  Phellion,  "it  is  just  retribution. 
This  gentleman  was  for  some  little  time  modest  and  humble, 
but  lately  he  has  assumed  the  most  intolerably  domineering 
airs  in  that  house ;  he  flaunted  the  son-in-law ;  and  really,  in 
the  matter  of  Thuillier's  election,  he  tricked  us  all  by  mak- 
ing every  one  the  stepping-stone  to  his  matrimonial  ambi- 
tions." 

"Yes,"  replied  Minard.  "But  at  this  moment  I  can  as- 
sure you  that  the  man  is  at  a  discount.  In  the  first  place 
he  cannot  every  day  find  an  opportunity  of  enabling  his  'dear 
fellow,'  as  he  calls  him,  to  buy  a  freehold  worth  a  million 
francs  for  a  mere  song." 

"Then  did  they  get  the  house  so  very  cheap?"  asked  Ma- 
dame Phellion. 

"They  bought  it  for  next  to  nothing,  by  means  of  a  ras- 
cally intrigue  of  which  Desroches  the  attorney  told  me  the 
whole  story:  as  a  fact,  if  the  matter  came  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  Association,  it  might  get  our  advocate  into  a  very 
ugly  scrape.  Now  the  election  to  the  Chamber  lies  ahead. 
Our  worthy  Thuillier's  appetite  has  grown  with  eating;  still 
he  perceives  already  that  when  he  tries  to  cut  that  cake.  Mas- 
ter la  Peyrade  will  not  find  it  so  easy  to  make  us  his  dupes 
once  more.  That  is  why  they  have  attached  an  ally  in  the 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  241 

person  of  Madame  de  Godollo,  who  has  high  connections, 
it  would  seem,  in  political  circles.  However,  quite  apart 
from  this  affair,  which  is  still  far  enough  away,  the  lady 
is  making  herself  constantly  indispensable  to  Brigitte;  for 
it  must  be  owned  that  if  it  were  not  for  the  help  of  the  great 
lady  the  poor  woman  in  her  fine  gilded  drawing-room  would 
look  like  a  rag  in  a  bride's  wedding  outfit." 

"Oh,  Monsieur  le  Maire,  you  are  too  cruel !"  said  Madame 
Phellion  with  a  simper. 

"Nay,  but  really  and  truly,"  said  Minard,  "is  Brigitte, 
is  Madame  Thuillier,  in  the  least  capable  of  presiding  over  a 
'Salon'?  The  Hungarian  lady  has  superintended  all  the  ar- 
rangements of  the  house;  it  was  she  who  secured  the  man- 
servant who  is  so  well  trained  and  so  intelligent;  it  was  she 
who  had  made  out  the  menu  for  yesterday's  dinner;  in 
short  she  is  the  guardian  angel  of  the  colony,  which,  but  for 
her  assistance,  must  have  been  the  laughing-stock  of  the 
whole  neighborhood. 

"And  there  is  one  very  strange  thing:  instead  of  being, 
as  you  fancied,  a  mere  parasite  like  the  Provengal,  this  for- 
eign lady,  who  seems  to  have  a  nice  little  fortune  of  her 
own,  it  not  only  disinterested  but  generous.  The  dresses 
worn  by  Brigitte  and  by  Madame  Thuillier,  which  you 
ladies  all  remarked,  were  a  present  she  insisted  on  making 
them;  and  it  was  as  a  result  of  her  having  presided  in  per- 
son at  the  toilet  of  our  two  hostesses,  that  you  saw  them  yes- 
terday not  quite  such  guys  as  usual." 

"But  what  object  can  she  have  in  view  that  she  shows  them 
such  maternal  devotion?"  asked  Madame  Phellion. 

"My  dear,"  said  Phellion  solemnly,  "human  actions  are 
not,  thank  God !  invariably  based  on  selfish  motives  and  the 
promptings  of  greedy  interest.  There  are  yet  some  hearts 
to  be  found  who  love  doing  good  for  its  own  sake.  This 
lady  may  have  seen  that  our  friends  were  likely  to  lose  their 
way  in  a  sphere  of  which  they  did  not  appreciate  the  height ; 
and,  having  guided  their  first  steps  to  the  purchase  of  the 
furniture,  she  may,  as  a  foster-mother  gets  attached  to  her 


242  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

charge,  have  found  pleasure  in  giving  them  the  milk  of  in- 
formation and  advice." 

"Your  dear  husband!"  said  Minard  to  Madame  Phellion. 
"You  would  think  he  meant  no  harm,  and  he  bites  the  piece 
out!" 

"I — bite  a  piece  out!"  said  Phellion.  "I  did  not  intend 
it,  nor  is  it  consonant  to  my  habits." 

"And  yet  you  could  hardly  put  it  more  plainly  that  the 
Thuilliers  are  perfect  fools  and  that  Madame  de  Godollo  has 
volunteered  to  bring  them  up  by  hand!" 

"I  decline  to  accept,  on  behalf  of  our  friends,  an  inter- 
pretation so  derogatory  to  their  high  respectability,"  re- 
plied Phellion.  "All  I  meant  to  imply  was  that  perhaps 
they  lack  experience,  and  that  this  noble  lady  places  her 
knowledge  of  the  world  and  its  ways  at  their  disposal;  but 
I  protest  against  any  attribution  of  meaning  beyond  the 
idea  thus  strictly  defined." 

"Still,  my  dear  major,  you  must  admit  that  there  woiild 
be  something  more  than  want  of  worldly  wisdom  in  allow- 
ing this  la  Peyrade  to  marry  Celeste.  It  would  be  at  once 
stupid  and  immoral;  for,  after  all,  the  advocate's  barefaced 
flirtation  with  Madame  Colleville " 

"Monsieur  le  Maire,"  said  Phellion,  with  aggravated 
pomposit}%  "Solon,  the  great  lawgiver,  would  assign  no 
punishment  for  parricide,  believing  the  crime  to  be  impos- 
sible. I  think  the  same  of  such  gross  misconduct  as  you  seem 
to  allude  to.  That  Madame  Colleville  should  favor  the  at- 
tentions of  Monsieur  de  le  Peyrade  while  meaning  to  give 
him  her  daughter — no,  monsieur,  no !  That  is  beyond  my 
imagining.  If  she  were  questioned  on  the  subject  before  a 
tribunal,  Madame  Colleville,  like  Marie  Antoinette,  couH 
but  reply,  *I  appeal  to  all  mothers !' ': 

"At  the  same  time,  my  dear,"  said  his  wife,  "allow  me 
to  tell  you  that  Madame  Colleville  is  abominably  profligate, 
and  has  very  sufficiently  proved  it." 

•     "Enough  of  this,  my  -dear,"  said  Phellion.     "Indeed,  it 
is  near  the  dinner  hour,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  by  degrees 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  243 

we  have  allowed  the  conversation  to  drift  on  to  the  mud- 
banks  of  slander." 

"You  are  full  of  illusions,  my  dear  friend,"  said  Minard, 
shaking  hands  with  Phellion;  "but  they  are  honorable  illu- 
sions, and  I  honor  you.  Madame,  I  have  the  honor " 

added  the  Mayor,  bowing  respectfully  to  Madame  Phellion. 

And  they  went  their  ways. 

The  information  supplied  by  the  worthy  Mayor  of  the 
eleventh  arrondissement  was  correct. 

In  the  Thuillier's  drawing-room,  since  their  migration 
to  the  Madeleine  quarter,  the  face  and  figure  of  a  bewitch- 
ingly  gracious  woman  was  to  be  found  between  Brigitte's 
asperity  and  Madame  Thuillier's  plaintive  indolence,  giv- 
ing the  place  an  unexpected  stamp  of  elegance. 

It  was  also  true  that  by  this  woman's  instrumentality 
Brigitte  had  effected  an  investment  in  furniture  not  less  ad- 
vantageous and  far  more  legitimate  than  the  purchase  of 
the  freehold.  For  six  thousand  francs  she  had  found  her- 
self in  possession  of  a  set  of  furniture  not  long  since  in  the 
workshops,  and  representing  a  value  of  at  least  thirty  thou- 
sand francs. 

It  was  no  less  true  that  in  consequence  of  this  service, 
which  went  straight  to  her  heart,  the  old  maid  had  shown 
the  handsome  foreigner  a  great  deal  of  the  respectful  defer- 
ence which  her  citizen  class,  in  spite  of  its  touchiness  and 
jealousy,  is  far  more  ready  to  pay  to  titles  and  high  rank  in 
the  social  hierarchy  than  is  generally  supposed.  The  Hun- 
garian Countess  was  a  woman  of  great  tact  and  superior 
education,  and  while  she  assumed  the  tone  of  lofty  control 
which  she  thought  fit  to  arrogate  over  the  three  persons  she 
chose  to  patronize,  she  took  good  care  not  to  give  her  in- 
fluence any  taint  of  irritating  or  imperious  authority.  On 
the  contrary,  she  flattered  Brigitte's  conceit  of  being  a  model 
housekeeper,  and,  so  far  as  the  material  expenses  of  her  own 
house  were  concerned,  she  affected  to  consult  Miss  Thuillier, 
as  she  called  her  by  way  of  a  pet  name;  so  that  while  she 


244  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

reserved  the  administration  of  the  sumptuary  outlay  in  her 
own  and  her  neighbors'  rooms,  she  appeared  to  be  giving 
and  taking  useful  instruction  rather  than  asserting  her  pat- 
ronage. 

Even  la  Peyrade  himself"  could  make  no  mistake  as  to  the 
fact  that  his  influence  was  waning  before  that  of  the 
Countess.  But  this  lady's  antagonism  was  not  limited  to 
a  mere  struggle  for  pre-eminence.  She  had  boldly  expressed 
her  disapproval  of  his  pretensions  to  Celeste's  hand;  she 
extended  her  protection  in  the  plainest  way  to  Felix  the  pro- 
fessor's suit;  and  Minard,  who  had  not  failed  to  discern  this, 
had  taken  good  care  not  to  mention  the  fact  to  those  whom 
it  most  interested,  while  expatiating  on  other  details. 

Theodose  was  no  doubt  all  the  more  distressed  at  rinding 
himself  undermined  by  a  hostility  which  to  him  seemed  in- 
explicable, because  he  was  conscious  of  having  helped  to  get 
this  troublesome  adversary  into  the  heart  of  the  citadel. 

His  first  blunder  had  been  his  rash  indulgence  in  the  barren 
satisfaction  of  keeping  Cerizet  out  of  his  lease;  if  Brigitte 
had  not,  by  his  advice  and  entreaties,  undertaken  the  sub- 
letting on  her  own  account,  the  odds  were  that  she  would 
never  have  come  near  Madame  de  Godollo. 

Another  rash  act  had  been  to  urge  the  Thuilliers  to  leave 
their  remote  solitude  in  the  Quartier  Latin. 

But  at  that  time,  the  blossoming  time  of  his  power  over 
them,  Theodose  believed  that  his  marriage  was  a  settled 
thing,  and  he  was  in  an  almost  childish  hurry  to  take  his 
flight  towards  the  superior  sphere  which  seemed  to  be  open- 
ing before  him.  So  he  had  added  his  persuasions  to  those 
of  the  Hungarian  Countess,  feeling  as  though  he  were  send- 
ing the  Thuilliers  on  in  advance  to  make  his  bed  in  the 
handsome  apartment  he  was  one  day  to  share  with  them. 
And  he  had  foreseen  another  advantage  from  this  arrange- 
ment; it  would  remove  Celeste  from  the  almost  daily  meet- 
ings with  a  rival  whom  he  could  but  regard  as  dangerous. 
Beyond  the  distance  which  made  it  possible  "to  drop  in," 
Felix  could  call  but  seldom ;  and  Theodose  would  find  easier 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  245 

opportunity  for  lowering  him  in  the  opinion  of  Celeste,  who 
had  given  him  a  place  in  her  heart  only  on  condition  of  his 
affording  her  such  satisfaction  on  religious  points  as  had 
found  him  refractory. 

Still,  more  than  one  obstacle  had  arisen  in  the  way  of  the 
Provengal's  plans. 

If  la  Peyrade  should  open  wider  horizons  to  the  Thuilliers, 
he  would  run  the  risk  of  introducing  rival  competitors  for 
the  exclusive  admiration  of  which  he  was  now  the  object. 
In  the  provincial  atmosphere  they  breathed,  for  lack  of  any 
standard  of  comparison,  Brigitte  and  the  "dear  fellow"  had 
placed  Theodose  on  an  eminence  from  which  he  must  in- 
evitably be  dislodged  when  seen  in  juxtaposition  with  other 
types  of  superiority  and  fashion.  Thus,  irrespective  of  the 
shock  obscurely  dealt  by  Madame  de  Godollo,  the  idea  of 
establishing  the  transpontine  colony  was  a  bad  one  so  far 
as  the  Thuilliers  were  concerned,  and  not  much  better  with 
regard  to  the  Collevilles. 

This  family  had  moved  with  their  friends  to  the  new  house, 
renting  the  entresol  at  the  back,  at  a  price  within  their 
means.  Colleville,  however,  complained  that  the  rooms  were 
dark  and  stuffy,  and  being  compelled  to  go  every  day  from 
the  Boulevard  de  la  Madeleine  to  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Jacques,  where  his  office  was,  he  grumbled  at  the  new  ar- 
rangements to  which  he  was  a  victim,  and  was  apt  to  express 
his  opinion  that  la  Peyrade  was  a  perfect  tyrant.  Madame 
Colleville,  on  the  other  hand,  in  order  to  be  on  a  par  with 
the  other  inhabitants  of  the  quarter  where  she  had  taken  up 
her  residence,  rushed  into  a  perfect  orgy  of  new  bonnets, 
mantles,  and  dresses;  and  these,  necessitating  extra  cheques, 
led  to  more  or  less  stormy  scenes  in  the  household. 

Celeste,  to  be  sure,  had  fewer  opportunities  of  seeing  young 
Phellion,  but  then  there  was  less  chance  of  her  being  led  into 
religious  discussions;  and  absence,  which  endangers  none  but 
weak  attachments,  made  her  think  more  tenderly  and  less 
theologically  of  the  man  of  her  dreams. 

And  all  those  blunders  after  all  were  as  nothing  as  com- 


246  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

pared  with  another  source  of  humiliation  which  weighed  on 
Theodose.  For  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  francs,  which 
Thuillier  had  disbursed  with  a  very  good  grace,  la  Peyrade 
had  promised  him,  within  a  week,  the  Cross  of  the  Legion 
of  Honor,  the  secret  ambition  of  his  whole  life. 

Now  more  than  two  months  had  elapsed  and  not  a  word 
had  been  heard  of  the  glorious  bauble;  and  the  ex-second 
clerk,  who  would  have  been  so  happy  in  displaying  his  scrap 
of  red  ribbon  on  the  Boulevard  de  la  Madeleine,  where  he 
paced  the  asphalt  with  assiduous  regularity,  still  had  but  a 
flower  to  grace  his  buttonhole,  the  privilege  of  all  men,  of 
which  he  was  much  less  proud  than  Beranger. 

La  Peyrade  had  of  course  alluded  darkly  to  some  unfore- 
seen and  unaccountable  obstacle  which  had  paralyzed  all  the 
efforts  and  all  the  good-will  of  the  Comtessc  du  Bruel;  but 
Thuillier  did  not  take  this  explanation  kindly,  and  in  his 
acute  disappointment  he  was  often  within  an  ace  of  saying, 
like  Chicaneau  in  Les  Plaideurs:  "Then  give  me  back  the 
money !"  However,  he  did  not  come  to  this  point  because  la 
Peyrade  kept  a  hold  over  him  through  the  famous  pamphlet 
on  "Taxation  and  Eedemption."  The  fuss  of  removal  had 
hindered  its  completion.  While  all  that  excitement  was  in 
the  air  Thuillier  could  not  give  his  mind  to  the  correction 
of  the  proofs,  which,  it  may  be  remembered,  he  reserved  the 
right  to  criticise  minutely. 

The  lawyer,  clearly  understanding  that  he  must  strike 
some  decisive  blow  to  restore  his  fast-evaporating  influence, 
seized  on  this  haggling  mood  to  be  the  fulcrum,  as  he  hoped, 
of  a  scheme  no  less  deep-laid  than  bold. 

One  day,  when  they  were  at  work  on  the  last  pages  of  the 
pamphlet,  a  discussion  arose  over  the  word  nepotism,  which 
Thuillier  wished  to  eliminate  from  a  sentence  written  by  la 
Peyrade,  declaring  he  had  never  met  with  it,  and  that  it  was 
a  neologism,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  literary  notions  of  the 
middle-class  man,  almost  as  bad  as  the  idea  of  1793  and  the 
Eeign  of  Terror.  As  a  rule  Theodose  took  his  "dear  fellow's" 
ridiculous  notions  patiently  enough;  but  that  morning  he 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  247 

got  very  angry,  informing  Thuillier  that  he  might  finish  the 
work  himself,  since  he  chose  to  criticise  it  with  such  acumen 
and  intelligence;  and  for  a  few  days  they  did  not  meet. 

At  first  Thuillier  supposed  this  to  mean  merely  a  passing 
fit  of  temper;  but  as  time  went  on  and  la  Peyrade  did  not 
return,  he  felt  that  he  must  take  some  steps  towards  a  recon- 
ciliation, so  he  called  on  the  Provengal  to  apologize  and  put 
an  end  to  this  fit  of  the  sulks.  Wishing,  however,  to  give 
this  action  such  a  turn  as  would  leave  a  loophole  for  his  self- 
respect,  he  went  in  with  an  off-hand  air  and  said: 

"I  find,  my  dear  boy,  that  we  were  both  in  the  right. 
Nepotism  means  the  authority  assumed  by  the  Pope's  nephews 
in  the  direction  of  the  State.  I  looked  in  the  dictionary  and 
that  is  the  only  meaning  given ;  but  from  what  Phellion  tells 
me  it  would  seem  that  in  political  parlance  the  meaning  of 
the  word  has  been  extended  to  include  the  influence  exercised 
illegally  by  the  connivance  of  corrupt  ministers.  So  I  be- 
lieve the  expression  may  stand,  though  it  is  not  used  in  that 
sense  by  Napoleon  Landais." 

La  Peyrade,  who,  while  receiving  his  visitor,  affected  to 
be  absorbed  in  the  arrangement  of  his  papers,  merely 
shrugged  his  shoulders  and  said  nothing. 

"Well,"  said  Thuillier,  "have  you  looked  at  the  proofs  of 
the  last  two  sheets  ? — for  we  really  must  get  on." 

"If  you  have  sent  nothing  to  the  printers,"  replied  la 
Peyrade,  "we  are  not  likely  to  get  proofs.  So  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned, I  have  not  touched  the  manuscript." 

"But,  my  dear  Theodose,  you  cannot  have  your  back  up, 
'surely,  for  such  a  trifle.  I  do  not  pretend  to  be  a  skilled 
writer;  only,  as  I  put  my  name  to  the  thing,  I  think  I  may 
be  allowed  an  opinion  as  to  a  word." 

"But  Mosieu  Phellion,"  retorted  the  lawyer,  "is  an  author ; 
and  since  you  consult  him,  I  do  not  see  why  you  should  not 
ask  him  to  help  you  to  finish  the  work,  on  which,  I  promise 
you,  I  will  not  touch  another  line." 

"Good  heavens!  What  a  temper!"  cried  Thuillier.  "Now 
you  are  in  a  rage  because  I  ventured  to  doubt  the  use  of  an 


248  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

expression,  and  took  another  opinion.  But  you  knew  per- 
fectly well  that  I  had  read  part  of  it  to  Phellion,  Colleville, 
Minard,  and  Barniol,  as  if  the  work  were  my  own,  to  judge 
of  its  effect  on  the  public,  and  that  is  no  reason  why  I  should 
sign  my  name  to  anything  they  might  choose  to  write.  To 
give  you  an  idea  of  the  confidence  I  have  in  you:  Madame 
de  Godollo,  to  whom  I  was  reading  a  few  pages  of  it  last 
evening,  told  me  that  the  pamphlet  was  quite  enough  to  get 
me  into  trouble  with  the  public  prosecutor;  and  do  you  sup- 
pose that  would  stop  me?" 

"Indeed,"  said  la  Peyrade  sarcastically,  "the  oracle  of  your 
household  seems  to  me  very  far-sighted,  and  I  have  no  wish 
to  bring  your  head  to  the  block." 

"All  that  is  pure  nonsense,"  said  Thuillier.  "Do  you  or 
do  you  not  intend  to  leave  me  in  the  lurch  ?" 

"Literary  questions,"  replied  the  lawyer,  "lead  to  quarrels 
between  the  best  friends  even  more  often  than  political  dif- 
ferences. I  wish  to  eliminate  every  subject  of  debate  between 
us." 

"But,  my  dear  Theodose,  I  never  set  up  for  being  a  man  of 
letters;  I  believe  I  am  possessed  of  vulgar  common  sense, 
and  I  say  what  I  mean.  You  cannot  blame  me  for  that,  and 
if  you  play  me  such  a  scurvy  trick  as  to  refuse  me  your  help, 
it  must  certainly  be  because  something  else  rankles  of  which 
I  am  wholly  unconscious." 

"Why  a  scurvy  trick  ?  Nothing  can  be  easier  for  you  than 
not  to  write  the  pamphlet ;  you  will  still  be  Jerome  Thuillier 
as  you  are  now/* 

"But  it  was  you  who  were  of  opinion  that  this  publication 
might  contribute  to  my  election  to  the  Chamber.  Besides, 
as  I  tell  you,  I  have  read  portions  of  it  to  all  our  friends.  I 
have  spoken  of  the  pamphlet  in  the  Municipal  Council,  and 
if  it  now  fails  to  appear  I  shall  be  discredited;  it  will  be 
said  that  the  Government  has  bribed  me." 

"You  have  only  to  say  that  you  are  the  friend  of  the  incor- 
ruptible Phellion;  that  will  be  .a  sufficient  answer.  You 
might  even  marry  Celeste  to  his  nincompoop  of  a  son.  Such 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  249 

a  connection  would  protect  you  even  better  against  any  sus- 
picions." 

"Theodose,"  said  Thuillier,  "there  is  something  on  your 
mind  which  you  will  not  tell  me.  It  is  not  in  nature  that 
you  shall  involve  your  friend  in  such  loss  of  respect  for 
a  simple  matter  of  one  word." 

"Well,  yes,  then,  if  you  will  have  it,"  said  la  Peyrade,  with 
an  air  of  effort;  "I  cannot  bear  ingratitude." 

"Nor  can  I,"  said  Thuillier,  with  some  spirit.  "And  if 
you  mean  that  you  accuse  me  of  anything  so  mean  and  vile, 
I  demand  an  explanation.  We  must  at  last  speak  out !  What 
have  you  to  complain  of?  Of  what  do  you  accuse  me — the 
man  whom,  but  a  few  days  since,  you  called  your  friend  ?" 

"Nothing — and  everything,"  said  Theodose;  "your  sister 
and  you  are  far  too  clever  to  quarrel  openly  with  a  man  who 
has  put  a  million  francs  in  your  pockets  at  the  risk  of  his 
good  name.  But  I  am  not  so  simple  but  that  I  can  under- 
stand shades  of  meaning.  There  are  persons  about  you  who 
are  making  it  their  business  to  undermine  me,  and  Brigitte's 
one  idea  is  to  discover  some  decent  excuse  for  not  keeping 
her  promises.  Men  such  as  I  do  not  urge  this  kind  of  claim, 
and  I  certainly  have  no  wish  to  force  myself  on  anybody; 
but  I  confess  I  was  far  from  expecting  such  treatment." 

"Come,  come,"  said  Thuillier,  seeing  in  the  lawyer's  eye 
the  glitter  of  a  tear,  which  completely  deceived  him ;  "I  am 
sure  I  do  not  know  what  Brigitte  may  have  done,  but  one 
thing  is  certain,  I  have  never  ceased  to  be  your  sincerest 
friend." 

"Oh,  no,"  said  la  Peyrade ;  "since  I  failed  in  the  matter  of 
the  Cross,  I  am  of  no  further  use  but  to  throw  to  the  dogs. 
And  can  I,  do  you  suppose,  make  head  against  occult  powers  ? 
Why,  dear  me !  It  is,  perhaps,  this  very  pamphlet — of  which 
you  have  talked  too  much  by  a  great  deal — which  annoys 
the  Government,  and  hinders  your  being  promoted.  The 
ministry  are  such  owls  that  they  would  rather  wait  to  have 
their  hand  forced  by  the  success  of  the  work,  than  yield 
gracefully  and  reward  you  simply  for  past  services.  But 


250  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

these  are  political  mysteries  which  are  not  likely  to  occur  to 
your  sister's  mind." 

"Deuce  take  it  I"  said  Thuillier.  "I  fancy  I  am  pretty 
clear-sighted,  and  really  I  cannot  see  that  Brigitte  has 
changed  in  her  treatment  of  you." 

"Most  true!"  said  la  Peyrade.  "Your  sight  is  so  keen 
that  you  do  not  even  see  that  Madame  de  Godollo  always  at 
her  heels,  and  that  she  cannot  live  without  her!" 

"So!"  said  Thuillier,  enlightened,  "we  are  suffering  from 
a  little  fit  of  jealousy." 

"Jealousy !"  retorted  la  Peyrade.  "I  do  not  know  that  it 
is  quite  the  right  word.  But,  at  any  rate,  your  sister,  who 
is  not  at  all  above  the  common  run,  and  whom  you,  a  man  of 
such  superior  intellect,  have  allowed  to  usurp  the  authority 
she  enjoys  and  abuses " 

"How  can  I  help  it,  my  dear  boy  ?"  interrupted  Thuillier, 
inhaling  the  compliment,  "she  is  so  absolutely  devoted  to 
me." 

"Such  weakness  is  very  pardonable,"  said  Theodose,  "still, 
I  repeat  it,  your  sister  is  no  match  for  your  little  finger.  Well, 
as  I  was  saying,  when  a  man  of  such  intelligence  as  you  will, 
I  am  sure,  allow  me,  does  her  the  honor  to  advise  her  and 
serve  her  as  zealously  as  I  have  done,  it  cannot  be  pleasant 
for  him  to  see  himself  cut  out,  supplanted  in  her  confidence, 
by  a  woman  fallen  from  heaven  knows  where,  and  all  on 
account  of  some  frippery  curtains  and  old  chairs  she  was  able 
to  buy  cheap." 

'•'With  women,  as  you  know,"  said  Thuillier,  "household 
economy  is  paramount." 

"And  I  may  tell  you  that  Brigitte,  who  meddles  in  every- 
thing, also  imagines  that  she  can  rule  our  love  affairs  with  a 
high  hand.  Since  you  are  so  clear-sighted,  you  must  have 
observed  that  in  Brigitte's  mind  nothing  is  less  settled  than 
my  marriage  to  Mademoiselle  Colleville.  And  yet  my  affec- 
tion has  been  solemnly  authorized  by  you." 

"Yes,  and  by  heaven,"  said  Thuillier,  "I  should  like  to  see 
anybody  try  to  meddle  with  our  arrangements." 


THE  MIDDLE  CEASSES  251 

"Setting  Brigitte  aside,"  replied  the  lawyer,  "I  can  tell  you 
of  some  one  who  is  quite  determined  to  meddle,  and  that  is 
Mademoiselle  Celeste  herself.  In  spite  of  the  apparent  bar- 
rier between  them,  in  their  difference  of  opinion  on  religious 
questions,  her  head  is  very  candidly  full  of  that  young  Phel- 
lion." 

"And  why  not  insist  on  Flavie's  setting  that  to  rights  ?" 

"Flavie,  my  dear  fellow !  No  one  knows  what  she  is  better 
than  you.  She  is  the  woman  rather  than  the  mother.  I 
found  myself  let  in  for  a  little  mild  love-making ;  and  though 
she  approves  of  the  marriage,  you  understand  she  has  not 
set  her  heart  on  it." 

"Very  well,"  said  Thuillier,  "then  I  will  take  it  upon  my- 
self to  speak  to  Celeste.  It  shall  not  be  said  that  we  were 
beaten  by  a  little  girl." 

"On  no  account,"  cried  la  Peyrade;  "I  particularly  wish 
that  you  should  not  interfere  in  this  matter.  Excepting  as 
regards  your  sister,  you  have  a  will  of  iron,  and  I  will  not 
have  it  said  that  you  forced  Celeste  into  my  arms.  On  the 
contrary,  I  wish  the  child  to  be  left  sole  mistress  of  her 
heart;  only  I  think  I  have  a  right  to  ask  that  she  should 
decide  definitely  between  me  and  Monsieur  Felix,  for  I  really 
cannot  remain  in  this  suspense,  which  is  undermining  me. 
That  the  marriage  should  be  hung  up  till  you  are  elected 
deputy  is  too  vague;  I  cannot  submit  to  see  the  most  impor- 
tant step  of  my  life  left  to  the  chances  of  the  future ;  besides, 
this  arrangement,  to  which  I  gave  in  at  first,  has  the  smell 
of  a  bargain  about  it  which  I  do  not  at  all  like. 

"I  feel  that  I  must  tell  you  a  secret ;  a  confidence  to  which 
I  am  driven  by  all  the  difficulties  I  am  exposed  to.  Dutocq 
can  tell  you  that  before  you  left  the  house  in  Kue  Saint- 
Dominique,  an  heiress  was  proposed  to  me,  in  his  presence, 
quite  seriously,  with  a  larger  fortune  than  you  can  leave  to 
Mademoiselle  Colleville.  I  refused — because  I  am  fool 
enough  to  have  lost  my  heart,  and  because  a  connection  with 
so  respectable  a  family  as  yours  seems  to  me  supremely  de- 
sirable. Still,  Brigitte  must  be  made  to  understand  that, 
even  if  Celeste  throws  me  over,  I  am  not  left  destitute." 

VOL.  14 42 


252  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"That  I  can  easily  believe,"  said  Thuillier.  "But  to  leave 
the  whole  decision  to  that  little  brain — especially  if,  as  you 
say,  she  has  a  fancy  for  Felix  !" 

"That  I  cannot  consider,"  said  the  lawyer.  "At  any  cost 
I  must  escape  from  the  present  predicament — it  is  intoler- 
able, so  far  as  I  am  concerned.  You  talk  of  your  pamphlet, 
I  am  incapable  of  finishing  it.  You,  as  a  man  who  have 
known  something  of  women,  must  be  well  aware  of  the  do- 
minion the  malignant  creatures  can  exert  over  our  life  and 
being." 

"Yes  indeed!"  said  Thuillier  fatuously.  "I  have  been  a 
lover;  but  I  have  not  often  been  a  slave;  I  have  taken  some 
and  left  others." 

"But  I,  with  my  southern  temperament,  am  a  prey  to  pas- 
sion ;  besides,  Celeste  has  a  greater  charm  than  the  mere  suc- 
cess of  winning  favors.  Brought  up  as  she  has  been  by  you, 
under  your  eye,  she  is  an  adorable  girl ;  but  it  is  folly  to  have 
allowed  that  young  fellow,  who  is  in  every  respect  unsuitable, 
to  take  possession  of  her  fancy." 

"You  are  right  ten  times  over.  But  they  have  been  inti- 
mate from  their  childhood;  Felix  and  she  played  together, 
and  you  only  appeared  on  the  scene  at  a  later  date.  In  fact, 
it  is  a  proof  of  our  high  opinion  of  you,  that  as  soon  as  you 
came  we  were  ready  to  give  up  our  old  plans/' 

"You  were,  yes,"  said  Theodose.  "You,  with  literary 
ideas  and  proclivities, — often  full  of  brilliant  wit  and  good 
sense, — have  a  heart  of  gold.  With  you  I  know  where  I 
stand,  and  you  know  what  you  want ;  but  you  will  see,  if  you 
say  a  word  to  Brigitte  about  hastening  on  this  marriage,  she 
will  fight  tooth  and  nail." 

"I  believe  firmly  that  Brigitte  has  always  wished  to  sec 
you  her  son-in-law,  if  I  may  so  express  myself;  but  if  she 
does  not,  I  beg  you  to  rest  assured  that  in  matters  of  im- 
portance I  can  assert  my  will.  Only  let  us  be  sure  exactly 
what  it  is^that  you  want.  Then  we  will  start, — left,  right, — 
and  you  will  see  all  will  be  well." 

"I  want,  in  the  first  place,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "to  put  the 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  253 

finishing  touches  to  your  pamphlet,  for  you  must  be  my  first 
consideration." 

"Certainly/'  said  Thuillier ;  "it  would  not  do  to  be  wrecked 
in  sight  of  land." 

"Well,  then.  Starting  from  the  idea  that  I  am  annihi- 
lated, overthrown  by  the  thought  of  this  marriage  which  re- 
mains hung  up,  I  tell  you  you  will  not  get  a  page  out  of  me, 
by  hook  or  by  crook,  till  the  question  is  settled." 

"And  what  is  the  question;  how  do  you  formulate  it?" 
asked  Thuillier. 

"Obviously,  if  Celeste  decides  against  me,  I  must  wish  to 
know  my  fate  at  once.  If  it  is  my  fate  to  marry,  for  'rea- 
son,' at  least  I  ought  not  to  miss  the  opportunity  of  which 
I  have  spoken." 

"Very  good.     And  how  much  time  do  you  give  us?" 

"It  seems  to  me  that  any  girl  may  know,  her  own  mind  in 
the  course  of  a  fortnight." 

"Beyond  a  doubt.  But  I  do  not  like  the  idea  of  Celeste's 
pronouncing  sentence  without  appeal." 

"I  will  take  my  chance.  I  shall  be  released  from  suspense, 
which  is  the  most  important  point;  and  then,  between  you 
and  me,  I  am  not  staking  so  rashly  as  you  might  think.  It 
is  not  in  a  fortnight  that  a  son  of  Phellion's,  that  is  to  say, 
obstinacy  incarnate  in  folly,  will  get  over  his  philosophic 
doubts;  and  Celeste  will  certainly  not  accept  him  for  her 
husband  till  he  has  given  proofs  of  conversion." 

"That  is  highly  probable.  But  supposing  Celeste  were  to 
temporize,  and  would  not  decide  on  either  alternative?" 

"That  is  your  business,"  said  the  Provencal.  "I  do  not 
know  what  parental  authority  may  be  in  Paris,  but  I  do 
know  that  in  our  good  town  of  Avignon  and  those  parts  I 
never  heard  of  a  little  girl  being  allowed  such  liberty.  If 
you,  and  your  sister, — granting  that  she  plays  fair, — and  a 
father  and  mother,  cannot  among  you  make  a  child,  on 
whom  you  are  bestowing  a  fortune,  agree  to  a  request  so 
simple  and  reasonable  as  that  she  should  freely  choose  be- 
tween two  suitors — good-morning !  You  must  write  over 
the  door  of  your  house  that  Celeste  is  queen  and  sovereign." 


254  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"We  have  not  quite  come  to  that,"  said  Thuillier,  with  a 
competent  air. 

"As  to  you,  old  fellow,  I  must  put  you  off  till  Celeste  has 
made  up  her  mind.  Then,  for  good  or  for  ill,  I  will  set  to 
work,  and  in  three  days  it  will  be  finished." 

"At  any  rate,"  said  Thuillier,  "I  know  what  you  have  on 
your  mind.  I  will  talk  it  over  with  Brigitte." 

"That  is  but  a  lame  conclusion,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "How- 
ever, so  matters  stand,  unfortunately." 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

"I  should,  as  you  may  suppose,  prefer  to  be  told  that  the 
matter  is  settled.  But  old  creases  cannot  be  smoothed  out." 

'"What  then!  Do  you  imagine  that  I  am  a  man  devoid 
of  will  and  independence?" 

"No.  But  I  should  like  to  be  in  a  corner  to  see  how  you 
will  open  the  question  with  your  sister." 

"I  shall  open  it  very  frankly,  and  a  very  determined  I  will 
shall  settle  every  objection." 

"Oh,  my  dear  old  fellow,"  said  la  Peyrade,  slapping  him 
on  the  shoulder,  "since  the  time  of  Chrysale,  in  Les  Femmes 
Savantes,  how  much  warlike  thunder  has  lowered  its  tone 
before  the  will  of  a  woman  accustomed  to  domineer !" 

"That  remains  to  be  seen,"  said  Thuillier,  effecting  a 
stage  exit. 

His  anxiety  to  see  the  pamphlet  finished,  and  the  doubts 
so  ingeniously  hinted  as  to  the  inflexibility  of  his  will,  had 
turned  him  into  a  raging  tiger.  He  went  away  in  the  mood 
to  put  the  whole  household  to  fire  and  sword,  if  his  will  were 
defied. 

As  soon  as  he  was  at  home,  he  attacked  Brigitte  on  the 
subject.  She,  with  her  crude  good  sense  and  selfishness, 
pointed  out  to  him  that  by  thus  hurrying  forward  the  time 
originally  fixed  for  la  Peyrade's  marriage,  they  were  very 
foolishly  disarming  themselves;  they  could  not  feel  certain 
that,  when  the  election  should  take  place,  the  lawyer  would 
still  devote  himself  with  zeal  to  insuring  their  success.  "It 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  255 

be  the  Legion  of  Honor  over  again/'  said  the  old  maid. 

"There  is  a  difference/'  replied  Thuillier.  "The  Cross  does 
not  depend  directly  on  la  Peyrade,  whereas  he  can  make 
what  use  he  pleases  of  the  influence  he  has  acquired  in  the 
twelfth  arrondissement." 

"And  if  it  should  be  his  pleasure,"  retorted  Brigitte, 
"when  we  have  set  him  on  his  feet,  to  use  it  for  himself — 
the  fellow  is  ambitious." 

This  danger  did,  indeed,  strike  the  hopeful  candidate; 
still,  he  fancied  there  was  some  guarantee  in  la  Peyrade's 
moral  sense. 

"The  man  has  not  a  delicate  sense  of  honor,"  said  Brigitte, 
"who  comes  to  force  a  bargain  on  you ;  and  this  way  of  mak- 
ing us  dance  on  our  hind-legs  like  poodles,  for  a  lump  of 
sugar,  before  giving  you  the  end  of  your  pamphlet,  does  not 
please  me  at  all.  Could  you  not  get  Phellion  to  help  you, 
and  be  rid  of  Theodose  ?  Or  else,  now  I  think  of  it,  Madame 
de  Godollo,  who  knows  all  the  political  world,  could  no 
doubt  find  you  a  journalist.  They  are  all  out  at  elbows,  I 
have  heard !  for  twenty  crowns  the  thing  would  be  done." 

"And  my  secret,"  said  Thuillier,  "would  be  known  to 
three  or  four  persons.  No;  I  positively  need  la  Peyrade;  he 
feels  it,  and  can  dictate  terms.  And,  after  all,  we  promised 
he  should  marry  Celeste;  it  is  forestalling  it  by  a  year  at 
most — a  year? — a  few  months,  a  few  weeks  only,  perhaps; 
the  King  may  dissolve  the  Chamber  at  the  moment  when  no 
one  expects  it." 

"But  if  Celeste  will  have  nothing  to  say  to  him,"  Brigitte 
suggested. 

"Celeste !  Celeste,  indeed !"  cried  Thuillier.  "She  must 
do  what  is  required  of  her.  That  should  have  been  thought 
of  before  we  pledged  ourselves  to  la  Peyrade;  for,  after  all, 
we  have  given  him  our  word.  And  are  we  not  giving  the 
child  a  choice  between  him  and  Phellion?" 

"So  that  if  Celeste  should  decide  in  favor  of  Felix,"  paid 
the  sceptical  Brigitte,  "you  would  still  believe  in  la  Peyrade's 
devotion  to  you?" 


256  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"What  can  I  do?  These  are  his  conditions.  Besides,  the 
rascal  has  calculated  closely.  He  knows  that  Felix  will  never 
make  up  his  mind  to  bring  the  girl  a  certificate  of  confession, 
and  that,  short  of  that,  the  little  slut  will  never  accept  him 
as  her  husband.  La  Peyrade's  game  is  a  very  clever  one." 

"Much  too  clever/'  said  Brigitte.  "However,  settle  the 
business  as  you  choose.  I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  it ;  all 
these  roundabout  ways  are  not  to  my  taste." 

Thuillier  next  saw  Madame  Colleville,  and  intimated  to 
her  that  she -was  to  communicate  to  Celeste  the  plans  that 
depended  on  her. 

Celeste  had  never  been  officially  authorized  to  indulge  her 
inclinations  with  regard  to  Felix  Phellion.  On  the  contrary, 
at  an  earlier  stage  of  affairs,  Flavie  had  expressly  forbidden 
her  to  give  the  young  professor  any  hope;  still,  as  she  felt 
herself  supported  by  Madame  Thuillier,  her  godmother,  the 
sole  recipient  of  her  confidence,  she  gently  let  herself  glide, 
without  particularly  troubling  herself  as  to  the  difficulties 
that  might  some  day  stand  in  the  way  of  her  choice.  Con- 
sequently, when  she  was  commanded  to  decide  between  Felix 
and  Theodose,  the  guileless  girl  saw  only  one  side  of  the 
alternative,  and  fancied  that  she  had  gained  an  immense  ad- 
vantage by  an  arrangement  which  left  her  free  to  dispose 
of  herself  in  obedience  to  the  impulse  of  her  heart. 

But  la  Peyrade  had  not  been  mistaken  when  he  reckoned 
on  the  young  girl's  religious  intolerance  on  one  hand,  and,  on 
the  other,  on  Phellion's  philosophic  obduracy,  as  invincible 
obstacles  to  their  engagement. 

On  the  very  evening  of  the  day  when  Flavie  had  received 
instructions  to  communicate  to  Celeste  the  sovereign  will 
of  Thuillier,  the  Phellions  came  to  spend  the  evening  with 
Brigitte,  and  a  lively  encounter  took  place  between  these 
two  young  people.  Mademoiselle  Colleville  did  not  need  the 
warning  hinted  by  her  mother  that  it  would  be  highly  indel- 
icate to  introduce  into  her  controversial  arguments  any  ref- 
erence to  the  conditional  approbation  vouchsafed  to  their 
affection.  Celeste  was  at  once  too  honorable  and  too  fervently 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  257 

religious  to  wish  that  the  man  she  loved  should  owe  his  con- 
version to  any  motive  but  conviction. 

The  evening  was  spent  in  theological  discussions,  and  love 
is  so  strange  a  Proteus  and  can  assume  such  undreamed-of 
shapes,  that  he  figured  that  evening  in  the  black  robe  and 
beretta  with  far  better  grace  than  might  be  supposed.  Still 
Phellion  fils  was  extraordinarily  ill-starred  in  this  encoun- 
ter, of  which  he  knew  not  the  importance.  Besides  yielding 
nothing,  he  affected  a  light  and  ironical  tone,  and  put  poor 
Celeste  at  last  into  such  a  frenzy  of  distress  that  she  con- 
veyed to  him  her  wish  that  all  should  be  at  an  end,  and  that 
he  should  never  speak  to  her  again. 

In  such  a  case  a  lover  of  more  experience  would  have  seen 
her  again  the  next  morning,  for  two  hearts  are  never  nearer 
to  a  mutual  understanding  than  when  they  have  agreed  to 
the  necessity  of  an  eternal  parting.  But  this  law  is  not  to  be 
found  in  a  table  of  logarithms,  and  Felix,  quite  incapable  of 
divining  it,  believed  himself  seriously  and  forever  forbidden 
her  presence ;  in  fact,  during  the  whole  fortnight  granted  the 
girl  for  mature  deliberation  (as  the  French  code  has  it  in 
certain  questions  of  inheritance),  though  Celeste  was  ex- 
pecting him  every  day  and  every  minute,  and  thinking  no 
more  of  la  Peyrade  than  if  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
matter,  the  pitiable  youth  never  had  the  remotest  thought 
of  breaking  the  ban. 

Fortunately  for  this  uninspired  lover,  a  benevolent  fairy 
was  keeping  guard  over  him,  and  this  was  what  happened 
on  the  day  before  that  on  which  Celeste  was  to  pronounce 
her  decision. 

It  was  a  Sunday,  on  which  day  the  Thuilliers  still  held 
their  weekly  receptions. 

Madame  Phellion,  fully  convinced  that  the  system  of  greas- 
ing the  cook's  palm,  or,  as  the  French  say,  "making  the  bas- 
ket dance/'  is  often  the  ruin  of  a  prosperous  household,  was 
in  the  habit  of  going  to  market  herself  at  the  shops  whence 
'she  supplied  herself.  From  time  immemorial  in  the  Phel- 
lion family  Sunday  was  sacred  to  the  pot-au-feu  (the  stewed 


258  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

beef  that  is  a  standing  dish  in  French  households),  and  the 
great  citizen's  wife  in  the  carefully  shabby  aitire  affected  by 
ladies  when  they  go  marketing,  had  come  back  very  prosaic- 
ally from  the  butcher's,  followed  by  the  cook,  who  carried 
in  her  basket  a  noble  cut  of  fresh  top-side  of  beef.  Twice 
already  had  she  rung  at  her  door,  and  a  terrific  storm  was 
gathering  to  fall  on  the  head  of  the  boy  who  by  his  delay  was 
placing  his  mistress  in  a  far  worse  predicament  than  that  of 
Louis  XIV.,  who  was  only  almost  kept  waiting.  In  her 
furious  impatience,  Madame  Phellion  had  just  given  the  bell 
a  third  and  violent  pull.  Imagine  her  confusion  and  dis- 
turbance when  at  this  very  moment  a  small  coupe"  came 
rattling  up  to  the  main  door  of  the  house,  she  saw  a  lady 
step  out,  and  in  this  untimely  and  unlooked-for  caller  she 
recognized  the  elegant  Countess  Torna  de  Godollo. 

The  unhappy  housewife,  blushing  purple,  lost  her  head 
and  plunged  headlong  into  apologies;  she  would  no  doubt 
have  aggravated  her  already  painful  position,  but  that  hap- 
pily Phellion,  startled  by  the  repeated  peals  of  the  bell,  came 
out  of  his  study  robed  in  his  dressing-gown  and  crowned 
with  a  smoking-cap,  to  see  what  was  the  matter. 

After  a  speech  of  which  the  pompous  grace  went  far 
towards  compensating  for  the  costume  it  was  intended  to 
excuse,  the  citizen,  with  the  calm  presence  of  mind  that  never 
deserted  him,  gallantly  offered  his  arm  to  the  fair  foreigner, 
and,  having  led  her  into  the  drawing-room,  began: 

"May  I  without  indiscretion  ask  you,  Madame  la  Com- 
tesse,  to  what  we  owe  the  unexpected  honor  of  this  visit?" 

"I  was  anxious,"  said  the  Hungarian  lady,  "to  speak  with 
Madame  Phellion  of  a  matter  she  must  have  much  at  heart. 
I  never  have  a  chance  of  seeing  her  alone;  so,  though  indeed 
we  are  hardly  acquainted,  I  made  so  bold  as  to  seek  her  here/' 

"Nay,  indeed,  madame,  you  do  our  humble  dwelling  honor. 
But  what  has  become  of  Madame  Phellion?"  the  good  man 
impatiently  added,  and  he  went  to  the  door. 

"No,  I  entreat  you,"  said  the  Countess,  "do  not  disturb' 
her.  I  have  come  clumsily  enough  just  at  an  inconvenient 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  259 

moment  for  her  household  arrangements.  Brigitte  is  be« 
ginning  to  train  me  very  well,  and  I  know  that  the  careb  of 
a  house-mistress  ought  to  be  respected.  And,  after  all,  I  am 
not  to  be  pitied ;  I  have  the  consolation  of  your  company,  on 
which  I  had  not  ventured  to  count/' 

Before  Phellion  could  reply  to  this  amiable  speech, 
Madame  Phellion  came  in ;  a  cap  with  smart  bows  had  taken 
the  place  of  her  market-bonnet  and  an  ample  shawl  covered 
the  other  defects  of  her  morning  attire.  As  his  wife  came  in, 
Phellion  was  about  to  withdraw. 

"Monsieur  Phellion,"  said  the  Countess,  "you  will  not  be 
in  the  way  at  the  conference  I  have  sought  with  madame. 
On  the  contrary,  your  admirable  judgment  can  only  be  val- 
uable in  throwing  light  on  a  subject  in  which  you  are  as 
deeply  interested  as  your  excellent  wife;  it  is  the  marriage 
of  your  son/' 

"Of  my  son !"  echoed  Madame  Phellion,  with  great 
amazement ;  "why,  I  did  not  know  that  anything  of  the  kind 
was  just  now  under  discussion." 

"That  Monsieur  Felix  should  marry  Celeste,  is,  I  fancy, 
a  thing  you  wish,  if  not  actually  a  project?"  said  the 
Countess. 

"We  have  taken  no  definite  steps  to  that  end,  madame," 
said  Phellion. 

"I  know  that — only  too  well,"  replied  the  Hungarian  lady, 
"for,  on  the  contrary,  every  member  of  your  family  seems 
to  be  doing  their  utmost  to  counteract  my  efforts.  However, 
one  thing  is  clear,  and  that  is,  that  in  spite  of  all  the  silence, 
and  I  may  say  quite  plainly,  all  the  clumsiness,  that  has 
attended  this  business,  the  two  young  people  love  each  other 
and  will  be  greatly  to  be  pitied  if  they  are  not  united.  It  is 
to  avert  that  disaster  that  I  have  taken  the  step  of  calling 
on  you  this  morning." 

"We  cannot  but  be  deeply  touched,  madame,  by  the  inter- 
est you  are  so  kind  as  to  feel  in  our  boy's  happiness;  but,  to* 
tell  the  truth,  that  interest 

"Is  so  inexplicable,"  the  lady  hastily  put  in,  "that  it  rouses 
your  suspicions?" 


260  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Oh !  madame,"  said  Phellion,  with  a  respectfully  dtepre- 
caLng  bow. 

"Bless  me/7  said  the  Hungarian,  "the  explanation  is  ex- 
tremely simple.  I  have  studied  Celeste,  and  in  that  sweet 
and  artless  child  I  can  discern  a  moral  steadfastness  which 
would  make  me  greatly  regret  her  being  sacrificed." 

"Indeed  it  is  true,  madame.  Celeste  is  an  angel  of  sweet- 
ness." 

"As  regards  Monsieur  Felix,  I  venture  to  feel  an  interest 
in  him,  for  I  see  in  him  the  worthy  son  of  a  most  virtuous 
father " 

"Madame,  spare  me!"  said  Phellion,  with  another  low 
bow. 

"But  he  also  has,  in  my  eyes,  the  charm  of  that  shyness  of 
true  love  which  may  be  seen  in  all  his  looks  and  heard  in  his 
speech.  We  women  find  infinite  delight  in  seeing  the  passion 
under  an  aspect  which  threatens  no  disappointment,  no  dis- 
illusions." 

"My  son,  to  be  sure,  is  not  showy,"  said  Madame  Phellion, 
with  a  hardly  perceptible  touch  of  rancor.  "He  is  not  a 
young  man  of  fashion." 

"But  he  has  more  essential  qualities,"  the  Countess  went 
on,  "merit  unconscious  of  itself,  the  crown  of  intellectual 
superiority/' 

"Really,  madame,"  said  Phellion,  "you  compel  us  to  hear 
things " 

"Which  are  not  in  excess  of  the  truth,"  interrupted  the 
Countess.  "Another  reason  which  leads  me  to  exert  myself 
for  the  happiness  of  these  two  young  people  is  that  I  have  no 
interest  whatever  in  that  of  Monsieur  de  la  Peyrade,  who  is 
false  and  avaricious.  That  man  hopes  to  build  up  the  suc- 
cess of  his  inveigling  schemes  on  the  ruins  of  their  happi- 
ness." 

"There  can  be  no  doubt,"  said  Phellion,  "that  there  are 
impenetrable  depths  in  Monsieur  de  la  Peyrade  on  which  it 
is  difficult  to  cast  a  gleam  of  light." 

"And  as  it  is  my  misfortune,"  Madame  de  Godollo  went  on, 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  261 

"to  have  a  man  of  that  character  for  a  husband,  the  mere 
thought  of  all  the  misery  in  store  for  Celeste  under  such  an 
unhappy  union  inspired  me,  for  her  sake,  with  the  charitable 
impulse  which  now  I  hope  has  ceased  to  surprise  you." 

"We  did  not  need  such  conclusive  explanations  as  you 
have  given  us  to  throw  light  on  your  conduct,  inadame," 
said  Phellion.  "But  with  regard  to  the  blunders  by  which 
we  have  nullified  your  generous  efforts,  I  must  own  that,  with 
a  view  to  preserving  us  from  repeating  them,  it  might  be  as 
well  if  you  would  point  them  out  to  us." 

"How  long  is  it,  for  instance,"  said  the  Countess,  "since 
any  member .  of  your  family  set  foot  in  the  Thuilliers' 
house?" 

"Well,  if  I  remember  rightly,"  said  Phellion,  "we  were 
there  on  the  Sunday  after  the  house-warming  dinner." 

"Yes,  a  full  fortnight !"  said  the  lady.  "And  do  you  sup- 
pose that  nothing  happens  in  a  fortnight?" 

"Certainly,  much  may  happen,  since  in  1830  it  took  only 
three  days  to  overthrow  a  perjured  dynasty  and  found  the 
order  of  things  under  which  we  now  live." 

"You  see,"  said  Madame  de  Godollo.  "Well,  and  that 
evening,  did  nothing  pass  between  Celeste  and  your  son?" 

"Indeed,  they  had  a  most  painful  explanation  on  the  mat- 
ter of  my  son's  religious  views.  For  it  must  be  owned  that 
good  little  Celeste,  who  is  in  every  other  respect  a  charming 
creature,  is  somewhat  fanatical  on  the  question  of  piety." 

"That  I  grant,"  said  the  Countess.  "But  she  has  been 
brought  up  by  such  a  mother — as  you  know.  She  has  never 
seen  the  face  of  true  piety,  only  its  mask.  Repentant  Mag- 
dalens  of  the  type  of  Madame  Colleville  always  insist  on  pre- 
tending to  live  in  a  desert  with  a  death's  head  for  company. 
They  fancy  it  impossible  to  be  saved  on  cheaper  terms.  But, 
after  all,  what  was  it  that  Celeste  asked  of  Monsieur  Felix? 
That  he  should  read  the  Imitation  of  Christ." 

"He  had  read  it,  madame,"  said  Phellion,  "he  considers 
it  a  very  well  written  book ;  but  his  convictions,  unfortunately, 
have  not  been  even  shaken  by  reading  it." 


262  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"And  do  you  think  it  skilful  of  him  not  to  have  been  able 
to  yield  one  jot  of  his  inflexible  convictions  to  his  lady 
love?" 

"My  son,  madame,  never  had  from  ine  the  least  training 
in  such  skill;  honesty  and  good  faith  are  the  principles  I 
endeavored  to  inculcate." 

"It  does  not  seem  to  me,  monsieur,  that  a  man  is  false  to 
his  honor  when,  in  dealing  with  a  perverse  mood,  he  goes  a 
little  out  of  his  way  to  avoid  irritating  it.  However,  admit- 
ting that  Monsieur  Felix  owed  it  to  his  self-respect  to  be  the 
iron  wall  against  which  Celeste's  entreaties  beat  in  vain ;  was 
that  a  reason,  after  this  scene— which  was  not  the  first  of 
the  kind,  though  it  was  by  way  of  being  final — that,  when 
he  had  the  chance  of  meeting  her  in  Brigitte's  drawing-room, 
which  is  neutral  ground,  he  should  sulk  in  his  tents  for  a 
fortnight?  Above  all,  that  he  should  crown  this  fit  of  tem- 
per by  a  proceeding  which  is  quite  beyond  my  comprehen- 
sion, and  which,  having  just  come  to  our  knowledge,  has 
filled  Celeste  at  once  with  despair  and  with  a  feeling  of  ex- 
treme indignation?" 

"Can  my  son  have  been  capable  of  any  such  proceeding? 
Impossible,  madame !"  cried  Phellion.  "What  it  is  I  know 
not,  but  I  cannot  hesitate  to  say  that  you  must  have  been 
misinformed." 

"And  yet  nothing  can  be  more  certain.  Young  Colleville, 
who  to-day  has  an  exeat,  has  just  told  us  that  for  more  than 
a  week  Monsieur  Felix,  who  has  latterly  been  coming  to  give 
him  his  lesson  every  alternate  day,  with  the  greatest  punc- 
tuality, has  entirely  ceased  to  come  near  him.  Now,  unless 
your  son  is  ill,  I  cannot  help  saying  that  this  is  to  the  last 
degree  ill-judged.  In  the  position  in  which  he  stood  to  the 
sister,  he  should  rather  have  given  the  boy  two  lessons  a  day, 
than  select  such  a  moment  for  withdrawing  his  help." 

The  Phellions,  husband  and  wife,  looked  at  each  other 
as  if  in  consultation  as  to  their  reply. 

"My  son,  madame,"  said  Madame  Phellion,  "is  not  ex- 
actly ill;  but  since  you  lead  us  to  speak,  by  telling  us  of  this 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  263 

fact, — which  is,  I  must  own,  most  extraordinary  and  utterly 
unlike  his  character  and  habit  of  mind, — I  must  confess  that 
since  the  day  when  Celeste  seemed  to  convey  that  all  was 
at  end  between  them,  Felix  has  been  in  a  very  strange  state 
of  mind.  Monsieur  Phellion  and  I  are  much  worried  about 
it." 

"Yes,  madame,"  Phellion  added,  "the  young  man  is  cer- 
tainly not  himself." 

"What,  then,  ails  him?"  asked  the  Countess,  with  much 
interest. 

"In  the  first  place,"  said  Phellion,  "that  evening,  after 
the  scene,  my  son,  on  his  return  home,  shed  burning  tears 
on  his  mother's  shoulder,  giving  us  to  understand  that  his 
happiness  was  ruined  for  life." 

"So  far  all  is  natural  enough,"  said  Madame  de  Godollo; 
"lovers  always  see  the  darkest  side  of  everything." 

"No  doubt,"  said  Madame  Phellion;  "but  from  that  mo- 
ment Felix  has  never  even  remotely  alluded  to  his  misfor- 
tune, and  on  the  following  day  he  threw  himself  into  his 
studies  again  with  a  sort  of  frenzy;  do  you  think  that  equally 
natural ?" 

"Even  that  may  be  accounted  for.  Study  is  said  to  be  a 
great  comforter." 

"Nothing  can  be  more  true,"  observed  Phellion.  "But  in 
all  my  son's  appearance  and  conduct  there  is  a  touch  of  ex- 
citement, and  at  the  same  time  an  intensity  of  concentration, 
that  you  can  scarcely  conceive  of.  If  you  speak  to  the  youth, 
he  seems  not  to  hear;  he  sits  down  to  the  table  and  forgets 
to  eat;  or  takes  his  food  with  such  indifference  as  the  medi- 
cal faculty  considers  very  bad  for  the  digestion;  he  has  to  be 
reminded  of  his  ordinary  duties  and  regular  occupations,  and 
he  is  generally  regularity  itself.  Then,  the  other  day,  while 
he  was  at  the  Observatory,  where  he  now  spends  every  even- 
ing, never  coming  in  till  very  late,  I  took  upon  myself  to  go 
into  his  room  and  look  over  his  papers.  I  was  appalled, 
madame,  at  finding  a  note-book  full  of  algebraical  calcula- 


264  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

tions  which  seemed  to  me  to  extend  beyond  the  powers  of 
the  human  intellect." 

"Perhaps  he  is  on  the  track  of  some  grand  problem,"  said 
the  Countess. 

"Or  on  the  road  to  madness,"  said  Madame  Phellion,  with 
a  sigh,  and  lowering  her  voice. 

"That  is  hardly  likely,"  said  Madame  de  Godollo ;  "a  man 
of  such  a  calm  temperament  and  sound  good  sense  is  not 
liable  to  such  disaster.  But  I  know  of  a  misfortune  far  more 
imminent,  between  this  and  to-morrow,  if  we  cannot  effect  a 
master-stroke  this  evening.  Celeste  may  indeed  be  lost  to 
him  forever." 

"How  is  that  ?"  asked  the  parents,  in  a  breath. 

"Perhaps  you  are  not  aware,"  the  lady  went  on,  "that 
Thuillier  and  his  sister  definitely  pledged  themselves  to  pro- 
mote a  marriage  between  Celeste  and  Monsieur  de  la  Pey- 
rade?" 

"We  had  our  suspicions,"  replied  Madame  Phellion. 

"Still,  the  fulfilment  of  the  bargain  was  fixed  for  a  some- 
what remote  date,  and  contingent  on  certain  conditions. 
Monsieur  de  la  Peyrade,  after  securing  them  the  possession 
of  their  new  house,  was  to  obtain  for  Monsieur  Thuillier  the 
Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  to  write  a  political  pamphlet 
in  his  name,  and  to  conduct  an  election  by  which  he  was  to 
win  a  seat  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  It  was  like  a  ro- 
mance of  chivalry  in  which  the  hero,  to  obtain  the  hand  of 
the  princess,  was  required  to  exterminate  a  dragon." 

"The  Countess  is  very  witty,"  said  Madame  Phellion  to  her 
husband,  who  signed  to  her  not  to  interrupt. 

"I  have  not  time,"  the  Countess  went  on,  "nor  is  it  of  any 
use  to  expatiate  on  the  tricks  by  which  Monsieur  de  la  Pey- 
rade has  managed  to  hurry  matters  to  a  conclusion.  What 
it  is  important  that  you  should  know  is  this :  by  his  contriv- 
ance, Celeste  has  been  compelled  to  make  a  final  choice  be- 
tween him  and  Monsieur  Felix.  The  poor  child  was  given 
a  fortnight  in  which  to  decide;  the  time  is  up  to-morrow, 
and  in  consequence  of  the  disastrous  effect  on  her  mind,  pro- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  265 

duced  by  your  son's  attitude  and  conduct,  there  is  very  real 
danger  that  she  may  sacrifice  her  best  feelings  and  instincts 
to  the  evil  promptings  of  her  outraged  affections." 

"But  what  is  to  be  done,  madame?"  asked  Phellion. 

"Fight  it  out,  monsieur.  Come  in  full  force  this  evening 
to  the  Thuilliers'  persuade  Monsieur  Felix  to  accompany 
you,  lecture  him  well,  and  make  him  yield  a  little  of  the 
rigidity  of  his  philosophical  opinions.  'Paris  is  worth  a 
Mass/  said  Henri  IV. ;  at  any  rate,  let  him  avoid  such  ques- 
tions. Surely,  his  heart  can  supply  him  with  accents  that 
may  appeal  to  the  woman  who  loves  him,  and  that  is  a  long 
stride  towards  her  thinking  him  in  the  right.  I  shall  be 
there.  I  will  help  him  to  the  utmost  of  my  power;  and  per- 
haps, on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  I  may  hit  on  some  means 
of  making  my  support  effective.  One  thing  is  certain,  a 
great  battle  must  be  fought  this  evening,  and  if  we  do  not, 
every  one  ot  us,  do  our  duty,  the  victory  may  be  won  by  that 
la  Peyrade." 

"My  son  is  not  at  home,  madame,"  answered  Phellion,  "and 
I  am  very  sorry,  for  your  eager  interest  and  warm  encour- 
agement might  have  shaken  him  from  his  torpor.  However, 
I  will  set  all  the  gravity  of  the  case  before  his  eyes,  and  he 
shall  most  undoubtedly  accompany  us  this  evening  to  the 
Thuilliers'  house." 

"I  need  not  say,"  added  the  Countess,  as  she  rose,  "that 
we  must  carefully  avoid  every  appearance  of  collusion.  We 
must  not  consult  together,  and  unless  the  circumstances 
should  quite  naturally  lead  to  it,  we  had  better  not  even 
speak  to  each  other." 

"Rely  on  my.  prudence,  madame,"  replied  Phellion,  "and, 
at  the  same  time,  permit  me  to  offer  you  the  expression " 

"Of  your  most  respectful  esteem !"  interrupted  the  lady, 
laughing. 

"No,  madame,  I  reserve  that  for  the  close  of  a  letter," 
answered  Phellion  solemnly.  "Allow  me,  I  beg  of  you,  to  ex- 
press my  most  fervent  and  perpetual  gratitude." 

"We  will  talk  about  that,  when  we  are  out  of  the  scrape/' 


266  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

said  Madame  de  GodoUo,  going  towards  the  door,  "and  if 
Madame  Phellion,  the  tenderest  and  most  virtuous  of  wives 
and  mothers,  will  grant  me  a  small  place  in  her  regard,  I 
shall  be  more  than  paid  for  my  exertions." 

Madame  Phellion  plunged  into  compliments  without  end. 
The  Countess,  handed  to  her  carriage  by  Phellion,  was  al- 
ready out  of  sight,  while  Phellion  was  still  sending  after  her 
a  volley  of  respectful  thanks. 

By  degrees,  as  the  company  from  the  Quartier  Latin 
dwindled  away  from  Brigitte's  drawing-room,  and  showed 
diminished  assiduity,  a  more  living  stratum  of  Parisian  vital- 
ity filtered  in.  The  town  councillor  had  drawn  some  impor- 
tant recruits  from  among  his  colleagues  on  the  Municipal 
Board  and  the  upper  employes  in  the  prefecture;  the  Mayor 
of  the  arrondissement  and  his  deputies,  on  whom  Thuillier 
had  called  on  settling  in  his  new  house,  had  hastened  to  re- 
turn the  civility,  and  a  few  of  the  officers  of  the  First  Legion 
had  also  called. 

The  house  itself  had  contributed  a  contingent;  several 
newly  established  tenants  lent  a  fresh  aspect  to  the  Sunday 
evening  parties.  Among  these  must  be  mentioned  Rabour- 
din,  formerly  the  head  of  the  room  in  which  Thuillier  had 
had  a  place  in  the  Exchequer.  Having  been  so  unhappy  as 
to  lose  his  wife,  whose  "salon"  had  once  held  its  own  in 
rivalry  with  Madame  Colleville's,  Eabourdin  now  lived  in 
bachelor  quarters  on  the  third  floor,  over  the  rooms  let  to 
Cardot,  the  honorary  notary.  In  consequence  of  an  odious 
case  of  favoritism,  by  which  he  was  passed  over,  he  sent  in  his 
resignation  of  the  public  service,  and  at  the  time  when  Thuil- 
lier again  came  across  him  he  was  a  director  of  one  of  the 
myriad  projected  railways,  which  was  constantly  postponed 
by  parliamentary  rivalry  and  delays. 

It  may  here  be  incidentally  mentioned  that  Phellion's 
meeting  again  with  this  really  clever  man  of  business,  now  a 
man  of  consequence  in  the  financial  world,  afforded  this 
worthy  and  honest  citizen  an  opportunity  of  once  more  show- 
ing his  native  magnanimity.  At  the  time  when  Eabourdin 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  267 

had  found  himself  compelled  to  retire,  Phellion  alone,  of  all 
the  clerks  in  his  department,  had  been  faithful  to  him  in  his 
reverses.  Eabourdin,  now  in  a  position  to  dispense  places,  as 
soon  as  chance  threw  his  staunch  supporter  in  his  way,  was 
prompt  to  offer  him  an  easy  and  lucrative  position. 

"Mosieur,"  said  Phellion,  "your  kindness  touches  me,  and 
does  me  honor,  but  in  honesty  I  must  make  a  confession, 
which  I  can  but  beg  you  not  to  take  amiss :  I  have  no  belief 
in  these  iron  roads  or  railways." 

"You  have  every  right  to  your  own  opinion,"  said  Eabour- 
din, with  a  srnile.  "But  meanwhile  we  are  remunerating  our 
servants  on  a  very  satisfactory  scale,  and  I  should  be  happy 
to  have  you  on  my  staff.  I  know  by  experience  that  you  are 
a  man  to  be  relied  on." 

"Mosieur,"  said  the  Great  Citizen,  "I  did  my  duty  and 
nothing  more.  As  to  the  offer  you  are  good  enough  to  make 
me,  I  cannot  accept  it.  I  am  content  with  my  modest  posi- 
tion; I  do  not  need  or  wish  to  embark  on  a  more  responsible 
career ;  I  may  say,  with  the  Latin  poet : 

'  'Claudite  jam  vivos,  pueri,  sat  prata  biberunt.' " 

Thus  raised  in  the  social  scale,  the  Thuilliers'  evenings 
now  needed  another  element  of  vitality,  and  to  speak  like 
Madelon  in  Les  Precieuses  ridicules,  this  "frightful  dearth  of 
amusement,"  of  which  Madame  Phellion  had  spoken  to  Mi- 
nard,  needed  a  remedy.  Thanks  to  Madame  de  Godollo,  the 
general  in  command,  who  took  advantage  of  Colleville's  con- 
nection with  the  musical  world,  some  performers  introduced 
a  variety  into  the  perpetual  boston  and  bouillotte.  Then  these 
old-fashioned  games  soon  made  way  for  whist,  the  only 
amusement,  said  the  Hungarian,  by  which  decent  people 
could  kill  time. 

Just  as  Louis  XVI.  began  by  setting  the  example  of  the 
reforms  under  which  his  throne  was  ultimately  crushed,  Bri- 
gitte  at  first  encouraged  this  domestic  revolution,  and  her 
wish  to  maintain  her  position  becomingly  in  the  neighbor- 
hood to  which  she  had  made  up  her  mind  to  move,  made  her 
docile  to  every  suggestion  for  comfort  and  elegance.  But  on 
VOL.  14-^43 


268  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

the  day  when  the  scene  occurred  which  we  are  about  to  re- 
late, a  detail,  apparently  trivial,  had  suddenly  revealed  to  her 
the  danger  of  the  slope  on  which  she  was  standing. 

Most  of  the  new  guests  invited  by  Thuillier  were  ignorant 
of  his  sister's  supremacy  in  the  house;  on  arriving,  they 
begged  their  host  to  introduce  them  to  Madame  Thuillier, 
and  he,  of  course,  could  not  tell  them  that  his  wife  was  but 
a  dummy  queen  trembling  under  the  iron  hand  of  a  Riche- 
lieu in  petticoats,  who  was  the  Sole  responsible  authority. 
So  it  was  only  after  their  first  homage  had  been  paid  to  the 
titular  sovereign  that  these  newcomers  were  presented  to 
Brigitte,  and  the  sternness  of  her  demeanor,  resulting  from 
her  vexation  at  this  transfer  of  dignity,  hardly  encouraged 
them  to  take  any  further  trouble  to  please  her. 

Alive  to  this  loss  of  importance — "If  I  do  not  take 
care,"  thought  this  Queen  Elizabeth,  with  the  keen  instinct 
for  preeminence  which  was  her  consuming  passion,  "I  shall 
become  a  mere  nobody." 

And  pondering  this  idea,  she  began  to  think  that  under 
the  conditions  of  a  common  household  shared  with  la  Peyrade 
as  Celeste's  husband,  the  decline  she  was  beginning  to  fear 
might  be  further  complicated.  At  once,  by  some  sudden  in- 
tuition, Felix  Phellion — a  good  young  man,  too  much  ab- 
sorbed in  mathematics  ever  to  become  a  formidable  rival  to 
her  rule — struck  her  as  a  far  more  suitable  match  than  the 
audacious  lawyer;  so,  when  she  saw  the  Phellions  arrive 
without  their  son,  she  was  the  first  to  be  uneasy  at  his  ab- 
sence. In  spite  of  Madame  de  Godollo's  advances,  this 
shocking  lover  had  acted  on  the  last  line  of  Millevoye's  fa- 
mous lament: 

"Et  son  amante  ne  vint  pas." 

(The  beloved  came  not.) 

As  may  easily  be  supposed,  Brigitte  was  not  the  only  per- 
son to  remark  the  luckless  youth's  rigid  absenteeism ;  Madame 
Thuillier  very  guilelessly,  and  Celeste  with  assumed  indif- 
ference, also  expressed  their  surprise.  As  to  Madame  de 
Godollo,  who,  though  she  had  a  remarkably  fine  voice,  had 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  269 

hitherto  needed  much  entreating  to  sing,  when  she  perceived 
how  little  heed  Felix  had  paid  to  her  counsels,  she  went  to 
beg  Madame  Phellion  to  be  good  enough  to  accompany  her, 
and  between  the  two  verses  of  a  fashionable  ballad: 

"Where  is  your  son?"  she  asked. 

"He  is  coming  presently,"  answered  Madame  Phtllion. 
"His  father  rated  him  soundly;  but  there  is  a  conjunction 
of  some  planets  to-night,  a  great  occasion  at  the  observa- 
tory, and  he  was  obliged  to  go " 

"How  can  a  man  be  so  inconceivably  clumsy?"  said  the 
Countess.  "Theology  was  not  bad  enough,  but  astronomy 
must  be  lugged  in!" 

Irritation  gave  her  voice  increased  brilliancy,  and  she 
ended  her  song  amid  what  the  English  call  a  thunder  of  ap- 
plause. 

Theodose,  who  was  in  mortal  dread  of  her,  was  not  back- 
ward in  paying  her  his  tribute  of  admiration  as  she  resumed 
her  seat;  but  she  accepted  his  compliments  with  coldness 
amounting  to  incivility,  and  their  hostility  was  but  fomented. 

He  went  off  to  console  himself  with  Flavie.  She  still  had 
too  much  pretension  to  beauty  not  to  hate  a  woman  who  inter- 
cepted so  much  admiration. 

"And  do  you  mean  to  say  that  you  really  think  that  woman 
sings  well?"  Madame  Colleville  scornfully  asked  the  advo- 
cate. 

"At  least  I  had  to  tell  her  so,"  replied  la  Peyrade,  "since 
she  alone  can  save  our  souls  with  Brigitte.   But  look  at  your 
Celeste.    She  never  takes  her  eyes  off  the  door,  and  every  time 
a  tray  is  brought  in,  though  it  is  too  late  for  any  more  ar-' 
rivals,  her  face  falls  with  disappointment." 

It  must  be  mentioned,  by  the  way,  that  since  Madame  de 
Oodollo  had  risen  to  power,  trays  of  refreshments  were  freely 
handed  on  reception  days  and  on  no  mean  scale,  loaded  with 
ices,  cakes,  and  fruit  syrups  from  Tanrade,  the  best  provider. 

"Leave  me  in  peace !"  said  Flavie,  "I  know  what  the  little 
goose  is  thinking  about.  You  are  only  too  certain  to  marry 
her." 


270  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"But  am  I  doing  it  for  my  own  sake?"  asked  la  Peyrade. 
"Is  it  not  my  inevitable  fate,  in  view  of  insuring  future  pros- 
perity for  all  of  us?  Come,  come,  now,  there  are  tears  in 
your  eyes;  I  must  leave  you,  you  are  too  unreasonable.  The 
deuce!  If  you  want  the  end,  you  want  the  means,  as  that 
prig,  old  Phellion,  says." 

He  went  to  join  a  group  consisting  of  Celeste,  Madame 
Thuillier,  Madame  de  Godollo,  Colleville,  and  Phellion. 

Madame  Colleville  followed  him,  and,  stung  by  the  fit  of 
jealousy  she  had  hinted  at  to  unmotherly  ferocity, — 

"Celeste,"  said  she,  "why  do  not  you  sing?  Several  of 
these  gentlemen  have  wished  to  hear  you." 

"Oh !  mamma,"  said  Celeste,  "with  my  poor  little  voice 
after  Madame  de  Godollo.  Besides,  as  you  know,  I  have  a 
little  cold." 

"That  is  to  say  that  as  usual  you  are  airified  and  disoblig- 
ing. You  sing  as  you  can,  and  every  voice  has  its  own 
merits." 

"My  dear,"  said  Colleville,  who,  having  just  i.ost  twenty 
francs  at  cards,  in  the  courage  of  his  vexation  tound  spirit 
enough  to  contradict  his  wife,  "you  sing  as  you  can  is  a 
mere  vulgar  axiom.  You  sing  with  your  voice  if  you  have 
one,  and  above  all  not  after  hearing  an  opei-atic  voice  like 
the  Countess'.  For  my  part  I  am  ready  xo  let  Celeste  off 
the  performance  of  one  of  her  little  cooing  love-songs." 

"Much  good  is  there  in  paying  masters  so  dear  and  getting 
nothing  in  return !"  And  she  walked  away. 

"So  Felix  has  ceased  to  inhabit  the  earth,"  said  Colleville, 
carrying  on  the  conversation  which  Fiavie  had  interrupted. 
"He  dwells  among  the  stars?" 

"My  dear  old  friend,"  said  Phellioii,  "I  am  as  much  an- 
noyed as  you  can  be,  to  find  my  son  neglecting  the  oldest 
friends  of  the  family.  And  although  the  contemplation  of 
the  vast  luminous  bodies  suspended  in  space  by  the  Creator's 
hand  is  of  greater  interest  in  my  opinion  than  your  over- 
wrought brain  seems  to  think,  I  consider  that  if  Felix  fails 
to  come  this  evening,  as  he  promised  me  he  would,  he  will 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  271 

fail  in  the  barest  good  manners.  And  I  will  let  him  know 
it  too,  you  may  rely  on  that." 

"Science  is  a  fine  thing,"  said  Theodose.  "But  it  is  a  draw- 
back that  it  makes  men  bears  and  maniacs." 

"To  say  nothing,"  added  Celeste,  "of  its  undermining  all 
ideas  of  religion." 

"In  that  you  ape  mistaken,  my  dear  child !"  said  the 
Countess.  "Pascal,  himself  a  splendid  instance  of  the  falsity 
of  your  view,  said,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  that  a  little  science 
leads  us  away  from  religion,  but  a  great  deal  brings  us  back 
to  it." 

"Nevertheless,  madame,  everybody  agrees  that  Monsieur 
Felix  is  very  learned.  When  he  was  giving  my  brother  les- 
sons, nothing  could  be  clearer  or  more .  intelligible,  Frangois 
said,  than  his  explanations.  And  you  see  he  is  none  the 
more  religious." 

"And  I  tell  youy  my  good  child,  that  Monsieur  Felix  is 
not  irreligious,  but  that  with  a  little  sweetness  and  patience 
nothing  will  be  easier  than  to  bring  him  back  to  the  fold." 

"Bring  a  philosopher  back  to  the  practice  of  religion! 
That,  madame,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "seems  to  me  a  difficult 
matter.  These  gentlemen  place  the  aim  and  end  of  their 
studies  above  all  else.  For  instance,  tell  a  mathematician  or 
a  geologist  that  the  Church  imperatively  insists  that  Sunday 
shall  be  kept  holy  by  the  postponement  of  every  kind  of  work 
— he  will  but  shrug  his  shoulders,  though  God  himself  did 
not  disdain  to  rest  on  the  seventh  day." 

"At  the  same  time  it  is  quite  true,"  said  Celeste  inno- 
cently, "that  by  not  coming  here  this  evening  Monsieur  Felix 
is  guilty  not  merely  of  bad  manners,  but  of  actual  sin." 

"But  tell  me,  my  pretty  child,"  answered  Madame  de  Go- 
dollo,  "do  you  really  think  that  God  is  better  pleased  at  see- 
ing us  meet  here  this  evening  to  sing  songs,  eat  ices,  and 
malign  our  neighbors  as  is  so  often  done  in  drawing-rooms, 
than  at  seeing  a  man  of  learning  in  an  observatory  studying 
the  glorious  secrets  of  creation?" 

"There  is  a  time  for  all  things,"  retorted  Celeste,  "and  as 


272  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Monsieur  de  la  Peyrade  says,  God  himself  did  not  disdain  to 
rest." 

"But,  my  dear  girl,  God  had  time  to  rest,"  said  Madame 
de  Godollo.  "He  is  eternal." 

"That/'  said  la  Peyrade,  "is  one  of  the  smartest  and  witti- 
est of  impious  speeches.  These  are  the  arguments  that  serve 
the  turn  of  worldly  people.  The  commandments  of  God  are 
'interpreted/  however  explicit  and  positive  they  may  be. 
One  is  taken  and  another  left;  distinctions  are  drawn;  the 
free-thinker  submits  them  to  his  sovereign  revision,  and 
from  free-thinking  it  is  but  a  step  to  free  conduct." 

During  the  lawyer's  harangue  Madame  de  Godollo  had  an 
eye  on  the  clock;  it  was  half-past  eleven.  The  room  was 
gradually  getting  empty.  Only  one  card-table  still  stood 
open,  occupied  by  Thuillier,  the  elder  Minard,  and  two  new 
acquaintances.  Phellion  had  left  the  little  group  with  whom 
he  had  been  talking,  and  had  joined  his  wife  and  Brigitte  in 
a  corner ;  and  from  his  eager  gesticulations  he  was  evidently 
moved  by  feelings  of  the  deepest  indignation.  All  hope  of 
seeing  the  truant  now  was  evidently  lost. 

"Monsieur,"  said  the  Countess  to  la  Peyrade,  "do  you  do 
the  gentlemen  of  the  Rue  des  Postes  the  honor  of  believing 
them  to  be  good  Catholics?" 

"Beyond  a  doubt,"  said  the  lawyer,  "religion  has  no  more 
staunch  supporters." 

"Well,  this  morning,"  said  the  lady,  "I  had  the  honor  of 
being  received  by  Father  Anselme.  Though  he  is  a  pattern 
of  every  Christian  virtue,  the  reverend  Father  is  recognized 
as  a  very  able  mathematician." 

"I  never  said,  madame,  that  the  two  qualities  were  irre- 
concilable." 

"But  you  did  say  that  a  good  Christian  ought  to  do  no 
work  of  any  kind  on  a  Sunday ;  Father  Anselme  must,  there- 
fore, be  a  terrible  miscreant,  for  when  I  was  admitted  to  his 
room  I  found  him  in  front  of  a  blackboard,  a  bit  of  chalk  in 
his  hand,  engaged  on  a  problem  that  was,  no  doubt,  some- 
what difficult,  for  the  board  was  almost  covered  with  alge- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  273 

braic  formulas ;  and  I  may  add  that  he  did  not  seem  alarmed 
at  the  idea  of  any  scandal,  since  a  person  whose  name  I  am 
not  at  liberty  to  mention — a  young  savant  of  great  promise 
— was  engaged  with  him  in  this  profane  occupation/' 

Celeste  and  Madame  Thuillier  looked  at  each  other,  and 
each  saw  a  gleam  of  hope  in  the  other's  eyes. 

"Why  cannot  you  give  the  name  of  the  younger  man?" 
said  Madame  Thuillier,  who  always  spoke  out  without  any 
tact. 

"Because  he  has  not,  as  Father  Anselme  has,  the  shelter 
of  his  holiness  to  absolve  him  for  such  a  flagrant  desecration 
of  Sunday;  also,"  said  Madame  de  Godollo  with  evident 
meaning,  "because  he  entreated  me  not  to  say  that  I  had 
met  him  in  that  place." 

"Then  you  know  a  good  many  young  and  learned  men?" 
said  Celeste.  "For  this  one  and  Monsieur  Phellion  make 
two  already." 

"My  dear  child,"  said  the  Countess,  "you  are  an  inquisi- 
tive little  puss.  But  you  cannot  make  me  say  what  I  do  not 
intend  to  say — especially  after  what  Father  Anselme  told 
me  in  confidence,  for  your  brain  would  be  off  at  a  gallop." 

This  it  was  already;  and  every  word  the  Countess  spoke 
seemed  to  add  to  the  girl's  uneasiness. 

"For  my  part,"  said  la  Peyrade  ironically,  "I  should  not 
be  in  the  least  surprised  if  Father  Anselme's  colleague  were 
Monsieur  Felix  Phellion  himself.  Voltaire  was  always  on 
excellent  terms  with  the  Jesuits  who  had  brought  him  up; 
only  he  did  not  discuss  religion  with  them." 

"Ah !  well,  my  young  philosopher  does  discuss  it  with  his 
reverend  and  scientific  colleague.  He  has  explained  his 
doubts,  and  in  fact,  that  was  the  starting-point  of  their 
friendship  as  scientific  men." 

"And  does  Father  Anselme  hope  to  convert  his  young 
friend?"  asked  Celeste. 

"He  is  sure  of  it,"  replied  the  Countess.  "The  young 
mathematician,  with  the  exception  only  of  religious  training, 
has  been  brought  up  in  admirable  principles.  He  also  knows 


274  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

that  his  return  to  the  Church  would  make  the  happiness  of  a 
charming  girl  whom  he  loves  and  who  loves  him.  Now,  my 
dear  child,  you  will  not  get  another  word  from  me  and  must 
fancy  what  you  please." 

"Oh,  dear  godmother!"  cried  Celeste,  speaking  in  all  the 
guilelessness  of  her  heart,  "if  it  should  be  he !" 

And  she  threw  herself  into  Madame  Thuillier's  arms  with 
a  burst  of  tears. 

At  this  instant  by  a  singlar  coincidence  a  servant  threw 
open  the  door  and  announced  Monsieur  Felix  Phellion. 

The  young  professor  came  in  perspiring  profusely,  his  tie 
askew,  and  quite  out  of  breath. 

"A  pretty  hour  this!"  said  Phellion  severely. 

"I  could  not  help  it,  father,"  said  Felix,  as  he  made  his 
way  across  the  room  to  Madame  Thuillier  and  Celeste.  "I 
could  not  leave  till  the  phenomenon  was  over,  and  I  found 
no  cab.  I  have  run  all  the  way." 

"Your  ears  must  have  been  burning,"  said  la  Peyrade,  in 
a  sneering  tone,  "for  you  were  foremost  in  the  thoughts  of 
these  ladies  but  a  moment  ago;  they  were  trying  to  solve  a 
serious  problem  concerning  you." 

Felix  made  no  reply;  he  saw  Brigitte  come  into  the  room, 
returning  from  the  dining-room  whither  she  had  been  to  tell 
the  servant  to  bring  in  no  more  refreshments;  he  hastened 
to  greet  her. 

After  hearing  some  mild  reproofs  as  to  the  rarity  of  his 
visits,  and  being  dismissed  forgiven  by  a  gracious  "Better 
late  than  never,"  he  turned  again  to  his  pole-star  and  was  a 
good  deal  surprised  to  hear  Madame  de  Godollo  say  to  him: 

"I  hope,  monsieur,  to  be  forgiven  for  an  indiscretion  I 
was  betrayed  into  in  the  heat  of  conversation;  I  told  these 
ladies,  in  spite  of  your  express  prohibition,  where  I  last  saw 
you,  only  this  morning." 

"Where  I  had  the  honor  of  meeting  you?"  said  Felix. 
"But,  madame,  I  did  not  see  you." 

A  faint  smile  lighted  up  la  Peyrade's  face. 

"You  so  certainly  saw  me  that  you  spoke  to  me  and  pledged 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  275 

me  to  secrecy.  However,  I  have  not  compromised  you 
beyond  the  exact  truth;  I  only  said  that  you  sometimes  call 
on  Father  Anselme,  and  that  hitherto  you  had  met  on  scien- 
tific grounds,  but  that  you  defend  your  doubts  against  him 
quite  as  stoutly  as  against  Celeste." 

"Father  Anselme  I"  said  Felix,  stupidly  puzzled. 

"Why,  of  course !"  said  la  Peyrade,  "a  great  mathema- 
tician, who  does  not  despair  of  converting  you.  Mademoi- 
selle Celeste  wept  for  joy/' 

Felix  looked  about  him  in  utter  bewilderment.  Madame 
de  Godollo  looked  at  him  with  an  expression  that  a  dog 
would  have  understood. 

"I  only  wish  I  could  have  done  anything  half  so  satisfac- 
tory to  Mademoiselle  Celeste,"  he  said  at  length,  "but  I  am 
afraid,  madame,  that  you  are  mistaken." 

"Listen  to  me,  monsieur.  I  will  dot  my  t's,  and  if  your 
bashfulness  prompts  you  to  hide  to  the  last  a  proceeding  of 
which  you  have  no  reason  to  be  ashamed,  contradict  me.  I 
will  submit  to  it  as  a  punishment  for  having  divulged  a 
secret  which,  as  I  frankly  confess,  you  commended  to  my 
discretion." 

Madame  Thuillier  and  Celeste  were  a  perfect  spectacle  in 
themselves;  never  were  doubt  and  expectation  more  strongly 
painted  on  human  features. 

Measuring  each  word,  Madame  de  Godollo  went  on : 

"I  told  these  ladies,  because  I  know  how  deeply  they  are 
interested  in  your  salvation,  and  because  you  were  accused 
of  shamelessly  defying  God's  commandments  by  working  on 
Sunday — I  told  them,  I  say,  that  I  had  met  you  this  morn- 
ing in  Father  Anselme's  room  in  the  Eue  des  Postes — that 
he,  as  learned  as  yourself,  was  engaged  with  your  help  in 
working  out  a  problem;  I  said  that  your  interviews  with 
that  holy  and  enlightened  man  had  led  to  other  discussions; 
that  you  had  laid  your  religious  doubts  before  him,  and  that 
he  did  not  despair  of  refuting  them.  There  is  nothing  to 
humiliate  your  self-respect  in  confirming  my  statements.  It 
is  merely  that  you  had  prepared  a  surprise  for  Celeste,  and 


276  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

I  unluckily  let  it  out.  But  when  she  hears  you  say  that  I 
have  spoken  the  truth,  you  will  still  give  her  such  happiness 
that  you  cannot  refuse  to  speak  the  words  she  hopes  for." 

''Why,  surely,  monsieur,  there  can  be  no  disgrace  in  seek- 
ing for  the  light ;  you,  who  are  so  honest,  so  averse  to  an  un- 
truth, can  hardly  deny  a  fact  that  the  Countess  so  steadily 
affirms!"  said  la  Peyrade. 

Felix  hesitated  a  moment ;  then  he  said  to  Celeste :  "Will 
you,  Mademoiselle  Celeste,  let  me  speak  two  words  to  you 
alone?" 

Celeste  rose,  and  at  an  approving  nod  from  Madame 
Thuillier  Felix  took  her  hand  and  led  her  into  a  window 
recess  two  yards  from  where  they  were  all  standing. 

"Celeste,"  he  said,  in  a  low  tone,  "I  entreat  you  to  wait  a 
little  longer.  Why,  look,"  and  he  pointed  to  Charles'  Wain 
in  the  sky,  "up  and  away  beyond  the  visible  stars  there  lies 
a  future  for  us  all.  As  to  Father  Anselme,  I  cannot  confirm 
anything,  for  it  is  not  true.  It  is  a  kindly  meant  fiction. 
But  have  patience,  you  shall  hear  things " 

Celeste  turned  away,  leaving  him  to  gaze  at  the  stars. 

"He  is  gone  mad !"  said  she,  in  despairing  accents,  as  she 
took  her  place  by  Madame  Thuillier. 

And  Felix  confirmed  the  diagnosis  by  rushing  out  of  the 
room  without  observing  how  anxiously  Phellion  and  his 
mother  followed  close  on  his  heels. 

While  all  the  bystanders  gazed  in  dismay  at  this  sudden 
exit,  la  Peyrade  went  up  to  Madame  de  Godollo. 

"You  must  admit,"  he  said  very  politely,  "that  it  is  very 
difficult  to  pull  a  man  out  of  the  water  when  he  is  bent  on 
drowning " 

"I  had  not,  I  confess,  conceived  of  such  imbecility,"  an- 
swered the  Countess.  "It  is  too  idiotic.  I  go  over  to  the 
enemy;  and  with  that  enemy,  whenever  he  pleases,  I  will 
go  into  a  full  and  frank  explanation,  in  my  own  rooms." 

Th6odose,  next  morning,  was  devoured  by  curiosity  on  two 
points:  How  would  Celeste  decide  in  the  choice  she  was  to 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  277 

make?  What  could  this  Countess  Torna  de  Godollo  have  to 
say  to  him,  and  what  did  she  want  of  him  ? 

The  first  of  these  questions  certainly  seemed  first  to  claim 
an  answer ;  and  yet,  a  secret  instinct  drew  la  Peyrade  toward 
a  more  immediate  solution  of  the  second.  Still,  as  he  made 
up  his  mind  to  go  first  to  the  Countess,  he  quite  understood 
that,  in  the  meeting  to  which  he  had  been  invited,  he  could 
not  be  too  carefully  prepared  and  equipped. 

It  had  rained  in  the  morning,  and  this  foreseeing  rnind 
did  not  need  telling  that  a  splash  staining  the  polish  of  a  boot 
may  bring  a  man  to  discomfiture.  So  he  sent  the  porter  to 
fetch  him  a  cab,  and  at  about  three  o'clock  drove  off  from  the 
Rue  Saint-Dominique-d'Eufer  towards  the  more  fashionable 
district  of  the  Madeleine. 

That  he  had  devoted  much  thought  to  his  toilet  may  be 
easily  supposed;  it  must  hit  the  happy  medium  between  the 
free  and  easy  style  of  morning  wear  and  the  full  dress  of 
an.  after-dinner  call.  Required  by  his  profession  to  wear  a 
white  neckcloth,  which  he  very  rarely  failed  to  display,  and 
yet  not  daring  to  appear  in  a  frock  coat,  he  felt  the  risk  of 
falling  into  one  of  the  two  extremes  which  he  thought  it 
desirable  to  avoid.  But  in  a  tail-coat  closely  buttoned  across, 
and  gloves  of  a  neutral  tint,  instead  of  straw-color,  he  es- 
caped too  great  solemnity,  and,  at  the  same  time,  had  not 
the  very  provincial  and  poor-relation  appearance  that  comes 
of  evening  dress  out  walking  at  an  hour  when  the  sun  is  still 
above  the  horizon. 

Our  crafty  diplomatist  took  care  not  to  be  driven  to  the 
door  of  the  house.  He  would  not  have  liked  the  occupant 
of  the  entresol  to  see  him  getting  out  of  a  hackney-cab,  and 
he  would  have  feared  the  eyes  of  the  first-floor  resi- 
dents, detecting  him  in  a  visit  to  the  rooms  beneath  them;  it 
would  have  given  rise  to  endless  comments.  So  he  was  set 
down  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  Royale;  thence,  by  walking 
on  the  fairly  dry  footway,  and  carefully  picking  his  steps, 
he  reached  the  house  immaculate. 

He  was  there  so  lucky  as  not  to  be  seen  from  the  porter's 


278  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

lodge.  The  husband,  a  beadle  at  the  church  of  the  Made- 
leine, was  on  duty,  and  his  wife  was  showing  some  still  va- 
cant rooms  to  an  intending  tenant.  So  Theodose,  escaping 
inspection,  stole  up  to  the  door  of  the  sanctuary  to  which 
he  was  to  be  admitted. 

A  gentle  pull  at  a  rope  trimmed  with  gimp  rang  a  beil 
within.  A  few  seconds  later  another  and  a  more  emphatic 
peal,  of  shriller  tone,  seemed  intended  to  warn  the  maid-ser- 
vant that  she  was  too  slow  in  answering  the  door;  and,  in 
point  of  fact,  immediately  after,  a  woman  of  mature  age, 
too  respectable  to  wear  the  costume  of  a  chambermaid  in  a 
comedy,  had  admitted  him. 

The  lawyer  gave  her  his  name,  and  was  desired  to  wait  in 
a  dining-room  of  severely  luxurious  taste.  The  maid  re- 
turned at  once,  and  ushered  him  into  the  most  fascinating 
and  splendid  drawing-room  that  is  conceivable  under  the  low 
ceiling  of  an  entresol. 

The  divinity  of  the  place  sat  by  a  table  covered  with  a  cloth 
of  Italian  design,  in  which  gold  thread  sparkled  among  the 
rich  colors  of  fine  embroidery.  As  la  Peyrade  went  in,  she 
bowed  without  rising.  The  maid  placed  a  chair,  the  Count- 
ess, meanwhile,  saying,  "You  will  excuse  me,  monsieur,  if 
I  seal  a  note  to  be  sent  in  a  hurry?" 

.The  lawyer  bowed  assent.  The  foreign  lady  took  from  a 
desk  inlaid  with  tortoise-shell,  in  the  style  of  Boule,  a  sheet 
of  blue-tinted  English  note-paper,  which  she  enclosed  in  an 
envelope,  and,  after  writing  the  address,  she  rose  and  rang 
the  bell. 

The  maid  at  once  came  in,  lighted  a  spirit-lamp  set  in  a 
little  stand  ornamented  with  pretty  sculptured  figures;  over 
the  flame  hung  a  little  silver-gilt  pannikin,  containing  a 
scrap  of  scented  sealing-wax.  As  soon  as  the  heat  had 
melted  the  wax,  the  maid  dropped  it  on  to  the  note,  and 
handed  her  mistress  an  engraved  seal.  The  lady  stamped  it 
wiih  her  own  fair  hands,  and  said,  "Send  this  at  once." 

1'he  woman  stepped  forward  to  take  the  letter,  but  from 
inadvertence  or  over-haste,  the  document  fell  at  la  Peyrade's 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  279 

feet,  and  as  he  quickly  stooped  to  pick  it  up,  he  involuntarily 
read  the  address.  It  was  to  Monsieur  le  Ministre  des  Affaires 
etrangeres.  And  above,  in  one  corner,  the  significant  word 
private,  gave  the  missive  a  character  of  intimacy. 

"I  beg  your  pardon/'  said  the  lady,  taking  the  note  from 
la  Peyrade's  hand,  for  he  had  the  good  taste  to  restore  it  to 
her,  so  as  to  render  the  little  service  to  the  mistress.  "And 
have  the  goodness  not  to  lose  it,"  she  added  severely,  to  the 
luckless  waiting-woman. 

Having  thus  dismissed  her,  the  Hungarian  Countess 
moved  from  the  chair  in  front  of  the  writing-table,  and 
seated  herself  on  a  sofa  upholstered  in  pale  gray  satin. 

During  all  this  little  flutter  of  business,  la  Peyrade  had 
had  the  pleasure  of  taking  stock  of  the  splendor  about  him. 
Pictures  by  recognized  masters  showed  up  against  a  sober 
background,  enlivened  by  silk  cord  and  gimp;  on  a  stand  of 
gilt  wood  was  an  enormous  Chinese  jar;  in  front  of  the  win- 
dows were  flower-stands,  in  which  a  lilum  rubrum,  with  its 
twisted  petals,  hung  over  dwarf  camellias  white  and  red, 
and  little  Chinese  magnolia  shrubs,  with  their  creamy  white 
flowers  tipped  with  rose;  then,  in  one  corner,  hung  a  trophy 
of  weapons,  strange  and  very  gorgeous,  accounted  for  by  the 
semi-barbarous  nationality  of  the  owner.  Finally,  some 
bronzes  and  statuettes  of  exquisite  workmanship,  and  on 
the  seats,  which  rolled  smoothly  over  a  carpet  of  Turkish  de- 
sign, a  medley  anarchy  of  pillows  and  stuffs,  completed  the 
furniture  of  the  room,  which  the  lawyer  had  last  seen  with 
Thuillier  and  Brigitte,  before  it  was  inhabited.  It  was 
transfigured  beyond  recognition. 

With  a  little  more  knowledge  of  the  world  the  lawyer 
would  have  been  less  surprised  at  the  infinite  pains  the 
Countess  had  devoted  to  the  arrangement  of  this  little  place. 
A  woman's  drawing-room  is  her  kingdom,  where  she  is  abso- 
lute sovereign ;  there  she  reigns  and  rules  in  the  fullest  sense 
of  the  words.  There  she  has  to  fight  more  than  one  battle, 
and  almost  always  comes  off  victorious.  In  fact,  has  she 
not  chosen  every  ornament,  and  harmonized  all  the  colors, 


280  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

and  does  she  not  light  or  shade  it  to  her  taste?  If  she  has 
any  intelligent  sense  of  stage-arrangement,  it  is  impossible 
but  that  everything  about  her  should  be  placed  by  her  hand 
where  it  tells  with  the  best  effect ;  impossible  but  that  all  her 
personal  advantages  should  be  thrown  into  rare  relief.  Yoii 
may  say  that  you  do  not  know  all  a  woman's  perfections  till 
you  have  seen  her  in  the  prismatic  light  of  her  own  drawing- 
room;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  beware  of  attempting  to  gauge 
and  appraise  her  if  you  have  never  seen  her  anywhere  else. 

Coquettishly  sunk  in  a  corner  of  the  sofa,  her  head  care- 
lessly resting  on  one  arm  of  which  the  rounded  whiteness 
could  be  seen  to  the  elbow  in  the  loose  open  sleeve  of  a  black 
velvet  wrapper,  a  foot  for  Cinderella,  in  an  easy  but  tiny  Rus- 
sia-leather slipper,  resting  on  an  orange  plush  cushion 
stamped  with  flowers  in  relief,  the  fair  Hungarian  looked 
like  a  portrait  by  Lawrence  or  Winterhalter,  but  her  attitude 
was  more  artless. 

''Monsieur/'  said  she,  with  a  smile,  and  the  slight  foreign 
accent  which  gave  added  witchery  to  her  speech,  "I  cannot 
help  regarding  it  as  a  very  droll  thing  that  a  man  of  your 
talent  and  keen  penetration  should  have  thought  of  me  as 
an  enemy." 

"Indeed,  Madame  la  Comtesse,"  replied  Theodose,  showing 
in  his  eyes  some  astonishment,  not  unmixed  with  distrust, 
"appearances,  as  you  must  allow,  justified  my  simplicity.  A 
rival  crossed  my  path  when  I  was  going  on  towards  a  mar- 
riage which  offered  itself  to  me  as  in  every  way  suitable.  By 
a  happy  miracle  this  rival  was  clumsy  to  a  degree,  and  not 
difficult  to  set  aside,  when,  suddenly,  the  most  charming 
and  unlooked-for  auxiliary  rushed  in  to  aid  him  on  pre- 
cisely the  most  vulnerable  side  .  .  ." 

"And  you  must  confess,"  said  the  Countess,  laughing, 
"that  my  protege  was  brilliant  and  seconded  my  efforts 
nobly !" 

"His  blundering,  I  fancy,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "was  not  alto- 
gether unexpected  by  you;  the  encouragement  with  which 
you  honored  him,  madame,  was  all  the  more  cruelly  tan- 
talizing to  me." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  281 

"And  what  great  misfortune  would  it  be,"  the  lady  went 
on  with  fascinating  insidiousness,  "if  you  were  exempt  from 
marrying  Mademoiselle  Celeste?  Are  you  really  so  devoted, 
monsieur,  to  that  little  schoolgirl?" 

In  the  word,  but  yet  more  in  the  tone  given  to  it,  there 
was  something  more  than  scorn,  there  was  hatred.  The 
accent  was  sure  not  to  escape  so  keen  an  observer  as  la  Pey- 
rade.  Still,  as  he  was  not  the  man  to  venture  very  far  on 
the  strength  of  this  simple  remark,  he  went  on: 

"Madame,  the  vulgar  phrase  'to  get  settled'  sums  up  the 
situation  when  a  man,  after  a  long  struggle,  is  at  an  end  of 
his  efforts  and  his  illusions,  and  ready  to  come  to  terms  with 
the  future  for  better  or  worse.  Well,  when  settling  appears 
under  the  form  of  a  girl — with  more  virtue  than  beaut}'-,  I 
do  not  deny,  but  who  can  bring  her  husband  the  money  that 
is  indispensable  for  conjugal  happiness, — is  it  surprising 
that  gratitude  should  fill  his  heart,  and  that  he  should  jump 
at  the  peaceful  joys  which  seem  to  smile  on  him  ?" 

"I  had  always  thought,"  replied  the  lady,  "that  a  man's 
intelligence  and  purview  ought  to  be  the  measure  of  his  am- 
bition; and  I  supposed  that  one  so  profoundly  clever  as  to 
proclaim  himself  the  advocate  of  the  poor  would  have  less 
modest,  less  rustic  aspirations." 

"Ah !  madame,  the  iron  hand  of  necessity  forces  stranger 
forms  of  resignation  on  us  than  that.  The  question  of  daily 
bread  is  one  before  which  every  other  pales,  and  to  which 
everything  yields.  Was  not  Apollo  compelled  for  his  living 
to  keep  the  sheep  of  Admetus?" 

"But  the  folds  of  Admetus  were  at  any  rate  those  of  a 
king,"  replied  Madame  de  Godollo.  "Apollo  would  certainly 
never  have  submitted  to  be  shepherd  to  a — middle-class  citi- 
zen." 

The  pause  made  in  the  conclusion  by  the  handsome  Hun- 
garian seemed  to  be  leading  up  to  a  name,  and  la  Peyrade  felt 
that  out  of  mere  mercy  the  words  "a  Thuillier"  had  been  left 
out  of  the  argument,  which  had  been  clinched  by  the  men- 
tion of  the  species  instead  of  going  so  far  as  the  individual 


282  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"I  feel,  madame,"  said  the  lawyer,  "that  the  distinction  is 
no  less  true  than  subtle.  But  Apollo  has  no  choice." 

"I  do  not  like  men  who  value  themselves  too  highly,"  said 
the  Countess  stiffly,  "but  even  less  I  like  those  who  under- 
sell their  merchandise.  I  am-  always  afraid  lest  they 
should  be  making  me  the  dupe  of  some  clever  and  elab- 
orate trick.  You,  monsieur,  are  fully  aware  of  your  own 
value,  and  your  hypocritical  humility  annoys  me  greatly.  It 
proves  that  my  overtures  of  good-will  have  not  given  rise  to 
even  a  beginning  of  confidence  between  us." 

"I  assure  you,  on  my  honor,  that  up  to  this  time  life  has 
given  me  no  reason  to  believe  myself  possessed  of  any  fla- 
grant superiority." 

"Well,"  said  the  lady,  "I  ought,  perhaps,  to  believe  in  the 
modesty  of  a  man  who  was  prepared  to  accept  the  humiliat- 
ing issue  which  I  endeavored  to  hinder." 

"As  I,  perhaps,  ought  to  believe  in  the  reality  of  the  be- 
nevolence, which,  in  order  to  rescue  me,  had  previously  chas- 
tened me  so  severely,"  said  la  Peyrade,  with  meaning. 

The  Hungarian  glanced  at  him  reproachfully;  she  played 
with  one  of  the  ends  of  her  sash,  and,  casting  down  her  eyes, 
gave  vent  to  a  sigh,  so  faintly  perceptible  that  it  might  al- 
most have  passed  as  part  of  her  regular  breathing. 

"You  are  rancorous,"  said  she,  "and  judge  people  from 
general  impressions.  After  all,"  she  added,  "you  are  pos- 
sibly justified  in  reminding  me  that  I  took  a  roundabout 
way  of  interfering — absurdly  enough — in  concerns  which 
are  no  business  of  mine.  Go  on,  my  dear  sir,  and  prosper  in 
this  brilliant  marriage  where  you  find  so  many  advantages 
combined ;  only  allow  me  to  wish  that  you  may  never  repent 
of  a  success  which  I  will  no  longer  strive  to  postpone." 

The  Provengal  had  not  been  spoiled  by  women.  Poverty, 
against  which  he  had  so  long  been  struggling,  does  not  throw 
gallant  adventures  in  a  man's  way;  and  even  since  he  had 
freed  himself  from  its  worst  clutches,  devoting  all  his 
thoughts  to  his  future  prospects,  with  the  exception  of  the 
farce  played  with  Madame  Colleville,  "affairs  of  the  heart5' 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  28S 

had  filled  a  very  small  part  of  his  life.  Like  all  the  men 
who  are  overwhelmingly  busy  and  yet  goaded  by  the  demon 
of  the  flesh,  he  was  content  with  the  ignoble  love-making 
that  may  be  bought  any  night  at  a  street  corner,  and  that  is 
easily  reconciled  with  the  externals  of  devotion. 

Thus  the  perplexity  of  a  novice  in  such  adventures  may 
be  imagined,  as  he  found  himself  balancing  between  the  fear 
of  losing  a  delightful  opportunity,  and  that  of  finding  a  ser- 
pent under  the  flowers  that  seemed  within  his  reach.  Too 
much  reserve,  too  lukewarm  an  eagerness,  might  offend  the 
fair  foreigner's  self-esteem,  and  suddenly  dry  up  the  fount 
at  which  she  seemed  to  invite  him  to  drink;  but  if,  on  the 
other  hand,  this  apparent  forwardness  on  her  part  were  but 
a  snare;  if  the  kindness — to  him  quite  inexplicable — of  which 
he  had  so  suddenly  become  the  object,  aimed  solely  at  be- 
traying him  into  some  false  step,  to  be  used  subsequently  as 
a  weapon  against  himself  to  embroil  him  with  the  Thuilliers, 
what  a  blow  that  would  be  to  his  reputation  for  cleverness, 
what  a  poor  figure  he  would  cut  as  the  dog  dropping  the  sub- 
stance for  the  shadow. 

As  we  have  seen,  la  Peyrade  was  of  the  school  of  Tartuffe ; 
and  the  candor  with  which  that  master  explains  to  Elmire 
that  without  some  earnest  of  the  favors  to  which  he  aspires 
he  cannot  believe  in  her  affectionate  advances,  seemed  to  the 
lawyer  not  inapplicable  to  the  present  occasion — a  little 
softened  in  the  expression. 

'•'Madame  la  Comtesse,"  said  he,  "you  place  me  in  a  posi- 
tion in  which  I  am  much  to  be  pitied.  I  was  proceeding 
cheerfully  to  this  union — you  destroy  my  faith  in  it;  and 
yet,  if  I  should  break  it  off,  what  use  am  I,  with  these  brill- 
iant gifts,  to  make  of  my  recovered  liberty  ?" 

"La  Bruyere,  I  think,  remarks  that  nothing  so  cools  the 
blood  as  having  escaped  committing  a  folly." 

"No  doubt.  Still,  that  is  but  a  negative  blessing.  I  am 
of  an  age  and  in  such  circumstances  as  require  me  to  look 
for  some  more  definite  results.  The  interest  you  vouchsafe 

to  feel  in  me  surely  does  not  end  at  leaving  me  a  blank  page 
VOL.  14 — 44 


284  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

I  love  Mademoiselle  Colleville,  not  indeed  with  imperious 
and  overwhelming  passion,  but  I  do  love  her;  her  hand  has 
been  promised  me,  and  before  giving  it  up — 

"So,  under  special  circumstances,"  said  the  Countess 
quickly,  "you  might  be  prepared  to  break  it  off;  and,"  she 
added,  in  a  calmer  tone,  "there  might  be  some  chance  of 
convincing  you  that  by  thus  seizing  the  first  offer  you  are 
compromising  your  future  career — that  other  opportunities 
might  present  themselves?" 

"But,  then,  madame,  it  would  be  wise  to  foresee  some 
glimpse  of  them." 

This  determination  to  be  on  the  safe  side  seemed  to  irri- 
tate the  Countess. 

"Faith  is  a  virtue  only  because  it  trusts  in  the  unseen," 
said  she.  "You  distrust  yourself,  another  form  of  awkward- 
ness! I  am  not  happy  in  those  I  select  as  my  proteges." 

"But,  at  any  rate,  madame,  am  I  very  indiscreet  in  wish- 
ing to  have  some  remote  notion  of  the  prospect  your  kind- 
ness may  have  imagined  for  me?" 

"Highly  indiscreet,"  said  the  lady  coldly,  "for  it  is  evident 
that  you  only  pledge  yourself  to  conditional  obedience.  Say 
no  more  about  it.  You  have  gone  far  with  Mademoiselle 
Colleville;  she  suits  you  in  many  ways:  marry  her.  One 
struggle  more — you  will  not  again  find  me  in  your  way." 

"But  does  Mademoiselle  Colleville  suit  me  so  well?"  said 
la  Peyrade.  "That  is  precisely  the  point  on  which  you 
have  raised  a  doubt  in  my  mind.  And  do  you  not  think 
it  really  cruel  to  fling  at  me  two  such  contradictory  state- 
ments without  any  proof  to  support  either?" 

"Ah!"  said  the  Countess,  out  of  patience,  "I  must  bring 
documentary  evidence  for  my  opinions?  Well,  monsieur, 
there  is  only  one  very  conclusive  fact  that  I  can  swear  to: 
Celeste  does  not  love  you." 

"I  confess,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "that  I  am  certainly  pledged 
to  a  marriage  of  convenience." 

"And  she  never  can  love  you,"  Madame  de  Godollo  went 
on,  with  warmth,  "because  she  can  never  understand  you. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  28f 

Her  true  match  is  that  fair  little  man,  as  shy  and  pasty- 
faced  as  herself.  The  contact  of  those  two  placid  and  life- 
less natures  will  result  in  the  lukewarm  duet  which  consti- 
tutes the  ne  plus  ultra  of  happiness  in  the  opinion  of  the 
world  in  which  she  was  born  and  has  lived.  Just  try  to 
make  the  little  simpleton  understand  that  when  money 
is  so  lucky  as  to  meet  talent,  it  may  think  itself  honored 
in  the  conjunction !  Try  to  get  that  into  the  brains  of  the 
odious  wretches  about  her !  The  enriched  middle  class ! 
and  among  them  you  propose  to  find  rest  after  your  hard 
work  and  your  long  trials !  But  do  you  not  see  that  twenty 
times  a  day  your  contribution  as  compared  with  theirs — 
all  in  money — will  be  weighed  and  found  outrageously  want- 
ing? On  one  side  the  Iliad,  the  Cid,  the  Freyschutz  and 
the  frescoes  of  the  Vatican;  on  the  other  hand,  a  hundred 
thousand  crowns  in  hard  cash — and  say  which  will  com- 
mand their  admiration?  Do  you  know  to  what  I  should 
compare  a  man  of  imagination  thrown  into  the  middle-class 
atmosphere?  To  Daniel  cast  into  the  lions'  den — minus  the 
miracle." 

This  invective  against  the  citizen  class  had  been  poured 
out  with  such  vehement  conviction  that  it  could  hardly  fail 
to  be  contagious. 

"Ah !  madame,"  exclaimed  Theodose,  "how  eloquently  you 
express  the  ideas  which  have  haunted  my  dull  and  anxious 
mind!  But  I  have  always  felt  myself  pressed  by  the  cruel 
compulsion,  the  necessity  of  making  a  position " 

"Necessity,  position !"  interrupted  the  Countess  with  even 
greater  warmth  of  tone,  "mere  empty  words  which  have  no 
ring  to  a  superior  man,  but  which  scare  fools  as  if  they 
were  formidable  impediments.  Necessity!  Does  it  exist 
for  the  choicer  spirits,  for  those  who  know  what  Will  means  ? 
A  minister — a  Gascon — uttered  a  motto  which  ought  to  be 
graven  over  the  entrance  to  every  career:  'Everything  comes 
to  him  who  knows  how  to  wait.' 

"And  do  you  not  know  that  to  men  of  the  highest  stamp 
marriage  is  either  a  chain  that  fetters  them  to  the  vulgarest 


286  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

and  meanest  facts  of  existence,  or  else  wings  to  bear  them 
to  the  loftiest  summits  of  the  social  world?  The  wife  you 
need,  monsieur,  and  whom  you  may  not  have  to  long  wait 
for  in  the  future,  unless  you  are  in  frantic  haste  to  sell 
yourself  for  the  first  fortune  that  comes  to  hand,  is  the 
woman  who  will  understand  you  because  she  is  able  to  read 
you;  who  will  be  your  coadjutor,  your  intellectual  helpmate, 
and  not  a  cooking-pot  on  two  legs;  who,  your  secretary  to- 
day, might  to-morrow  hold  her  own  as  the  wife  of  a  deputy, 
or  of  an  ambassador;  who  is  capable,  in  short,  of  giving  you 
her  heart  for  a  fulcrum,  her  drawing-room  for  a  stage,  her 
friends  for  a  ladder ;  and  who,  as  the  reward  of  all  the  spring 
and  power  she  could  give  you,  would  ask  no  more  than  to 
shine  near  your  throne,  in  the  glory  and  splendor  she  had 
foreseen  would  be  your  lot." 

Intoxicated  by  her  own  words,  the  Hungarian  Countess 
was  grand ;  her  eyes  flashed,  her  nostrils  dilated ;  she  seemed 
to  see  the  visions  called  up  by  her  vivid  eloquence,  to  touch 
them  with  her  quivering  hands.  For  a  moment  Theodose 
was  dazzled  by  this  sort  of  sunrise  suddenly  blazing  on  his 
life. 

At  the  same  time,  as  he  was  a  monstrous  prudent  man, 
who  had  made  it  a  rule  to  himself  never  to  advance  any- 
thing but  on  sound  available  security,  he  was  tempted  to  re- 
consider the  situation. 

"Madame  la  Comtesse,"  said  he,  "you  blamed  me  just  now 
for  talking  like  a  bourgeois,  and  all  I  have  to  fear  is  that 
you  talk  like  a  goddess.  I  admire  you,  I  listen  to  you,  but 
I  am  not  convinced.  Such  sublime  devotion  and  self-sacri- 
fice may  be  found  perhaps  in  heaven,  but,  on  earth,  who  dares 
boast  that  he  has  met  with  it?" 

"You  are  mistaken,  monsieur,"  said  the  lady  solemnly. 
"Such  devotion  is  rare,  but  it  is  neither  incredible  nor  im- 
possible. You  only  need  the  skill  to  find  them,  and  yet  more 
the  hand  to  hold  them  when  they  are  offered  you." 

With  these  words  she  rose  majestically. 

La  Peyrade  understood  that  he  had  really  displeased  her 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  287 

and  was  dismissed;  he  rose  and  bowed  respectfully,  asking 
permission  to  call  now  and  again. 

"Monsieur/'  said  Madame  de  Godollo,  "among  Hun- 
garians, a  primitive  and  almost  barbarous  race,  when  a  door 
is  open,  it  is  wide  open;  when  it  is  shut,  it  is  double- 
locked." 

This  dignified  but  ambiguous  reply  was  emphasized  by 
a  slight  bow.  La  Peyrade  went  away,  bewildered  by  man- 
ners so  new  to  him,  so  unlike  those  of  Flavie,  of  Brigttte, 
or  Madame  Minard,  and  wondering,  as  he  went,  whether 
he  had  played  the  game  well. 

On  leaving  Madame  de  Godollo,  la  Peyrade  felt  that  he 
must  have  time  to  think.  Beneath  the  surface  of  his  con- 
versation with  this  strange  woman,  what  was  it  that  he  could 
discern — a  trap,  or  the  offer  of  a  rich  wife  ?  In  this  dilemma 
it  would  be  neither  intelligent  nor  prudent  to  press  Celeste 
for  her  decision,  since  asking  for  her  ultimatum  would  force 
an  engagement  on  himself,  and  close  the  door  to  the  chances, 
vague  indeed,  which  had  been  hinted  to  him. 

The  upshot  of  his  consultation  with  himself,  as  he  walked 
along  the  boulevard,  was  that  for  the  moment  he  must  think 
only  of  gaining  time.  So,  instead  of  calling  at  the  Thuil- 
liers',  he  went  to  his  own  rooms,  and  there  wrote  the  follow- 
ing note: 

"MY  DEAR  THDILLIER: — 

"You  will  not,  I  dare  say,  have  thought  it  strange  that  I 
should  not  have  gone  to  your  house  to-day.  Apart  from 
my  dread  of  what  my  sentence  may  be,  I  did  not  care  to 
appear  like  an  impatient  and  ill-bred  dun.  A  day  or  two 
more  or  less  count  for  little  in  such  a  case,  but  Made- 
moiselle Celeste  may  find  them  advantageous  for  her  per- 
fect freedom  of  decision.  You  will  see  me  no  more  till  you 
write  to  me.  I  have  recovered  some  degree  of  composure, 
and  added  a  few  pages  to  our  manuscript,  and  we  can  now 


288  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

be  ready  to  hand  it  over  complete  to  the  printers  in  a  very 
short  time. 

"Ever  yours, 

"THEODOSE  DE  LA  PEYRADE." 

Two  hours  later  the  "male  servant"  spoken  of  by  Minard. 
in  a  dress  which  was  an  evident  transition  towards  a  livery 
which  as  yet  they  did  not  risk,  brought  la  Peyrade  this  an- 
swer: 

"Come  this  evening  without  fail ;  we  will  talk  matters  over 
with  Brigitte. 

"Yours  most  sincerely, 

"JEROME  THUILLIER." 

"Good !"  said  la  Peyrade  to  himself.  "There  is  a  hitch 
somewhere,  and  I  shall  have  time  to  turn  round." 

In  the  evening,  when  he  called  at  the  Thuilliers',  Ma- 
dame de  Godollo,  who  was  with  Brigitte  at  the  moment, 
hastily  rose  and  took  leave.  As  she  met  the  lawyer,  she 
bowed  to  him  with  distant  formality.  Nothing  could  be 
inferred  from  this  abrupt  departure  which  might  mean 
anything. 

After  the  usual  remarks  on  the  weather,  such  as  always 
pass  between  people  who  have  met  to  discuss  a  delicate  mat- 
ter on  which  they  are  not  certain  to  agree,  Brigitte — who 
had  sent  her  brother  out  for  an  airing,  telling  him  to  leave 
the  business  to  her — began : 

"My  dear  boy,  it  was  very  thoughtful  of  you  not  to  come 
like  a  highwayman  and  hold  your  pistol  to  our  throats,  for 
we  really  were  not  fully  prepared  with  an  answer.  I  rather 
think  that  Celeste  will  ask  for  a  little  renewal,"  she  added, 
borrowing  her  metaphor  from  her  old  business  of  a  bill-dis- 
counter. 

"Then,  at  any  rate,"  said  la  Peyrade  eagerly,  "she  has 
not  decided  in  favor  of  Monsieur  Felix  Phellion  ?" 

"You  rogue!"  said  the  old  maid.     "You  settled  that  last 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  289 

evening.  Still,  there  is  no  need  to  tell  you  that  she  leans 
a  little  to  that  side." 

"Short  of  being  blind,  who  can  help  seeing  it?"  said  The*o- 
dose. 

"Not  that  that  would  stand  in  the  way  of  my  plans/' 
Mademoiselle  Thuillier  went  on,  "but  it  accounts  for  my 
asking  for  a  little  time  for  Celeste.  I  had  another  reason, 
too,  for  postponing  the  marriage ;.  I  wanted  to  give  you  time 
to  make  your  way  a  little  in  the  child's  liking;  but  you  two — 
.you  and  Thuillier,  between  you,  have  upset  all  my  plans." 

"Nothing  that  1  know  of  has  been  done  without  your 
consent,"  said  the  lawyer,  "and  though  I  said  nothing  to 
you  about  it  for  a  fortnight,  it  was  out  of  sheer  good  feel- 
ing; Thuillier  told  me  that  you  and  he  had  settled  every- 
thing." 

"Thuillier  knows  perfectly  well,  on  the  contrary,  that 
I  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  all  your  schemes,  and  per- 
haps if  you  had  not  made  yourself  so  scarce  lately,  I  should 
have  been  the  first  to  say  that  I  did  not  approve  of  them. 
However,  I  may  add  that  I  too  have  done  nothing  to  in- 
terfere with  their  success." 

"That  was  not  enough,"  said  la  Peyrade;  "your  concur- 
rence was  necessary." 

"Possibly;  but  I,  knowing  women  better  than  you  do, 
being  one  of  the  sort  myself,  strongly  suspected  that,  having 
two  lovers  to  choose  from,  Celeste  might  think  she  was 
left  free  to  think  as  much  as  she  pleased  of  the  one  she 
liked  best,  and  I  had  always  left  her  in  uncertainty  about 
Felix,  foreseeing  the  moment  when  she  would  have  to  be 
brought  to  her  senses." 

"In  short,"  said  Theodose,  "she  refuses  me." 

"Far  worse,  she  accepts  you,  saying  that  she  had  given 
her  word.  But  it  is  so  easy  to  see  that  she  regards  herself 
as  your  victim,  that  in  your  place  I  should  not  think  such 
success  very  flattering  or  very  promising." 

At  any  other  time  la  Peyrade  would  have  answered  that 
he  accepted  the  sacrifice,  and  that  it  would  be  his  business 


290  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

to  win  the  heart  which  at  present  yielded  so  reluctantly; 
but  a  little  delay  suited  his  ends. 

"What,  then,  is  your  advice?"  he  asked  Brigitte.  "What 
steps  should  I  take?" 

"The  first  step,"  said  Brigitte,  "will  be  to  finish  the  pam- 
phlet for  Thuillier,  for  he  is  going  crazy  over  it,  and  then 
leave  me  to  manoeuvre  in  your  interest." 

"But  are  my  interests  in  friendly  hands?  For,  to  tell 
the  truth,  little  aunt,  I  cannot  be  blind  to  the  fact  that  for 
some  little  time  past  I  have  found  you  changed  toward  me." 

"I — changed  toward  you?  Where  do  you  see  that,  you 
fanciful  mortal?" 

"Oh,  in  mere  shades  of  manner,"  said  la  Peyrade;  "but 
it  is  perfectly  evident  that  since  the  advent  here  of  your 
Countess  Torna " 

"My  dear  boy,  the  Hungarian  lady  had  done  me  good 
service,  and  I  am  grateful;  but  is  that  any  proof  that  I  am 
ungrateful  to  you,  who  have  done  us  far  greater  services?" 

"You  must  allow,"  said  Theodose  craftily,  "that  she  has 
spoken  ill  of  me  to  you?" 

"That  is  but  natural,  whatever  she  may  have  said.  Fine 
ladies  like  her  must  have  all  the  world  at  their  feet,  and  she 
knows  that  you  are  thinking  only  of  Celeste.  But  what- 
ever she  may  have  said  it  has  run  off  me  like  water  off  oil- 
cloth." 

"And  so,  little  aunt,  I  may  rely  on  you?"  said  la  Peyrade. 

"Yes,  if  you  do  not  worry  me,  and  let  me  go  my  own  way 
to  work." 

"Come  now,  what  will  you  do?"  said  la  Peyrade,  with 
blunt  good-humor. 

"In  the  first  place,  I  shall  forbid  Felix  from  ever  setting 
foot  in  the  house  again." 

"But  will  that  be  possible?"  said  the  lawyer,  "or  even 
decent  ?" 

"Perfectly  possible,  and  I  will  let  him  know  it  through 
Phollion  himself.  As  his  principles  are  his  favorite  hobby, 
he  will  be  the  first  to  admit  that  as  his  son  declines  to  do 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  291 

what  is  needful  to  win  Celeste,  he  ought  to  relieve  us  of  his 
presence." 

"And  what  next?" 

"Next,  I  shall  explain  to  Celeste  that  she  was  allowed  to 
have  her  choice  of  one  of  two  husbands;  and  that  as  she 
will  not  take  Felix,  she  must  put  up  with  you — a  pious 
youth,  such  as  she  fancies.  Be  quite  easy,  I  will  make  the 
best  of  you — of  your  generosity  in  not  taking  advantage 
of  the  promise  she  gave;  but  all  this  will  take  time,  and  if 
we  have  to  wait  another  week  for  that  pamphlet,  between 
this  and  then  Thuillier  will  only  be  fit  for  Charenton." 

"The  pamphlet  can  be  finished  in  two  days;  but  honor 
bright,  little  aunt,  we  are  playing  a  square  game?  Moun- 
tains, as  the  saying  goes,  cannot  meet,  but  men  may;  and 
when  the  election  comes  on,  I  am  in  a  position  to  do  Thuil- 
lier a  good  turn  or  a  bad  one.  The  other  day,  I  may  tell 
you,  I  had  a  dreadful  fright.  I  had  a  letter  in  my  pocket  in 
which  he  spoke  of  the  pamphlet  as  being  written  by  me, 
and  for  a  minute  I  thought  I  lost  that  letter  in  the  Luxem- 
bourg. There  would  have  been  a  pretty  to-do  in  all  the 
neighborhood." 

"Who  can  steal  a  march  on  an  artful  one  like  you?" 
said  the  old  maid,  fully  understanding  the  covert  threat  of 
this  last  speech,  brought  in  so  naturally  in  the  course  of 
conversation.  "Still,  honestly,"  she  added,  "have  you  any 
fault  to  find  with  us?  Is  it  not  you,  on  the  contrary,  who 
have  dealt  short  measure  of  what  you  promised  ?  The  Cross, 
which  was  to  be  given  within  a  week,  and  the  pamphlet, 
which  ought  to  have  been  out  long  ago?" 

"The  pamphlet  and  the  Cross  will  each  bring  the  other," 
said  la  Peyrade,  rising.  "Tell  Thuillier  to  come  and  see 
me  to-morrow  evening.  I  think  he  may  finish  off  the  last 
sheet.  But,  above  all,  do  not  believe  all  the  mischief  Ma- 
dame de  Godollo  tries  to  make,  I  have  a  great  idea  that,  to 
become  entirely  mistress  of  the  house,  she  wants  to  alienate 
all  your  friends,  and  at  the  same  time  to  flatter  and  hood- 
wink Thuillier." 


292  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"It  is  quite  true,"  said  Brigitte,  whom  the  lawyer,  as  a 
Parthian  shot,  had  stung  in  the  tender  spot,  her  love  of 
authority;  "I  will  bear  what  you  say  in  mind.  She  is  a 
bit  of  a  flirt,  is  that  young  madame." 

By  his  ingeniously  worded  phrase  la  Peyrade  had  ascer- 
tained an  important  point;  Brigitte's  reply  showed  him  that 
the  Countess  had  said  nothing  of  the  visit  he  had  paid  her 
that  day.  This  reticence  he  thought  meant  a  great  deal. 

Four  days  later,  the  printer,  the  stitcher,  and  the  hot- 
presser  having  all  done  their  work,  Thuillier  could  give  him- 
self the  indescribable  pleasure  of  setting  out  for  a  walk  in 
the  evening,  beginning  at  the  boulevards  and  through  va- 
rious arcades,  to  the  Palais-Eoyal.  On  every  bookseller's 
window  he  paused  to  glance  where  he  saw  staring  at  him 
from  yellow  paper,  the  grand  title: 

DE  1/IMP6T  ET  DE  L'AMORTISSEMENT 

PAR  J.  THUILLIER 

Membre  du  Conseil  General  de  la  Seine 

Having  succeeded  in  persuading  himself  that  the  care 
he  had  given  to  the  correction  of  the  proofs  gave  him  the 
credit  of  the  work,  his  paternal  heart,  like  that  of  the  crow 
in  the  fable,  was  bursting  with  satisfaction.  It  may  be 
added,  that  he  formed  a  very  poor  opinion  of  the  booksellers 
who  did  not  announce  this  latest  new  work  for  sale,  destined, 
as  he  believed,  to  be  an  European  event.  Without  having 
any  very  clear  idea  as  to  how  he  could  be  revenged  on 
them  for  their  neglect,  he  made  a  note  of  the  names  of 
these  refractory  dealers,  and  owed  them  as  bitter  a  grudge 
as  if  they  had  affronted  him. 

He  spent  the  next  day  in  the  delightful  occupation  of 
writing  some  letters  ot  presentation,  and  wrapping  up  fifty 
copies,  to  which  the  inscription  within,  "from  the  author," 
seemed  to  him  to  give  an  inestimable  value. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  293 

The  third  day,  however,  brought  a  check  to  his  satisfac- 
tion. He  had  employed,  as  his  publisher,  a  young  man  who 
had  rushed  recklessly  into  the  business,  establishing  him- 
self in  the  Passage  des  Panoramas,  where  he  paid  an  enor- 
mous rent.  He  was  the  nephew  of  Barbet,  the  publisher 
who  was  Brigitte's  tenant  in  the  house  in  the  Hue  Saint- 
Dominique-d'Enfer,  with  whom  she  did  her  discounting 
business ;  and  this  Barbet  junior  was  a  young  man  who  knew 
not  fear,  and  who,  when  his  uncle  recommended  him  to 
Thuillier,  was  quite  sure  that,  if  he  were  not  restricted  in 
the  matter  of  advertisements,  he  could  secure  a  call  for  a 
second  edition  by  the  end  of  a  week. 

Now  Thuillier  had  spent  nearly  fifteen  hundred  francs 
in  advertising;  numberless  copies  had  been  sent  to  the 
papers;  at  the  end  of  the  third  day,  just  seven  copies  had 
been  sold,  and  three  of  these  taken  on  credit. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  the  youthful  publisher  would 
somewhat  lower  his  assurance,  when  telling  Thuillier  of 
this  beggarly  result. 

On  the  contrary,  "I  am  delighted,"  said  this  Guzman 
of  the  book-trade.  "If  we  had  sold  a  hundred  copies,  I 
should  be  very  uneasy  as  to  the  fifteen  hundred  we  have 
printed.  I  should  call  that  hanging  fire;  whereas,  this  very 
small  sale  proves  that  the  whole  edition  will  be  sold  off  at 
one  rush." 

"But  when?"  asked  Thuillier,  to  whom  this  seemed  some- 
what paradoxical. 

"Why,  as  soon  as  we  get  notices  in  all  the  papers,"  said 
Barbet.  "Advertisements  only  serve  to  catch  the  eye  of 
the  public,  they  attract  notice.  'This  must  be  an  inter- 
esting work — Taxation  and  its  Abatement — a  good  title  !' 
But  the  more  catching  the  title,  the  more  shy  are  the  buyers; 
they  have  often  been  taken  in.  They  wait  for  the  reviews. 
Instead  of  that,  if  a  book  is  doomed  not  to  sell  well,  there 
are  always  a  hundred  buyers  to  rush  in,  and,  after  them, 
thank  you  for  nothing !  Not  a  copy  sold." 

"So  you  do  not  think  it  a  hopeless  case?"  asked  Thuillier. 


294  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"On  the  contrary,  I  take  a  most  favorable  view  of  it. 
As  soon  as  the  Debats,  the  Constitutionnel,  the  Siecle,  and 
the  Presse  have  reviewed  it,  and  especially  if  it  is  abused  by 
the  Debats,  which  is  ministerial,  it  will  all  be  cleared  out  in 
less  than  four  days." 

"You  talk  very  big,"  replied  Thuillier;  "but  how  are  we 
to  get  at  this  chorus  of  the  press?" 

"Oh,  -I  will  take  care  of  that,"  sale!  Barbet.  "I  am  on 
capital  terms  with  all  the  editors;  they  say  I  have  so  much 
go,  that  I  remind  them  of  Ladvocat  at  his  best." 

"In  that  case,  my  good  fellow,  you  ought  to  have  seen 
them  by  this  time." 

"Oh,  begging  your  pardon,  Monsieur  Thuillier,  there  is 
some  ceremony  to  be  observed,  in  approaching  your  jour- 
nalist; and  as  you  complained  of  the  fifteen  hundred  francs 
it  had  cost  you  to  advertise,  I  did  not  like  to  ask  you  to  allow 
me  to  open  any  further  account." 

"But  what  for?"  said  Thuillier. 

"When  you  were  elected  member  of  the  Municipal  Coun- 
cil, where  was  your  election  managed?" 

"In  my  house,  of  course,"  replied  Thuillier. 

"In  your  house,  yes ;  but  at  a  dinner,  followed  by  a  dance, 
and  a  dance  ending  in  a  supper.  Well,  my  dear  sir,  there 
are  not  two  ways  of  doing  business.  Boileau  said: 

"At  dinner,  in  these  days,  we  settle  each  question, 
And  men  now  are  governed  by  help  of  digestion. " 

"Then  you  advise  me  to  give  a  dinner  to  the  newspapers?" 
"Yes;  but  not  at  your  own  house,  for  journalists,  you 
see,  are  bored  by  women — they  have  to  behave.  Besides, 
what  we  want  here  is  not  a  dinner,  but  a  breakfast.  In  the 
evening,  these  gentlemen  have  first  performances  to  attend, 
the  paptr  to  make  up,  to  say  nothing  of  their  little  private 
affairs.  In  the  morning,  on  the  contrary,  they  have  noth- 
ing to  think  of.  I  have  always  given  breakfast." 

"But  such  meals  are  expensive.  You  journalists  are  so 
very  particular!" 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  29,1 

"Pooh!  Twenty  francs  a  head,  besides  wine.  Say  you 
have  a  party  of  ten,  with  a  hundred  crowns  you  will  do  the 
thing  handsomely.  In  fact,  from  the  point  of  view  of  econ- 
omy, a  breakfast  is  best;  you  would  not  get  off  for  less  than 
five  hundred  francs  for  a  dinner." 

"You  are  going  rather  fast,  young  man,"  said  Thuillier. 

"Well,  everybody  knows  that  it  costs  money  to  get  into 
the  Chamber,  and  you  are  paving  the  way  for  your  election." 

"But  how  am  I  to  get  at  these  gentlemen?  Must  I  go 
myself  to  invite  them?" 

"Not  at  all;  you  have  sent  them  your  pamphlet;  you  beg 
them  to  meet  you  at  Vefour's,  or  at  Philippe's;  they  will 
understand,  never  fear." 

"Ten  guests,"  said  Thuillier,  beginning  to  enter  into  the 
idea.  "But  surely  there  are  not  so  many  leading  news- 
papers ?" 

"That  is  true,"  said  the  publisher,  "hut  we  must  have 
the  tag-rag  as  well;  the  curs  bark  loudest.  The  breakfast 
will  be  talked  about;  they  will  think  you  have  tried  to  be 
select,  and  each  one  excluded  will  mean  an  enemy." 

"So  you  think  it  will  be  enough  merely  to  send  the  in- 
vitations ?" 

"Yes.  I  will  make  a  list;  you  write  the  notes  and  send 
them  to  me.  I  will  undertake  to  have  them  delivered; 
some  I  will  take  myself." 

"Well,  if  I  were  sure  that  this  expense  would  have  the  de- 
sired result,"  said  Thuillier,  doubtfully. 

"If  I  were  sure  is  good,"  said  Barbet  consequentially. 
"But,  my  dear  sir,  it  is  as  safe  as  a  mortgage;  do  this  and 
I  guarantee  the  sale  of  the  fifteen  hundred  copies.  Well,  at 
forty .  sous,  allowing  for  the  discount,  that  comes  to  three 
thousand  francs.  You  see  all  expenses  will  be  more  than 
covered,  ordinary  and  extraordinary." 

"Well,"  said  Thuillier,  leaving  the  shop,  "I  will  talk  it 
over  with  la  Peyrade." 

"As  you  please,  my  dear  sir.  But  make  up  your  mind 
quickly.  Write  it  all  hot;  serve  it  all  hot;  swallow  it  all  hot ! 


296  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Those  are  the  three  quick  moves  of  the  author,  the  pub- 
lisher, and  the  public.  Short  of  that,  the  thing  falls  Hat, 
and  it  is  better  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  it." 

When  la  Peyrade  was  consulted,  he  did  not  honestly  think 
very  highly  of  the  plan;  but  in  his  heart  of  hearts  he  was 
full  of  bitter  animosity  against  Thuillier,  and  was  delighted 
to  see  this  fresh  tax  levied  on  the  man's  cocksure  imbe- 
cility and  confident  inexperience. 

As  for  Thuillier,  his  mania  for  appearing  as  a  public 
character,  and  being  talked  about,  possessed  him  to  such  a 
pitch  that,  though  he  groaned  at  seeing  his  purse  still  fur- 
ther bled,  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  the  loss,  even  before 
asking  the  lawyer's  advice.  La  Peyrade's  very  reserved  and 
doubtful  approbation  was  more  than  enough  to  confirm  him 
in  his  resolution,  and  that  very  evening  he  went  back  to 
Barbet  junior's  and  asked  for  the  list  of  men  to  be  invited. 

Barbet  had  soon  made  it  out,  but  instead  of  ten  guests, 
as  he  had  suggested,  he  brought  the  number  up  to  fifteen, 
without  counting  himself  and  la  Peyrade,  whom  Thuillier 
felt  he  must  have  to  be  his  second  in  a  meeting  where  he 
was  conscious  that  he  would  be  a  little  out  of  his  depth. 

As  Thuillier  glanced  over  the  list  just  given  to  him — 

"Why,  my  dear  boy,"  said  he  to  the  publisher,  "you  have 
put  down  the  names  of  papers  that  no  one  ever  heard  of. 
What  on  earth  are  the  Moralisateur,  the  Lanterne  de 
Diogene,  the  Pelican,  and  the  iZclio  de  la  Bievre?" 

"You  have  made  a  bad  shot  in  falling  foul  of  the  $cho  de 
la  Bievre"  answered  Barbet ;  "a  paper  that  is  printed  in  the 
twelfth  arrondissement  for  which  you  propose  to  stand, 
and  which  is  taken  by  all  the  tanners  of  the  Mouffetard 
quarter." 

"Well,  let  that  stand  then,"  said  Thuillier,  "but  the  Peli- 
can  » 

"The  Pelican?  It  is  a  paper  that  lies  on  every  dentist's 
waiting-room  table — the  best  agents  for  puff  in  the  world. 
Now,  on  an  average,  how  many  teeth  are  drawn,  do  you  sup- 
pose, every  day  in  Paris?" 


.THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  297 

"Well,  then,  leave  it,"  said  Thuillier,  who  authoritatively 
put  his  pen  through  some  names,  reducing  the  party  to  four- 
teen. 

"And  then  if  anybody  fails  us,  we  shall  be  thirteen." 

"As  if  I  believed  in  that  superstition !  What  next  ?"  said 
Thuillier  the  strong-minded. 

And  the  list  being  closed  and  restricted  to  fourteen,  then 
and  there,  on  a  corner  of  the  publisher's  writing-table,  he 
wrote  the  invitations  for  the  next  day  but  one,  as  the  mat- 
ter was  pressing,  and  Barbet  assured  him  that  no  one  would 
take  offence  at  the  shortness  of  the  notice. 

The  company  was  to  assemble  at  Vefour's,  the  restaurant 
most  in  vogue  among  the  middle  classes  and  provincials. 

Barbet  was  on  the  scene  even  before  Thuillier,  wearing  u 
necktie  enough  of  itself  to  be  a  feature  and  an  event  in  the 
satirical  set  to  whom  he  was  to  display  it. 

The  publisher  took  it  upon  himself  to  change  various  items 
of  the  menu,  and  more  especially,  instead  of  vulgarly  post- 
poning the  champagne  till  the  last  course,  he  ordered  two 
bottles  well  iced  to  be  placed  on  the  table  from  the  first, 
with  some  pounds  of  prawns,  of  which  the  giver  of  the  feast 
had  not  thought. 

Thuillier,  who  very  coldly  sanctioned  these  amendments, 
was  followed  by  la  Peyrade;  then  there  was  a  long  interval 
during  which  no  guests  appeared.  The  hour  had  been  fixed 
at  eleven,  and  at  a  quarter  to  twelve  no  one  had  come. 

Barbet,  whose  spirits  never  fell,  made  the  consolatory  re- 
mark that  an  invitation  to  a  restaurant  was  like  a  bidding 
to  a  funeral,  where,  as  everybody  knew,  eleven  o'clock  means 
twelve.  In  fact,  at  a  few  minutes  to  twelve  two  gentlemen 
appeared,  with  goat-beards  and  smelling  very  strongly  of 
the  smoking  divan.  Thuillier  thanked  them  effusively  for 
the  honor  they  were  good  enough  to  do  him;  then  there 
was  another  long  wait  of  which  the  torment  need  not  be  de- 
scribed. 

By  one  o'clock  five  guests  had  dropped  in,  besides  Barbet 
and  la  Peyrade.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  no  creditable 


298  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

representative  of  any  respectable  paper  had  accepted  this 
preposterous  invitation.  They  were  obliged  to  sit  down; 
a  few  polite  speeches  on  the  immensely  interesting  character 
of  his  publication  could  not  console  Thuillier,  or  deceive 
him  as  to  the  bitterness  of  his  failure;  but  for  the  vivacity 
of  the  publisher,  who  seized  the  reins  Thuillier  could  not 
hold,  for  he  was  as  gloomy  as  Hippolytus  on  the  road  to 
Myeena?,  the  icy  coldness  and  depression  of  the  meeting 
would  have  been  intolerable. 

Oysters  were  first  served;  and  the  wines  of  Champagne 
and  Chablis  with  which  they  were  washed  down  had  begun 
to  raise  the  thermometer,  when  a  youth  in  a  cap,  rushing 
into  the  banqueting  room,  dealt  Thuillier  a  deadly  and 
quite  unexpected  blow. 

"Here,  sir/'  said  the  messenger  to  Barbet — he  was  one 
of  the  bookseller's  clerks, — "we  are  done  for !  The  police 
have  searched  your  place.  A  sergeant  and  two  constables 
have  just  seized  this  gentleman's  pamphlet — here  is  the 
paper  they  gave  me  for  you." 

"See  what  that  means,  Mr.  Lawyer,"  said  Barbet,  hand- 
ing the  stamped  sheet  to  la  Peyrade.  His  accustomed  impu- 
dence for  the  moment  failed  him. 

"A  summons  to  appear  within  a  few  days  in  the  assize 
court,"  said  la  Peyrade,  after  looking  at  the  official  scrawl. 

Thuillier,  as  pale  as  death,  turned  to  the  publisher. 

"Then  you  did  not  carry  out  all  the  requisite  formali- 
ties?" said  he,  with  choking  utterance. 

"Oh !  it  is  not  a  question  of  formalities,"  said  la  Peyrade. 
"The  pamphlet  is  seized  as  illegal  printed  matter,  inciting 
hatred  and  contempt  of  the  existing  government.  You,  my 
poor  Thuillier,  will,  no  doubt,  find  a  similar  document  await- 
ing you  at  home." 

"But  this  is  treachery !"  cried  Thuillier,  losing  his  head. 

"Bless  me,  my  dear  fellow,  jrou,  I  suppose,  know  what  you 
put  into  your  pamphlet.  I  confess  I  found  nothing  in  it  to 
whip  a  cat  for." 

"It  is  some  misunderstanding,"  said  Barbet,   recovering 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  290 

his  courage.     "It  will  be  cleared  up,  and  it  will  be  a  splen* 
did  advertiser*  ent — won't  it,  gentlemen  ?" 

"Waiter,  a  pen  and  ink  I"  cried  one  of  the  journalists 
thus  appealed  to. 

"You  will  have  time  enough  to  write  your  article,"  said 
one  of  his  colleagues.  "  'What  connection  is  there  between 
a  bomb  and  this  filet  saute?'" 

A  parody  of  a  famous  speech  made  by  Charles  XII.  of 
Sweden,  when  a  cannon-ball  interrupted  his  dictating  to  one 
of  his  secretaries. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  Thuillier,  rising,  "you  will  excuse  me; 
if,  as  Monsieur  Barbet  thinks,  this  is  all  a  mistake,  it  must 
be  cleared  up  at  once,  so  with  your  permission  I  shall  forth- 
with proceed  to  the  law-courts.  La  Peyrade,"  he  added  with 
some  meaning,  "you  will  not,  I  think,  refuse  to  accompany 
me.  And  you,  my  worthy  publisher,  would  do  well  to  come 
too." 

"Not  I,"  said  Barbet  junior.  "Breakfast  is  breakfast.  If 
the  lawyers  have  blundered,  so  much  the  worse  for  them !" 

"But  if  the  action  is  a  serious  matter,"  cried  Thuillier, 
in  a  perfect  agony. 

"Well,  then,  I  can  only  say — what  is  perfectly  true — that 
I  have  not  read  a  word  of  your  pamphlet.  One  thing,  how- 
ever, is  very  annoying:  those  confounded  juries  object  to  a 
beard ;  I  shall  have  to  cut  mine  off  if  I  am  to  appear  before 
one." 

Come,  my  dear  Amphitryon,"  said  the  editor  of  the 
de  la  Bievre,  "sit  down  again.  We  will  bolster  you 
up.  I  have  an  article  ready  written  that  will  make  a  com- 
motion among  the  peat-sellers,  and  that  honorable  corpora- 
tion is  a  power." 

"No,  gentlemen,  no!"  cried  Thuillier.  "Such  a  man  as 
I  cannot  rest  half  an  hour  under  the  imputation  that  has 
fallen  on  me.  Go  on  without  us;  I  hope  to  return  shortly. 
Are  you  coming,  la  Peyrade?" 

"He  really  is  too  funny!"  said  Barbet,  as  Thuillier  and 

his  friend  went  away.     "Fancy  leaving  your  breakfast  im- 
VOL.  14—45 


300  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

mediately  after  the  oysters  to  go  talk  to  a  figure-head  of 
a  judge !  Come  on,  gentlemen,  close  up/''  he  added  with 
spirit. 

"Hello !"  said  one  of  the  famishing  journalists,  who  had 
been  looking  down  into  the  garden  of  the  Palais  Royal  com- 
manded by  the  window  of  their  room,  "there  goes  Bar- 
banchu.  Suppose  I  were  to  call  him  up?" 

"Why,  to  be  sure !  'a  gentleman  of  position  requires  a 
substitute,' "  said  Barbet,  in  parody  of  an  advertisement 
common  enough  on  the  walls. 

"Barbanchu !  Barbanchu !"  shouted  the  self-styled  journal- 
ist. 

Barbanchu,  wearing  a  queer,  pointed  hat,  did  not  -imme- 
diately discern  from  what  cloud  above  him  the  voice  fell  on 
his  ear. 

"Up  here,"  said  the  voice,  which  appeared  to  him  from 
heaven,  indeed,  when  he  perceived  that  he  was  hailed  by  a 
man  holding  a  glass  of  champagne. 

Then,  as  he  still  seemed  doubtful,  he  was  greeted  with 
a  chorus:  "Come  up,  old  fellow,  come  up.  There  are  good 
pickings !" 

Thuillier,  when  he  came  out  of  the  law  courts,  could 
indulge  in  no  illusions.  He  was  the  object  of  a  very  serious 
prosecution,  and  the  severity  of  the  Judge's  tone  left  him, 
at  the  same  time,  no  hope  of  being  treated  with  leniency. 

Then,  as  always  happens  between  accomplices  when  a 
deed  done  in  partnership  turns  out  badly,  he  pelted  la  Pey- 
rade  with  bitter  animadversions :  "He  had  paid  no  attention 
to  what  he  was  writing;  he  had  gone  off  at  a  canter  on  his 
insane  Saint-Simonian  notions!  Little  he  cared  for  the 
consequences !  He  would  not  have  to  pay  the  fine  and  go  to 
prison !"  And  then,  when  la  Peyrade  said  that  it  did  not 
seem  to  him  a  very  serious  matter,  and  that  he  would  un- 
dertake to  get  a  verdict  in  Thuillier's  favor: 

"Oh,  of  course,  nothing  can  be  simpler,"  he  exclaimed. 
"All  you  see  in  the  business  is  a  case  for  a  showy  defence. 
But  I  am  not  going  to  trust  my  honor  and  my  fortune  in  the 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  301 

hands  of  a  feather-brain  of  your  stamp.  If  the  case  comes  to 
trial,  I  will  secure  a  first-class  man.  I  have  had  enough  of 
your  assistance,  thank  you !" 

Under  this  storm  of  injustice,  la  Peyrade  felt  his  temper 
rising.  However,  as  he  wished  to  avoid  a  rupture,  he  was 
helpless;  he  parted  from  Thuillier  saying  that  he  could  for- 
give a  man  excited  by  fear,  and  that  he  would  call  in  the 
course  of  the  afternoon,  when  he  hoped  to  find  him  calmer. 
Then  they  might  discuss  the  steps  it  would  be  well  to  take. 

So  at  about  four  o'clock  the  Provengal  went  to  the  house 
on  the  Boulevard  de  la  Madeleine.  Thuillier's  irritation 
had  subsided,  but  had  given  way  to  frightful  consternation. 
If  he  had  been  expecting  to  be  led  to  the  scaffold  in  half 
an  hour's  time,  he  could  not  have  been  more  crushed  and 
dejected. 

When  la  Peyrade  went  in,  Madame  Thuillier  was  ad- 
ministering some  lime-flower  tea.  The  poor  woman  had 
shaken  off  her  apathy,  and  was  proving  herself  a  true  Epo- 
nina  to  her  Sabinus. 

As  for  Brigitte,  who  presently  came  in,  herself  carrying 
a  foot-bath,  she  was  merciless  and  unmeasured  in  her 
speech;  her  abuse,  bitter  and  virulent  out  of  all  proportion 
to  the  lawyer's  fault — supposing  him  to  have  committed 
one, — would  have  enraged  the  mildest  of  men.  La  Peyrade 
saw  that  he  had  lost  his  footing  in  the  Thuilliers'  house, 
where  they  seemed  only  too  glad  of  an  excuse  for  throw- 
ing him  over  and  for  indulging  in  the  most  odious  ingrati- 
tude. On  a  satirical  taunt  as  to  his  success  in  obtaining 
honors  for  his  friends,  he  rose  and  took  leave,  without  any 
attempt  on  their  part  to  detain  him. 

After  pacing  the  pavement  for  a  little  while,  the  Pro- 
vengal, in  the  midst  of  his  indignation,  suddenly  remem- 
bered Madame  de  Godollo,  for,  to  tell  the  truth,  since  their 
first  interview  his  thoughts  had  often  dwelt  on  the  fair  for- 
eigner. 

Not  once  only  had  she  abruptly  retired,  when  on  reaching 
the  Thuilliers'  he  had  found  her  there.  The  manoeuvre 


302  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

had  been  repeated  every  time  they  had  met;  and  without 
fully  understanding  what  she  would  be  at,  la  Peyrade  had 
assured  himself  that  this  marked  avoidance  of  him  must 
mean  anything  rather  than  indifference.  It  would  have 
been  ill-judged  to  call  again  on  the  lady  too  soon  after  his 
first  visit;  but  by  this  time  a  long  enough  period  had 
elapsed  for  him  to  appear  as  a  man  entirely  master  of  him- 
self. So  he  turned  back,  and  without  asking  at  the  porter's 
door  if  the  Countess  were  at  home,  he  went  in  as  if  he  were 
going  back  to  the  Thuilliers',  and  rang  at  the  door  of  the  en- 
tresol. 

As  on  the  first  occasion,  the  maid  desired  him  to  wait 
while  she  informed  her  mistress;  but  the  room  into  which 
he  was  shown  was  not  the  dining-room,  but  another  small 
room  arranged  as  a  library. 

He  was  kept  there  a  long  time;  he  did  not  know  what  to 
think.  At  the  same  time  he  comforted  himself  by  reflect- 
ing that  if  he  was  to  be  dismissed,  the  lady  would  not  have 
taken  so  long  to  think  about  it. 

At  last  the  woman  returned,  but  not  to  show  him  in. 

"Madame  la  Comtesse,"  said  she,  "is  particularly  engaged, 
and  begs  that  monsieur  will  be  good  enough  to  wait,  and 
to  amuse  himself  with  some  of  the  books,  as  she  may  be 
delayed  longer  than  she  would  wish." 

The  excuse,  in  fact  and  in  form,  being  by  no  means  dis- 
couraging, the  lawyer  proceeded  to  act  on  the  advice  given 
him  to  avoid  being  dull.  Without  having  to  open  either  of 
the  carved  rosewood  bookcases,  which  contained  some  of  the 
most  beautifully  bound  books 'he  had  ever  seen,  he  found 
on  the  long  table  with  turned  legs  and  a  green  cloth  a  mixed 
collection  of  books,  ample  to  feed  the  mind  of  a  man  whose 
thoughts  were  probably  otherwise  engaged. 

But  as  he  opened,  one  by  one,  the  volumes  left  at  his  com- 
mand, he  thought  he  had  been  intentionally  left  to  the  tor- 
ments of  Tantalus;  one  was  English,  another  German,  a 
third  Russian;  there  was  even  a  book  in  Turkish  characters. 
Was  this  a  polyglot  practical  joke? 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  30* 

At  last  a  book  claimed  his  attention.  The  binding,  un- 
like that  of  the  works  which  to  him  were  as  sealed  letters, 
was  not  so  much  handsome  as  smart.  All  by  itself,  on  a 
corner  of  the  table  far  from  its  companions,  it  lay  back 
upwards,  the  open  page  spread  out  on  the  table-cloth,  like  a 
tent.  La  Peyrade  took  it  up,  careful  to  note  the  page  which 
the  last  reader  evidently  meant  to  keep  open. 

It  was  an  illustrated  edition  of  Monsieur  Scribe's  works; 
the  print  that  turned  up  under  the  lawyer's  eyes  represented 
the  chief  scene  of  a  little  piece  played  at  the  Gymnase,  A 
Woman's  Hatred. 

Few  of  my  gentle  readers,  no  doubt,  are  unacquainted 
with  the  upshot  of  this  drama,  suggested — so  the  story  goes — 
to  the  illustrious  writer  of  so  many  plays  by  a  speech  he 
heard  uttered  one  day  by  his  porter's  wife: 

"There  are  some  women,"  said  she,  "who  make  believe  to 
spit  in  the  dish,  so  as  to  disgust  others  and  get  it  all  to 
themselves." 

In  point  of  fact  the  chief  figure  in  La  Jiaine  d'une  Femme 
is  a  young  widow,  relentlessly  persecuting  a  poor  young 
man  who  does  not  know  which  way  to  turn.  Everybody 
believes  that  she  hates  him  mortally.  By  her  mischief-mak- 
ing she  almost  destroys  his  reputation,  and  spoils  a  rich 
match  he  might  have  made;  but  it  is  only,  after  all,  to 
give  him  far  more  than  she  has  robbed  him  of;  for  she  ends 
by  marrying  him  herself,  and  making  a  husband  of  the  man 
who  had  been  pitied  as  her  victim. 

If  it  was  chance  that  had  isolated  this  volume  and  opened 
it  at  the  precise  spot  where  la  Peyrade  had  found  it  face 
downward,  it  must  be  granted,  after  all  that  had  passed  be- 
tween him  and  the  Countess,  that  chance  is  sometimes  clever 
and  ingenious. 

As  he  considered  the  deep  meaning  that  might  underlie 
this  circumstance,  fortuitous  or  not,  la  Peyrade  read  a  few 
pages  to  see  whether,  in  parts  as  much  as  in  the  whole,  the 
allusion  fitted  his  predicament.  While  he  was  reading  with 
some  interest,  if  not  with  absorbed  attention,  he  heard  doors 


304  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

open  and  shut,  and  the  lawyer,  recognizing  the  fair  Hun- 
garian's silvery  voice  and  rather  indifferent  tone,  perceived 
that  she  was  seeing  somebody  to  the  door. 

"So  I  may  promise  the  Ambassadress,"  said  the  lady's 
visitor — and  the  visitor  was  a  man, — "that  you  will  honor 
her  ball  this  evening  with  your  presence?" 

"Yes,  Commander,  if  my  headache,  which  at  this  moment 
seems  a  little  better,  will  only  do  me  the  favor  of  disappear- 
ing altogether." 

"Till  this  evening  then,  most  adorable  of  your  sex,"  said 
the  gentleman. 

Then  the  doors  shut  again  and  silence  reigned  as  before. 

The  title  of  Commander  was  reassuring  to  la  Peyrade,! 
for  it  is  not  one  in  common  use  by  youthful  sparks.  Still, 
he  was  curious  to  know  who  the  person  might  be  who 
could  take  up  so  much  of  the  lady's  time.  Hearing  no- 
body, the  lawyer  went  to  the  window  which  looked  out  on 
the  street  and  cautiously  opened  the  curtain,  ready  to  drop 
it  instantly  at  the  least  sound,  and  to  turn  round  so  as 
not  to  be  caught  in  the  very  fact  of  vulgar  curiosity.  A 
handsome  brougham,  in  waiting  a  little  way  off,  drew  up, 
a  footman  in  a  showy  but  well-appointed  livery  flew  to 
open  the  door,  and  a  little  old  man,  very  brisk  and  dandified, 
though  he  was  one  of  those  rare  surviving  relics  of  the  past 
who  have  not  discarded  hair-powder,  stepped  lightly  into 
the  carriage,  which  drove  off  at  a  swift  pace.  La  Peyrade 
had  just  time  to  observe  a  long  row  of  orders.  This  rainbow 
of  ribbon,  added  to  the  powdered  wig,  left  no  doubt  as  to 
the  wearer  being  a  personage  of  diplomatic  rank. 

La  Peyrade  had  had  time  to  return  to  his  book,  for  in  any 
case  he  thought  it  well  to  be  "discovered"  reading,  when  a 
bell  was  rung,  and  a  minute  after  a  maid  appeared  to  an- 
nounce that  his  long  waiting  had  come  to  an  end.  When 
desired  by  the  damsel  to  follow  her,  Theodose  took  care  to 
replace  the  volume  as  he  had  found  it,  and  a  moment  later 
he  was  in  the  Countess'  presence. 

There  was  a  trace  of  suffering  on  the  lady's  handsome 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  305 

features,  but  this  did  not  impair  her  charms.  On  the  sofa 
where  she  sat  there  lay  an  open  letter,  written  on  gilt-edged 
paper  in  a  free  and  space-loving  hand  which  betrayed  it  as 
having  emanated  from  some  minister's  cabinet  or  govern- 
ment office.  In  her  hand  she  held  a  cut-glass  bottle  with 
a  chased  gold  top,  and  she  sat  inhaling  from  it;  a  strong 
smell  of  aromatic  vinegar  was  predominant  over  all  the 
other  scents  in  the  room. 

"You  are  not  well,  madame,"  said  la  Peyrade  anxiously. 

"Oh,  it  is  nothing,"  said  the  Countess,  "a  headache — I 
very  often  have  one.  But  you,  monsieur,  where  have  you 
been?  I  was  beginning  to  give  up  all  hope  of  ever  seeing 
you  again.  Have  you  come  to  give  me  some  great  news? 
The  date  of  your  marriage  to  Mademoiselle  Colleville  must 
now  be  near  enough  to  be  announced  to  everybody." 

This  opening  somewhat  disconcerted  la  Peyrade. 

"I  should  have  supposed  you,  madame,"  replied  he  a  little 
stiffly,  "to  be  sufficiently  familiar  with  what  goes  on  in  the 
Thuilliers'  household  to  know  that  nothing  of  the  sort  is 
imminent;  nay,  I  may  say,  at  present  even  probable." 

"No,  indeed,  I  assure  you  I  know  nothing.  I  firmly 
resolved  not  to  appear  to  take  any  interest  in  an  affair  with 
which  I  had  so  foolishly  mixed  myself  up;  I  talk  to  Made- 
moiselle Brigitte  of  anything  and  everything  excepting  Ce- 
leste's marriage." 

"And  it  was,  I  suppose,  to  leave  me  at  full  liberty  to  dis- 
cuss the  subject,  that  you  always  made  your  escape  whenever 
I  had  the  honor  to  meet  you  at  our  friend's  house." 

"Why,  yes,"  said  the  Countess,  "that,  no  doubt,  was  the 
reason  why  I  made  way  for  you.  Whv  else  should  I  be  so 
coy?" 

"Oh,  madame,  a  lady  may  avoid  a  man  for  many  other 
reasons !  For  instance,  he  may  have  offended  her ;  he  may 
not  have  shown  due  respect  and  submission  in  acting  on 
the  advice  she  has  so  greatly  honored  him  by  giving." 

"Oh,  my  dear  sir,  I  am  not  so  ardent  a  proselytizer  as  to 
take  offence  when  my  advice  is  not  followed.  Like  other 


306  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

people,  I  am  quite  capable  of  taking  a  mistaken  view  of  the 
case." 

"But,  on  the  contrary,  madame,  as  regards  my  marriage, 
your  view  was  the  correct  one." 

"Indeed?"  said  the  lady  quickly.  "Has  the  attack  on 
the  pamphlet,  following  so  closely  on  the  delay  in  securing 
the  Cross,  led  to  a  rupture?" 

"No,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "my  influence  in  the  Thuilliers' 
house  rests  on  a  firmer  foundation.  Compared  with  the 
services  I  have  done  to  Mademoiselle  Brigitte  and  her 
brother,  these  little  disasters,  happily  reparable " 

"Do  you  think  so?"  interrupted  the  Countess,  with  an  air 
of  incredulity. 

"No  doubt,"  answered  la  Peyrade.  "For  if  Madame  la 
Comtesse  du  Bruel  takes  it  into  her  head  to  secure  the  red 
ribbon,  in  spite  of  the  difficulties  that  have  stood  in  the  way 
of  her  good-will,  she  is  quite  able  to  obtain  a  thing  which, 
after  all,  is  not  beyond  human  attainment." 

The  Countess  listened  with  a  smile  to  this  remark,  but 
shook  her  head  doubtfully. 

"Why,  madame,  only  a  few  days  since,  the  Countess  told 
Madame  Colleville  that  this  unexpected  check  had  piqued 
her  pride,  and  that  she  would  herself  apply  to  the  Minister." 

"Ah,  but  you  forget  that  the  law  has  intervened,  and  it 
is  not  usual  to  wait  till  a  man  has  stood  at  the  bar  before 
giving  him  the  ribbon  of  the  Order.  This  seizure — it  does 
not  seem  to  have  struck  you — argues  some  ill-feeling,  which 
you  do  not  quite  appreciate,  against  Monsieur  Thuillier,  and 
perhaps  against  you,  monsieur,  for  you  are  the  real  culprit. 
The  authorities  do  not  seem,  on  the  present  occasion,  to 
have  acted  independently." 

La  Peyrade  looked  at  the  Countess. 

"I  must  own,"  said  he,  after  a  hasty  glance,  "that  I  have 
tried  in  vain  to  find  in  the  document  in  question  any  excuse 
for  the  attack  of  which  it  has  been  the  object." 

"In  my  opinion,  too,"  said  the  lady,  "the  King's  sup- 
porters must  have  a  very  lively  imagination  to  convince 


THE  MIDDLE  GLASSES  307 

themselves  that  they  had  a  seditious  pamphlet  to  deal  with; 
but  this  is  only  additional  proof  of  the  powerful  underground 
influence  which  vitiates  all  your  efforts  for  the  benefit  of 
our  worthy  Monsieur  Thuillier." 

"And  you,  madame,  know  our  secret  foes  ?" 

"Perhaps,"  said  the  Countess,  smiling  again. 

"Madame/'  said  la  Peyrade,  with  agitation,  "if  I  might 
venture  to  utter  a  suspicion ?" 

"Speak,"  replied  Madame  de  Godollo,  "I  do  not  object  to 
your  guessing  right." 

"Well,  madame,  our  enemies — Thuillier's  and  mine — are 
— a  woman." 

"What  then?"  said  the  Countess.  "Do  you  know  how 
many  lines  of  a  man's  writing  Richelieu  required  in  order  to 
hang  him  ?" 

"Four,"  said  Theodose. 

"Then  you  can  understand  that  a  pamphlet  of  more  than 
two  hundred  pages  should  have  afforded  matter  for  prosecu- 
tion in  the  hands  of  a  woman  who  has  some  little  skill  in — 
intrigue." 

"I  understand  everything,  madame,"  cried  la  Peyrade  ve- 
hemently. "I  know  her  for  a  woman  in  ten  thousand,  with 
as  much  mischievous  wit  as  Richelieu  himself;  for  an  ador- 
able witch  who  cannot  only  set  the  police  andi  gendarmes 
in  motion,  but  freeze  a  Cross,  that  is  about  to  drop,  to  the 
minister's  fingers." 

"Well,  then,"  said  the  lady,  "of  what  use  is  it  to  struggle  ?" 

"I  struggle  no  more,"  said  la  Peyrade,  calculating  the 
measure  of  her  regard  for  him  by  the  immense  pains  she 
had  been  at.  Then,  with  an  air  of  assumed  contrition,  he 
added : 

"But,  bless  me,  madame,  you  must  hate  me  very  bit- 
terly." 

"Not  so  bitterly  as  you  might  suppose,"  answered  the 
Countess;  "but,  after  all,  supposing  I  did?" 

"Ah,  madame !"  cried  Theodose  rapturously,  "I  should  be 
the  happiest  of  ill-starred  wretches,  for  such  hatred  would 


308  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

be  a  thousand  times  more  precious  and  delightful  to  me  than 
your  indifference.  But  you  do  not  hate  me :  why  should  you 
feel  for  me  that  thrice-blessed  feminine  aversion  which  Scribe, 
in  one  of  his  gems  for  the  Gymnase,  has  described  with  so 
much  subtle  wit?" 

Madame  de  Godollo  did  not  immediately  reply ;  she  looked 
down,  and  a  little  flutter  in  her  breathing  slightly  shook 
her  voice. 

"And  can  a  man  of  your  stoical  temper  be  frivolous 
enough  to  trouble  himself  about  a  woman's  hatred?"  she 
asked. 

"Yes,  indeed,  madame,  I  should  trouble  myself  a  great 
deal;  not  to  rebel  against  it;  on  the  contrary,  to  bless  the 
severity  which  vouchsafed  to  chasten  me.  My  fair  foe  once 
known  and  confessed,  I  should  not  despair  of  moving  her  to 
pity,  for  never  again  would  I  tread  in  a  path  that  was  not 
hers,  nor  march  under  a  banner  she  had  not  taken  for  her 
own;  I  should  not  think  till  she  inspired  me,  nor  have  any 
will  but  hers;  I  should  act  only  when  she  ordered,  and  be  in 
all  things  her  auxiliary,  nay,  more,  her  slave;  were  she  to 
spurn  me  with  her  tiny  foot,  to  punish  me  with  her  white 
hand,  I  should  endure  all  things  with  joy.  As  the  reward 
of  so  much  submission  and  obedience,  I  should  crave  but 
one  favor,  that  of  being  allowed  to  kiss  the  print  of  the  foot 
that  had  repulsed  me,  of  shedding  all  my  tears  in  the  hand 
that  had  struck  me!" 

While  pouring  out  this  long  outcry  of  an  ecstatic  and  dis- 
tracted heart,  wrung  from  the  impressionable  Provengal  na- 
ture by  the  joy  of  hoped-for  triumph,  he  had  glided  from  his 
seat,  and  at  the  end  found  himself  kneeling  on  one  knee  at  a 
little  distance  from  the  Countess — an  attitude  recognized  on 
the  stage,  and  which  is  still  less  rare  than  might  be  thought 
in  private  life. 

"Rise,  monsieur,"  said  the  Countess,  "and  have  the  good- 
ness to  answer  me."  She  fixed  a  searching  eye  on  his  face. 
and  knitting  her  handsome  brows.  "Have  you,"  she  asked, 
"carefully  weighed  the  purport  of  the  words  you  have  just 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  309 

spoken?  Have  you  gauged  their  depth  and  all  they  pledge 
you  to  ?  Are  you  the  man  to  do  all  they  promise,  your  hand 
on  your  heart  and  conscience;  are  you  not  one  of  those  per- 
fidiously humble  men  who  affect  to  embrace  our  knees  only 
the  better  to  throw  our  reason  and  will  off  its  balance?" 

"I !"  cried  la  Peyrade,  "shall  I  ever  regret  the  fascination 
which  you  exercised  over  me  from  the  moment  when  we  first 
met?  Nay,  madame,  the  more  I  have  rebelled  and  struggled 
against  it,  the  more  should  you  believe  in  its  reality  and  its 
absolute  supremacy.  What  I  said  I  meant;  what  I  have  just 
now  thought  aloud,  I  have  thought  to  myself  from  the  hour 
when  I  was  so  happy  as  to  be  admitted  to  your  presence ;  and 
the  long  days  I  have  spent  in  fighting  against  the  attraction, 
have  produced  a  reactionary  strength  of  will  which  knows  its 
own  mind,  and  which  your  utmost  severity  cannot  now  dis- 
courage." 

"My  severity — perhaps  not,"  said  the  Countess.  "But  my 
favors  are  another  matter.  Question  yourself  closely.  We 
foreigners  do  not  understand  the  levity  with  which  French 
women  often  treat  even  the  most  solemn  engagements.  To 
us,  the  word  'yes'  is  a  sacred  bond,  our  word  is  a  pledge,  we 
wish  nothing  and  do  nothing  by  halves.  A  motto  attached 
to  the  arms  of  my  family  has  much  meaning  here,  All  or 
nothing.  This  is  saying  much,  and  yet  hardly  enough." 

"Oh,  I  am  quite  of  the  same  mind,"  replied  the  lawyer, 
"and  my  first  act  on  leaving  this  house  will  be  to  break,  once 
for  all,  every  link  with  that  ignoble  past,  which  for  a  mo- 
ment, I  seemed  to  place  in  the  scale  against  the  intoxicating 
future  which  you  do  not  forbid  me  to  hope  for." 

"No,  no,"  said  the  Countess,  "I  do  not  like  hasty  freaks; 
it  will  not  flatter  me  in  the  least  that  you  should  fly  round 
breaking  windows.  These  Thuilliers  are  not  bad  souls;  they 
humiliated  you  quite  unconsciously;  they  live  in  another 
world  from  yours.  Is  that  their  fault  ?  Untie  the  knot,  do 
not  break  it,  and  above  all,  pause  to  reflect  once  more.  Your 
conversion  to  a  belief  in  me  is  so  recent !  What  man  can  be 
sure  of  what  his  heart  will  say  to-morrow?" 


310  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"I,  madame,  am  that  man.  We  men  of  the  <$outh  do  not 
love  a  la  Fran$aise." 

"But  I  thought  that  the  feeling  under  discussion  as  be- 
tween us  was  hatred,"  said  the  Countess,  with  a  bewitching 
smile. 

"Nay,  madame,  even  when  it  is  translated  and  under- 
stood, there  is  something  terrible  in  the  word.  Tell  me, 
rather,  not  that  you  love  me,  but  that  the  words  you  conde- 
scended to  speak  at  our  former  meeting  were  the  true  ex- 
pression of  your  feelings." 

"My  friend,"  said  the  Countess,  emphasizing  the  word, 
"one  of  your  moralists  has  said :  'There  are  some  persons  who 
when  they  say  that  a  thing  is  or  is  not,  need  take  no  oath; 
their  character  promises  for  them/  Be  good  enough  to  be- 
lieve that  I  am  one  of  them." 

And  she  held  out  her  hand  to  the  lawyer  with  a  gesture  as 
modest  as  it  was  graceful. 

La  Peyrade,  beside  himself,  rushed  at  the  hand,  and  de- 
voured it  with  kisses. 

"Enough,  child,"  said  the  lady,  gently  disengaging  her  im- 
prisoned fingers.  "Good-bye,  till  we  meet  again.  I  believe 
my  headache  is  quite  well." 

La  Peyrade  took  up  his  hat  and  rushed  to  the  door;  but 
there  he  stopped,  and  cast  a  long  and  tender  look  at  the  en- 
chantress. 

The  Countess  bowed  him  a  charming  farewell,  but  as  la 
Peyrade  seemed  about  to  retrace  his  steps,  she  warned  him 
with  her  ringer  to  be  good,  and  go  away.  He  finally  left.  On 
the  stairs  he  paused  to  exhale,  as  it  were,  the  overflowing  joy 
of  his  heart.  The  Countess'  words,  and  the  ingenuity  with 
which  she  had  prepared  him  to  divine  her  feelings,  seemed  to 
him  to  guarantee  their  sincerity,  and  he  departed  in  faith. 

Given  over  to  the  intoxication  of  happiness,  which  betrays 
itself  not  only  in  the  victim's  appearance,  looks,  and  man- 
ner, but  sometimes  even  in  actions  which  reason  could  not 
strictly  approve,  after  pausing  for  a  minute  on  the  stairs, 
lie  went  up  far  enough  to  see  the  entrance  to  the  Thuilliers' 
apartments. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  311 

"At  last/'  he  cried,  "I  see  glory,  fortune,  and  happiness 
within  my  grasp;  and,  even  better,  I  may  know  the  joys  of 
revenge!  After  Cerizet  and  Dutocq,  I  will  crush  you,  vile 
and  vulgar  brood !" 

And  he  shook  his  fist  at  the  innocent  double  doors. 

Then  he  ran  down  and  away,  and  the  common  phrase  at 
this  moment  was  true  of  him;  his  feet  seemed  not  to  touch 
the  earth. 

The  very  next  morning,  for  la  Peyrade  could  no  longer 
contain  the  storm  that  swelled  within  him,  he  went  to  call 
on  the  Thuilliers.  He  arrived  there  in  the  bitterest  and  most 
hostile  frame  of  mind.  Imagine,  then,  his  bewilderment 
when,  before  he  had  time  to  parry  the  demonstration  of  re- 
conciliation and  oblivion,  Thuillier  rushed  into  his  arms. 

"My  dear  fellow,"  cried  the  ex-clerk,  when  he  relaxed  his 
embrace,  "my  political  fortune  is  made;  every  paper,  with- 
out exception,  speaks  of  the  seizure  of  my  pamphlet,  and 
you  should  see  what  the  organs  of  the  Opposition  have  to 
say  to  the  Government." 

"It  is  quite  natural/'  said  the  lawyer,  not  entering  into  this 
enthusiasm,  "you  are  something  to  write  about.  But  that 
does  not  in  the  least  mend  the  matter,  and  the  legal  author- 
ities will  be  all  the  more  determined  to  get  an  adverse  ver- 
dict, as  they  say." 

"Well,  then,"  said  Thuillier,  drawing  himself  up  proudly, 
"I  will  go  to  prison — like  Beranger,  like  Lamennais,  like 
Armand  Carrel." 

"My  good  sir,  persecution  is  a  beautiful  thing — at  a  dis- 
tance ;  but  when  you  hear  the  big  bolts  shut  upon  you,  believe 
me  the  position  will  not  smile  on  your  fancy." 

"In  the  first  place,"  said  Thuillier,  "political  prisoners  are 
never  refused  leave  to  serve  their  time  in  a  private  asylum, 
and,  as  yet,  I  am  not  sentenced;  you  yourself  only  yester- 
day thought  I  might  hope  to  be  acquitted." 

"Yes;  but  since  then  I  have  heard  things  that  make  it 
seem  very  doubtful.  The  same  hand,  no  doubt,  that  withheld 


312  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

the  Cross,  came  down  on  your  pamphlet.  You  are  being 
murdered  of  malice  prepense." 

"Since  you  know  who  this  dangerous  enemy  is,"  said 
Thuillier,  "you  will,  I  suppose,  not  decline  to  name  him." 

"I  do  not  know,"  answered  la  Peyrade,  "but  I  suspect. 
This  is  what  comes  of  finessing." 

"Of  finessing?"  said  Thuillier,  with  the  natural  animosity 
of  a  man  whose  conscience  is  absolutely  clear  of  the  fault  he 
is  accused  of. 

"Certainly,"  replied  the  lawyer.  "You  have  used  Celeste 
as  a  sort  of  decoy-bird  to  tempt  flutterers  to  your  house.  It 
is  not  every  one  who  is  so  long-suffering  as  Monsieur  Gode- 
schal,  who,  after  his  dismissal,  behaved  so  generously  in  the 
matter  of  the  sale." 

"Explain  yourself,"  said  Thuillier.  "I  do  not  understand 
you  in  the  least." 

"Nothing  can  be  easier  to  understand.  How  many  suit- 
ors— without  counting  me — are  there  for  the  hand  of  Made- 
moiselle Colleville?  Godeschal,  Minard,  Felix  Phellion, 
Olivier  Vinet,  the  judge's  deputy, — men  who  have  all  been 
kept  dangling,  just  as  I  have  been." 

"Olivier  Vinet !"  cried  Thuillier,  struck  as  by  a  ray  of 
light.  "To  be  sure;  that  is  the  quarter  the  blow  comes  from. 
His  father,  they  say,  has  a  long  arm.  But  can  it  be  said 
that  we  have  kept  him  dangling,  to  use  your  very  unseemly 
phrase?  He  spent  one  evening  here,  and  has  made  no  pro- 
posal; no  more,  indeed,  has  the  younger  Minard,  or  young 
Phellion.  Godeschal  is  the  only  man  who  ventured  to  come 
to  the  point,  and  he  was  refused  without  hesitation;  he  was 
not  kept  on  tenterhooks." 

"Very  true,"  said  la  Peyrade,  still  bent  on  quarreling. 
"It  is  only  when  a  man  speaks  out  decisively  that  there  is 
any  point  in  playing  fast  and  loose  with  him." 

"Come,"  said  Thuillier,  "out  with  it.  Whom  are  you  talk- 
ing at  with  these  insinuations?  Did  you  not  settle  every- 
thing with  Brigitte  the  other  day  ?  You  have  chosen  a  good 
time,  I  must  say,  to  come  to  me  about  your  love-affairs,  when 
the  sword  of  justice  is  hanging  over  my  head." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  313 

"Oh,  I  dare  say !"  said  la  Peyrade  ironically.  "Now  you 
want  to  make  capital  of  your  interesting  position  as  a  man 
attacked  by  the  law.  I  knew  just  what  would  happen,  and 
that  when  once  the  pamphlet  was  finished  you  would  be  at 
your  tricks  again." 

"The  pamphlet  indeed!"  said  Thuillier.  "I  like  your 
assuming  that  it  was  to  be  the  end  of  every  difficulty,  when 
it  is,  on  the  contrary,  at  the  bottom  of  all  these  deplorable 
complications." 

"Deplorable?     Why?     Your  political  fortune  is  made." 

"Eeally  and  truly,  my  dear  boy,"  said  Thuillier  sentiment- 
ally, "I  never  could  have  thought  that  you  would  choose  the 
evil  hour  of  adversity  to  come  and  hold  a  pistol  to  my  head, 
and  make  me  the  object  of  your  vexatious  remarks." 

"Well  done !"  cried  la  Peyrade.  "Now  it  is  'the  evil  hour 
of  adversity,'  and  not  a  minute  ago  you  threw  yourself  into 
my  arms  like  a  man  who  has  had  some  unlooked-for  good 
fortune.  You  must  really  make  up  your  mind  whether  you 
are  a  man  to  be  pitied  or  gloriously  triumphant." 

"You  may  be  as  sharp  as  you  please,"  retorted  Thuillier, 
"you  will  not  prove  that  I  have  contradicted  myself.  I  am 
logical,  at  any  rate,  though  I  may  not  be  clever.  It  is  very 
natural  that  I  should  be  comforted  by  finding  public  opinion 
pronouncing  in  my  favor,  and  affording  me  in  the  papers 
every  proof  of  respectful  sympathy.  But,  on  the  whole,  do  you 
not  suppose  that  I  would  rather  have  seen  things  take  their 
course?  As  I  see  myself  the  object  of  low  malignity  on  the 
part  of  men  so  influential  as  the  Vinets,  can  I  foresee  the 
extent  of  the  dangers  to  which  I  may  be  exposed  ?" 

"So  you  are  definitively  Jean  qui  pleure — in  doleful 
dumps?"  said  la  Peyrade,  with  pitiless  insistency. 

"Yes,"  replied  Thuillier  solemnly,  "Jean  qui  pleure  over  a 
friendship  which  I  had  believed  to  be  genuine  and  sincere, 
and  which,  when  I  need  its  help,  has  nothing  to  give  but 
satire." 

"What  help  ?"  asked  la  Peyrade.  "Did  you  not  tell  me  yes- 
terday that  you  had  had  enough  of  my  collaboration  in  any 


314  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

form  ?  I  offered  to  plead  your  case ;  you  told  me  you  would 
secure  some  eminent  counsel." 

"Very  true;  in  the  first  moment  of  dismay  at  such  an  un- 
expected blow,  I  may  have  made  such  a  foolish  speech;  but 
on  due  reflection,  who  is  better  qualified  than  you  to  explain 
the  meaning  of  a  document  written  by  your  own  pen?  I 
was  indeed  beside  myself  yesterday;  and  you,  to-day,  with 
your  offended  conceit  that  cannot  forgive  a  hasty  impulse, 
are  very  caustic  and  cruel." 

"So  you  apply  to  me,  formally,  to  defend  you  before  the 
jury  ?" 

"Why,  yes,  my  dear  boy;  I  see  no  other  man  in  whose 
hands  I  can  trust  my  case.  I  might  pay  some  bigwig  of 
the  bar  an  enormous  fee  and  he  would  not  defend  me  so 
skilfully  as  you  will." 

"Well,  and  now  I  refuse.  The  parts,  as  you  perceive,  are 
reversed.  I,  like  you,  thought  yesterday  that  I  was  the  man 
for  this  case;  to-day,  I  think  that  what  you  need  is,  in  fact, 
some  bigwig  of  the  law,  since  with  Vinet  as  your  antagonist, 
the  affair  has  assumed  such  importance  as  will  load  the  ad- 
vocate who  undertakes  it  with  really  overwhelming  responsi- 
bilities." 

"I  quite  understand,"  retorted  Thuillier;  "your  Worship 
always  dreamed  of  a  seat  on  the  bench,  and  it  will  not  do  to 
run  any  risk  of  quarreling  with  the  man  who  is  already 
spoken  of  as  a  likely  Keeper  of  the  Seals.  That  is  very  pru- 
dent— but  I  do  not  see  how  it  will  further  your  prospects  of 
marriage." 

"That  is  to  say,"  replied  la  Peyrade,  catching  the  ball 
at  the  rebound,  "that  to  snatch  you  from  the  clutches  of 
the  jury  is  a  sort  of  thirteenth  labor  of  Hercules  which  you 
set  before  me,  before  I  can  win  Mademoiselle  Colleville's 
hand.  I  was  prepared  to  find  that  your  demands  would  in- 
crease in  proportion  to  the  devotion  I  might  prove;  but  I 
am  tired  of  it;  and  to  put  an  end  to  this  utilization  of  man 
by  man,  I  came  here  this  morning  to  give  you  back  your  word. 
You  may  dispose  of  Celeste's  hand  as  you  please;  so  far  as  I 
am  concerned,  I  make  no  claim  on  it." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  315 

The  abrupt  tone  of  this  unexpected  declaration  left 
Thuillier  speechless  and  voiceless;  all  the  more  so  because 
at  this  moment  Brigitte  came  into  the  room.  The  good 
woman's  mood  had  also  changed  considerably  since  yester- 
day, for  her  opening  words  were  full  of  affectionate  familiar- 

ity. 

"So  here  you  are !"  said  she  to  la  Peyrade,  "our  good 
young  lawyer !" 

"Good-morning  to  you,  mademoiselle,"  said  the  Proven- 
gal,  stiffly. 

"Well/'  she  went  on,  not  heeding  la  Peyrade's  ceremoni- 
ous greeting,  "the .  Government  "has  put  its  foot  in  it  by 
seizing  your  pamphlet.  You  should  see  how  hot  the  papers 
give  it  to  them  this  morning.  Here,"  she  went  on,  handing 
a  sheet  to  Thuillier  printed  on  flimsy  paper  in  large  but 
not  very  legible  type;  "here  is  one  you  have  not  seen  yet; 
the  porter  has  just  brought  it  up.  A  paper  printed  in  our 
old  quarter,  I'Eclio  de  la  Bievre.  I  do  not  know  whether  you 
gentlemen  will  agree  with  me,  but  the  article  strikes  me  as 
capitally  written.  But  it  is  queer  how  careless  these  journal- 
ists are;  they  spell  your  name  without  an  ft;  I  think  you 
might  complain." 

Thuillier  took  the  paper  and  read  the  article  with  which 
gratitude  for  a  well-filled  stomach  had  inspired  the  editor 
of  the  tanner's  organ.  Never  in  her  life  had  Brigitte  troubled 
her  head  about  a  newspaper  excepting  to  consider  whether 
the  sheet  were  large  enough  for  wrapping  the  parcel  for  which 
she  used  it;  but  now,  suddenly  converted  to  faith  in  the 
press  by  her  strong  affection  for  her  brother,  she  stood  be- 
hind Thuillier,  and  reading  over  his  shoulder  the  more  im- 
portant passages  of  the  article  she  had  thought  so  eloquent, 
she  pointed  them  out  with  her  finger. 

"Yes,"  said  Thuillier,  refolding  the  paper,  "it  is  wamnly 
expressed  and  highly  flattering  to  me.  But  here  we  have 
quite  another  matter  on  hand.  Our  gentleman  here  declares 
that  he  refuses  to  plead  my  case,  and  that  he  gives  up  all 
idea  of  marrying  Celeste." 
VOL.  14 — 46 


316  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"That  is  to  say  that  he  will  give  it  up,"  answered  Bri~ 
gitte,  "unless  as  soon  as  the  case  is  over  he  is  married  at 
once  and  out  of  hand.  Well,  for  my  part,  I  think  the  poor 
boy's  demand  only  reasonable.  When  he  has  done  that  one 
thing  more  for  us  there  can  be  no  further  reprieve,  and 
whether  Mademoiselle  Celeste  likes  it  or  no,  she  must  make  the 
best  of  it,  for,  after  all,  everything  must  have  an  end." 

"You  hear,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  la  Peyrade,  taking  up 
Brigitte's  words,  "when  I  have  defended  you,  then  I  am  to  be 
married.  Your  sister  is  frankness  itself,  and  does  not  beat 
about  the  bush." 

"Beat  about  the  bush!" 'echoed  Brigitte.  "Not  I,  indeed, 
do  you  think  it  ?  I  say  what  I  mean ;  the  laborer  has  worked, 
he  must  be  paid  for  his  pains." 

"Do  hold  your  tongue,"  said  Thuillier,  stamping  his  foot, 
"every  word  you  utter  twists  the  dagger  in  the  wound." 

"The  dagger  in  the  wound;  what  do  you  mean?"  asked 
Brigitte.  "What !  you  have  not  quarreled  ?" 

"I  told  you,"  said  Thuillier,  "that  la  Peyrade  has  come  to 
cry  off  the  bargain;  and  the  reason  he  gives  is  that  we  are 
asking  him  to  do  us  a  still  further  service  before  granting 
him  Celeste's  hand.  He  thinks  he  has  done  us  enough  as 
it  is." 

"He  has  done  us  good  service,  no  doubt,"  replied  Brigitte, 
"but  I  do  not  see  that  we  have  been  ungrateful.  After  all, 
it  was  he  who  got  us  into  the  scrape  and  I  should  think  it 
very  queer  if  he  now  left  us  in  the  lurch." 

"Your  argument,  my  dear  lady,  would  have  some  sem- 
blance of  cogency  if  I  were  the  only  advocate  in  Paris; 
but  as  the  streets  are  paved  with  them,  and  as  Thuillier 
himself  said  yesterday  he  would  prefer  a  man  of  distinction 
at  the  bar,  I  do  not  scruple  to  refuse  undertaking  his  de- 
fence. Then,  as  to  the  marriage  we  spoke  of,  to  prevent 
its  ever  again  being  made  an  excuse  for  some  vulgar  and 
mercenary  bargain,  I  decline  it  in  formal  and  emphatic 
terms,  and  there  is  nothing  to  hinder  Mademoiselle  Colle- 
ville  from  accepting  all  that  Monsieur  Phellion  has  to 
offer." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  317 

"Do  not  trouble  yourself,  my  dear  sir,"  replied  Brigitte. 
"If  that  is  your  last  word,  we  shall  have  no  difficulty  about 
finding  a  husband  for  Celeste,  young  Phellion  or  another; 
but  you  will  allow  me  to  say  that  the  reason  you  give  is 
not  the  true  one,  for  we  cannot  dance  faster  than  the  fid- 
dler can  play.  If  we  settled  on  the  marriage  this  very  day 
the  banns  must  be  published.  You  have  wit  enough  to  see 
that  the  mayor  cannot  marry  you  till  the  formalities  are 
carried  out,  and  between  this  and  then  Thuilliers  case  will 
be  tried." 

"Yes,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "And  if  I  lose  his  case  it  will 
be  my  fault  that  Thuillier  will  be  sent  to  prison,  just  as  it 
tvas  I  who  yesterday  had  been  the  cause  of  the  seizure  of  the 
pamphlet." 

"Hang  it  all,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  if  you  had  written 
nothing,  the  police  would  have  nothing  to  grab." 

"My  dear  sister,"  said  Thuillier,  as  la  Peyrade  answered 
with  a  shrug,  "your  argument  is  unsound  in  so  far  as  that 
the  document  was  in  no  way  incriminating.  It  is  not  la 
Peyrade's  fault  if  personages  in  high  position  organized  a 
persecution  against  me.  Uo  you  remember  that  little  man, 
Monsieur  Olivier  Vinet,  whom  Cardot  brought  to  our  house 
one  evening;  he  and  his  father  are  furious,  it  would  seem, 
because  we  did  not  think  of  him  for  Celeste,  and  they  have 
vowed  to  ruin  me." 

"And  why  did  we  refuse  him,"  asked  Brigitte,  "but  for 
this  gentleman's  sake?  For,  after  all,  a  Judge's  deputy  in 
Paris  is  a  very  good  match." 

"No  doubt,"  said  la  Peyrade  coolly,  "but  he  had  not  quite 
a  million  to  contribute  to  the  common  stock." 

"Come !"  said  Brigitte,  firing  up.  "If  you  are  going  to 
talk  about  the  house  you  enabled  us  to  purchase,  I,  for  my 
part,  will  tell  you  plainly  that  if  you  had  had  ready  money 
enough  yourself  to  sneak  it  from  the  notary,  you  would  not 
have  corne  to  us.  You  need  not  think  that  I  was  altogether 
your  dupe;  you  talked  big  just  now  about  driving  a  bargain, 
but  it  was  you  yourself  who  proposed  it:  'Give  me  Celeste/ 


318  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

said  you,  'and  I  will  give  you  the  house.'  That  was  what 
you  gave  us  to  understand  in  so  many  words ;  and  after  all  we 
had  to  make  greater  sacrifices  than  we  had  expected." 

"Now,  now,  Brigitte,"  said  Thuillier,  "you  are  stickling 
over  trifles !" 

"Trifles !  Trifles,  indeed !"  cried  Brigitte.  "Was  the  sum 
at  first  named  exceeded,  or  was  it  not?" 

"My  dear  Thuillier,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "I,  like  you,  regard 
the  matter  as  settled,  and  useless  repetitions  can  only  lead 
to  bitterness.  My  determination  was  final  before  1  came 
here ;  all  I  hear  only  confirms  it.  I  shall  not  be  your  son-in- 
law,  but  we  shall,  nevertheless,  remain  fast  friends." 

And  he  rose  to  go. 

"One  minute,  Monsieur  1'avocat,"  said  Brigitte,  stopping 
the  way.  "There  is  one  matter,  which,  so  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned, is  by  no  means  settled;  and  as  we  no  longer  are  to 
have  any  purse  in  common,  I  should  not  be  sorry  if  you  would 
be  so  good  as  to  tell  me  what  became  of  a  little  sum  of  ten 
thousand  francs  which  Thuillier  handed  over  to  you,  to  be 
paid  to  some  rascally  officials  for  the  Cross  of  which  we 
have  heard  so  much  and  seen  nothing?" 

"Brigitte!"  said  Thuillier,  in  an  agony,  "you  have  a  hell- 
fire  tongue.  You  ought  to  have  known  nothing  about  that; 
I  told  you  about  it  in  a  fit  of  temper  and  you  promised  never 
to  utter  a  word  about  it  to  any  one  whomsoever." 

"True,  but  we  are  parting  company,"  answered  the  im- 
placable old  maid.  "Well,  when  partners  part  they  pay. 
Ten  thousand  francs !  I  should  have  thought  a  real  Cross 
dear  at  the  money ;  and  for  a  Cross  in  the  clouds,  this  gentle- 
man must  admit  it  is  a  very  large  price." 

"La  Peyrade,  my  dear  friend,"  said  Thuillier,  going  up  to 
the  lawyer,  who  was  white  with  rage,  "do  not  listen  to  Bri- 
gitte ;  her  affection  for  me  is  too  much  for  her  judgment.  I 
know  what  offices  are;  and  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  you 
had  paid  even  more  out  of  your  own  pocket." 

"Monsieur,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "it  is  not  in  my  power,  un- 
fortunately, to  send  you  at  once  the  sum  which  I  am  required 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  319 

to  account  for,  with  such  insolent  brutality.  But  grant  me 
a  brief  delay,  and  if,  to  encourage  your  patience,  you  will 
accept  my  note  of  hand,  I  am  ready  to  sign  one." 

"Get  along  with  your  note  of  hand,"  said  Thuillier,  "you  owe 
me  nothing ;  we  are  in  your  debt,  for  Cardot  told  me  that  your 
profit  on  this  splendid  property,  which  you  enabled  us  to  buy, 
ought  to  be  ten  thousand  francs  at  the  very  least." 

"Cardot !  Cardot !"  said  Brigitte  scornfully,  "he  is  free 
enough  with  other  people's  money !  He  was  to  have  had 
Celeste — something  better  than  ten  thousand  francs !"  • 

La  Peyrade  was  too  great  an  actor  not  to  turn  this  humiliat- 
ing conclusion  into  an  effective  finale.  With  tears  in  hid 
voice,  and  ere  long  in  his  eyes,  he  addressed  Brigitte. 

"Mademoiselle,"  said  he,  "when  I  first  had  the  honor  of 
being  admitted  to  your  house  I  was  poor;  and  for  a  long 
time  after  you  saw  me  depressed  and  ill  at  ease,  because  I 
knew  that  poverty  exposes  a  man  to  every  sort  of  indignity. 
From  the  day  when  I  was  enabled  to  show  you  the  way  to  a 
fortune  I  did  not  covet  for  myself,  I  recovered  a  little  con- 
fidence, and  your  kindness,  too,  encouraged  me  to  shake  off 
my  shyness  and  abasement.  To-day,  then,  when  I  am  tak- 
ing a  loyal  step  which  must  relieve  you  of  much  anxiety, 
for,  if  you  would  be  honest,  you  would  confess  that  you  have 
dreamed  of  another  husband  for  Celeste,  we  might  have 
agreed  to  give  up  a  plan  which  my  delicacy  of  feeling  pro- 
hibits my  carrying  out,  and  yet  have  remained  friends.  All 
that  was  needed  was  that  we  should  remain  on  such  terms 
of  politeness  as  you  may  see  in  an  example  daily  before  you : 
for,  although  Madame  de  Godollo  has  not  any  great  kindness 
for  me,  I  am  sure  that  her  good  breeding  would  not  allow 
her  to  approve  of  your  odious  behavior.  But,  thank  heaven ! 
I  have  some  religious  feeling.  The  gospel  is  not  a  dead 
letter  to  me,  so  understand  me  clearly,  mademoiselle,  I  for- 
give you.  Not  to  Thuillier,  who  would  not  accept  the  money, 
but  to  you,  as  my  revenge,  I  will  shortly  repay  the  ten  thou- 
sand francs  which  you  believe  me  to  have  appropriated  to  my 
own  needs.  When  the  sum  is  in  your  own  hands,  if  you  should 


320  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

repent  of  your  unjust  suspicions  and  scruple  to  keep  it,  you 
can  hand  it  over  to  some  benevolent  society " 

"A  benevolent  society !"  cried  Brigitte,  interrupting  him. 
"Thank  you  for  nothing !  To  be  given  to  a  crowd  of  ne'er- 
do-weels  and  bigots,  who  spend  it  in  feasting  after  taking 
the  sacrament.  I  have  been  poor  myself,  my  boy ;  for  a  very 
long  time  I  made  bags  to  hold  other  people's  money  before  I 
had  any  of  my  own.  I  have  money  now  and  I  keep  it;  so 
as  soon  as  you  please  I  am  ready  to  take  it.  If  you  do  not 
know  how  to  carry  through  a  business  when  you  undertake  it, 
and  waste  powder  and  shot  on  cock-sparrows,  so  much  the 
worse  for  you." 

Seeing  that  he  had  failed  in  his  purpose,  and  had  not  even 
scored  the  granite  of  which  Brigitte  was  made,  la  Peyrade, 
with  a  scornful  glance,  made  a  dignified  exit. 

He  saw  that  Thuillier's  impulse  was  to  detain  him,  but  an 
imperious  movement  of  Brigitte's,  always  queen  and  mistress, 
had  riveted  him  to  the  spot. 

As  soon  as  he  got  home,  the  lawyer  completed  his  eman- 
cipation my  writing  to  Madame  Colleville  that,  as  his  en- 
gagement to  Celeste  was  broken  off,  he  thought  that  ordinary 
propriety,  as  well  as  good  feeling,  prohibited  his  being  seen 
at  her  house  any  more. 

As  Colleville  made  his  way  to  the  office  next  morning,  he 
called  on  la  Peyrade  to  ask  him  what  nonsense  he  had  been 
writing  to  Flavie  that  had  reduced  her  to  despair.  Theodose 
very  solemnly  repeated  to  the  husband  the  words  of  the  letter 
he  had  written  to  the  wife — certainly  not  a  love-letter, 

"And  that  is  what  you  call  friendship?"  said  Colleville, 
with  the  friendly  tu  that  he  had  long  been  in  the  habit  of 
using  to  la  Peyrade.  "You  will  not  marry  the  daughter;  is 
that  a  reason  for  quarreling  with  her  parents  ?  It  is  making 
us  answerable  for  the  words  you  may  have  had  with  Thuillier. 
Is  that  any  concern  of  ours?  Has  not  my  wife  been  in- 
variably kind  to  you?" 

"Indeed,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "I  have  received  nothing  but 
kindness  from  Madame  Colleville." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  321 

"And  so  you  want  to  see  her  die  of  grief?  Since  yes- 
terday she  has  constantly  had  her  handkerchief  in  her  hand. 
I  tell  you  she  will  really  be  ill." 

"Listen,  my  dear  Colleville,"  replied  the  lawyer.  "I  owe 
it  to  you  to  tell  you  the  truth,  and  you  have  a  right  to  be 
told  it.  Besides  the  fact  that  I  could  not  meet  Mademoiselle 
Celeste ; 

"Well,  you  need  never  meet  her,"  interrupted  the  worthy 
man.  "When  you  come  to  the  house  the  child  can  retire  to 
her  own  room.  Besides,  she  will  be  married  before  long." 

"No  doubt.  But  I  ought  to  add  that  my  frequent  visits  to 
your  house  have  been  talked  about;  calumnious  reports  have 
got  about.  It  is  alike  my  duty  and  my  desire  to  put  a  stop 
to  them." 

"What!"  exclaimed  the  husband.  "Can  a  man  of  your 
sense  listen  to  such  absurd  gossip?  Do  you  fancy  that  you 
stop  tongues  wagging?  Why,  my  wife  has  been  talked  about 
for  five  and  twenty  years,  only  because  she  is  rather  better 
looking  than  Brigitte  and  Madame  Thuillier.  I  must  be  a 
greater  ruffian  than  you,  for  all  this  tittle-tattle  has  never 
troubled  our  household  peace  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour." 

"Well,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "while  I  admire  you  for  being  so 
strong-minded,  I  think  such  a  contempt  of  public  opinion  very 
rash." 

"What  next!"  said  Colleville.  "Public  opinion!  I 
trample  it  in  the  dust — a  lying  hussy.  It  is  Minard  who 
keeps  such  reports  afloat,  because  his  fat  cook  of  a  wife  never 
attracted  the  attention  of  any  decent  man.  Monsieur  le 
Maire  would  do  far  better  to  keep  an  eye  on  his  son,  who  is 
ruining  himself  with  an  elderly  actress  from  Bobino's." 

"At  any  rate,  my  dear  good  fellow,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "try 
to  bring  Flavie  to  her  senses." 

"Ah !  that's  better,"  said  Colleville,  wringing  the  lawyer's 
hand.  "You  call  her  Flavie  in  the  old  way.  I  have  found 
my  friend  again." 

"Certainly,"  said  la  Peyrade,  in  a  calmer  tone,  "friends 
once  are  friends  for  ever." 


322  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Yes,  yes;  friends  are  friends,"  repeated  Colleville.  "A 
gift  of  the  gods,  to  console  us  for  all  the  vexations  of  life. 
Then  it  is  an  understood  thing,  you  will  call  on  my  wife  and 
restore  my  unhappy  home  to  gladness  and  serenity  ?" 

La  Peyrade  vaguely  acquiesced,  and  when  his  importunate 
guest  had  departed,  he  wondered  whether  this  type  of  husband 
— which  is  far  commoner  than  might  be  supposed — was 
genuine,  or  mere  acting. 

Just  as  la  Peyrade  was  about  to  lay  at  the  Countess'  feet 
the  liberty  he  had  so  violently  snatched  at,  he  received  a 
scented  note  which  set  his  heart  beating ;  he  recognized  on  the 
seal  the  famous  motto,  "All  or  nothing,"  which  had  been 
proposed  to  him  as  the  rule  that  was  to  govern  the  intimacy 
he  hoped  for. 

"Dear  monsieur,"  said  Madame  de  Godollo,  "I  have  heard  of 
your  determination ;  many  thanks !  But  I  must  now  prepare 
to  carry  out  mine,  for  you  cannot  suppose  that  I  intend  to  live 
for  ever  in  a  sphere  that  is  so  far  from  being  ours,  and  to 
which  I  have  no  ties.  To  make  some  arrangements,  so  as 
not  to  have  to  explain  how  it  is  that  the  entresol  is  open  to 
the  voluntary  exile  from  the  first  floor,  I  must  have  to-day 
and  to-morrow  to  myself ;  so  do  not  come  to  see  me  till  the  day 
after  to-morrow.  By  that  time  I  shall  have  settled  with  Bri- 
gitte,  as  they  say  on  'change,  and  shall  have  much  to  tell 
you. 

"Tua  iota, 

"COMTESSE    DE    GODOLLO." 

Wholly  yours,  in  Latin,  struck  la  Peyrade  as  charming; 
nor  did  it  surprise  him,  Latin  being  almost  a  second  national 
tongue  in  Hungary.  The  two  days'  delay  to  which  he  was 
condemned  added  fuel  to  the  fire  of  passion  that  possessed 
him;  and  when,  on  the  second  day,  he  arrived  at  the  house 
near  the  Madeleine,  his  love  had  arrived  at  a  height  of  in- 
candescence of  which  he  could  not  have  believed  himself 
capable  a  few  days  sooner. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  323 

This  time  the  porter's  wife  caught  sight  of  him  as  he  went 
in.  But,  irrespective  of  the  fact  that  he  might  be  supposed 
to  be  going  up  to  the  Thuilliers,  he  wotfld  nol  have  cared  if 
the  real  object  of  his  visit  had  been  known.  The  ice  was 
broken,  his  happiness  was  recognized,  and  he  felt  more 
inclined  to  proclaim  it  to  all  comers  than  to  make  a  mystery 
of  it. 

Flying  nimbly  up  the  stairs,  the  lawyer  was  about  to  pull 
the  bell,  when,  on  putting  out  his  hand  to  take  the  silken 
cord  by  the  side  of  the  door,  he  noticed  that  the  bell-pull  was 
gone. 

La  Peyrade's  first  idea  was  that  some  attack  which  makes 
every  kind  of  noise  unendurable  to  the  sufferer  might  account 
for  the  absence  of  the  missing  cord ;  but  various  observations 
at  once  presented  themselves  to  weaken  this  hypothesis,  which, 
indeed,  would  not  have  been  particularly  consolatory. 

From  the  hall  to  the  Countess'  door  there  used  to  be  a 
stair-carpet,  held  at  each  step  by  a  brass  rod,  and  affording 
visitors  a  velvety  ascent;  this  carpet  had  disappeared. 

An  outer  door,  covered  with  green  worsted  velvet  and 
trimmed  with  gilt  fillets,  had  guarded  the  entrance;  of  this 
/io  sign  but  a  little  damage  done  to  the  wall  by  the  workmen 
who  had  removed  it. 

For  an  instant  the  lawyer,  in  his  agitation,  fancied  he  had 
mistaken  the  floor;  but  glancing  over  the  banisters  he  saw 
that  he  had  indeed  stopped  at  the  entresol.  Then  Madame 
de  Godollo  was  moving ! 

The  Provengal  made  up  his  mind  that  he  must  rap  at  the 
fine  lady's  door  just  as  if  she  were  a  pretty  milliner;  but  his 
knuckles  only  produced  that  hollow  echo  which  proves 
vacancy  within,  intonuere  cavernce,  and  at  the  same  moment 
he  perceived,  under  the  door  on  which  he  now  hit  with  his 
fist,  that  streak  of  daylight  which  betrays  deserted  rooms 
when  curtains,  carpets,  and  furniture  are  gone,  and  there  is 
nothing  to  deaden  sound  or  subdue  the  sunshine. 

Compelled  to  acknowledge  that  the  removal  was  an  ac- 
complished fact,  la  Peyrade  concluded  that,  after  a  quarrel 


324  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

with  Brigitte,  some  virulence  on  the  old  maid's  part  had  led 
to  this  radical  and  violent  change ;  but  why  had  he  not  been 
told,  and  what  was  this  whim  of  leaving  him  to  suffer  from 
the  absurd  annoyance  of  coming  on  a  fool's  errand? 

Before  raising  the  siege,  as  if  doubt  were  any  longer  possi- 
ble, la  Peyrade  once  mors  assaulted  the  door  with  noisy  vehe- 
mence. 

"Who  is  that  knocking  as  if  he  meant  to  have  the  house 
down?"  cried  the  porter's  wife,  brought  to  the  foot  of  the 
stairs  by  the  clatter. 

"Does  Madame  de  Godollo  no  longer  live  here?"  asked  la 
Peyrade. 

"Certainly  not,  since  she  has  left.  If  you  had  told  me, 
sir,  that  you  were  going  to  see  her,  I  could  have  saved  you 
the  trouble  of  kicking  the  door  in."  • 

"I  knew  she  was  leaving,"  said  la  Peyrade,  not  choosing 
to  seem  ignorant  of  her  intentions,  "but  I  had  no  idea  she 
was  to  go  so  soon." 

"She  was  in  a  hurry,  I  suppose,"  said  the  woman,  "since  she 
set  off  this  morning  with  post-horses." 

"With  post-horses !"  echoed  la  Peyrade,  in  dismay.  "Then 
she  has  left  Paris?" 

"It  is  to  be  supposed  so,"  said  the  dreadful  woman.  "It  is 
not  usual  to  have  a  postilion  and  horses  to  move  from  one 
part  of  Paris  to  another." 

"And  she  did  not  say  where  she  was  going  ?" 

"No,  sir.  You  have  a  queer  notion  of  things  if  you  sup- 
pose that  we  are  kept  informed !" 

"No ;  but,  after  all,  if  any  letters  should  come  for  her  after 
she  has  left?" 

"I  have  orders  to  send  them  to  Monsieur  le  Commandeur. 
the  little  old  gentleman  who  came  here  so  often;  you  must 
have  met  him,  sir." 

"Yes,  yes,  of  course,"  said  la  Peyrade,  preserving  his  pres- 
ence of  mind  under  this  succession  of  shocks;  "so  that  little 
old  man  in  powder  came  almost  every  day?" 

"Oh,  not  to  say  every  day,  but  very  often.  Well,  I  have 
orders  to  send  Madame  la  Comtesse's  letters  to  him/' 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  325 

"And  she  left  no  message  to  any  one  else  of  her  ac- 
quaintance; she  gave  you  no  instructions?" 

"None  whatever,  sir." 

"Thank  you,  my  good  lady,  I  am  much  obliged,"  said  la 
Peyrade ;  and  he  turned  to  leave  the  house. 

"But  I  fancy,"  added  the  porter's  wife,  "that  mademoiselle 
knows  more  about  it.  Will  you  not  go  up  to  her?  She  is 
at  home,  and  so  is  Monsieur  Thuillier." 

"No,  it  is  of  no  consequence,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "I  came 
to  give  Madame  de  Godollo  some  information  she  had  asked 
me  to  get.  I  have  not  time  to  stay." 

"Well,  as  I  tell  you,  she  went  off  this  morning  with  post- 
horses.  Why,  not  two  hours  ago,  you  would  have  found  her 
here,  sir;  but  traveling  post,  she  must  be  far  enough  away 
by  this  time." 

With  this  trick  of  saying  everything  twice  over,  the  wo- 
man, who  had  just  given  him  such  cruel  information,  seemed 
to  insist  on  every  detail  which  must  torture  him.  He  went 
away  with  despair  in  his  heart.  To  say  nothing  of  this  abrupt 
disappearance,  he  was  possessed  by  sudden  jealousy,  and  at 
this  acute  stage  of  his  overwhelming  disappointment  the  most 
terrible  explanations  occurred  to  his  mind. 

After  brief  consideration,  he  thought  the  matter  out. 

"These  diplomatic  women,"  said  he  to  himself,  "are  often 
charged  with  secret  missions,  in  which  perfect  secrecy  and 
extreme  rapidity  of  movement  are  requisite."  But  then, 
with  a  sudden  revulsion,  "Supposing,"  thought  he,  "that  she 
were  one  of  those  adventuresses  whom  foreign  governments 
often  employ  as  their  secret  agents.  If  the  story,  more  or  less 
suspicious,  of  the  Kussian  Princess  who  was  compelled  to 
sell  her  furniture  to  Brigitte,  were  that  also  of  my  Hungarian 
lady !  And  yet,"  he  reflected,  as  a  third  view  presented  it- 
self to  his  brain,  tormented  by  a  frightful  chaos  of  ideas  and 
feelings,  "her  education,  her  manners,  language,  everything 
proclaims  her  a  woman  of  position  in  the  world.  And  then, 
if  she  were  but  a  bird  of  passage,  why  should  she  be  at  so 
much  pains  to  bewitch  me?" 


326  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Thus  for  a  long  time  would  la  Peyrade  have  gone  on  argu- 
ing for  and  against,  if  he  had  not  felt  himself  seized  from 
behind,  while  a  voice  he  knew  exclaimed: 

"My  dear  sir,  take  care  where  you  are  going.  You  are  on 
the  very  verge  of  a  dreadful  end,  and  are  running  headlong 
to  it." 

La  Peyrade  with  a  start  found  himself  in  Phellion's 
arms. 

The  scene  occurred  at  the  bottom  of  a  house  that  was  be- 
ing pulled  down,  at  the  corner  of  the  Hue  Duphot  and  the 
Rue  Saint-Honore. 

Phellion,  standing  on  the  pavement  opposite — the  reader 
may  remember  his  mania  for  building  "works" — had  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  been  watching  the  drama  of  a  wall  about 
to  be  overthrown  by  the  united  efforts  of  a  party  of  workmen ; 
the  great  citizen,  watch  in  hand,  was  calculating  how  many 
minutes  longer. the  mass  of  stone  and  mortar  would  resist 
the  subversive  forces  brought  to  bear  on  it. 

It  was  at  the  most  critical  moment  of  the  imminent  down- 
fall, that  la  Peyrade,  absorbed  in  the  turmoil  of  his  thoughts, 
and  heedless  of  the  warnings  addressed  to  him  from  all  sides, 
had  walked  into  the  space  where  the  aerolite  would  inevitably 
fall.  Phellion — who  would  indeed  have  done  as  much  for  a 
stranger — had  rushed  to  the  rescue,  and  la  Peyrade  certainly 
owed  to  him  his  escape  from  a  dreadful  death,  for  at  the 
very  moment  when  he  was  dragged  back  by  the  vigorous 
inhabitant  of  the  Quartier  Latin,  the  wall  came  crashing  down 
just  in  front  of  him,  with  the  uproar  of  a  cannon  and  a  dense 
cloud  of  dust. 

"Are  you  deaf  and  blind,  man  ?"  cried  the  workman  placed 
on  guard  to  warn  the  passers-by  of  danger,  in  a  tone  of  voice 
that  may  be  imagined. 

"Thank  you,  my  dear  sir,"  said  la  Peyrade,  coming  down 
from  the  clouds.  "But  for  you,  I  should  have  been  crushed 
like  an  idiot." 

And  he  wrung  Phellion's  hand. 

"My  reward,"  said  Phellion,  "is  the  satisfaction  of  having 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  327 

snatched  you  from  such  imminent  peril ;  and  I  may  say  that 
this  satisfaction  is  not  unmingled  with  pride,  for  I  was  not 
two  seconds  wrong  in  the  calculation  which  had  enabled  me 
to  foresee  the  instant  when  that  formidable  block  was  over- 
balanced from  its  centre  of  gravity.  But  what  were  you 
thinking  about,  my  dear  sir?  Of  your  defence,  no  doubt, 
in  this  case  of  Thuillier's;  for  the  public  papers  have  in- 
formed me  of  the  impending  action  to  be  taken  by  public 
vengeance  against  our  highly  estimable  friend.  But  you  will 
address  the  court  in  a  noble  cause,  monsieur ;  with  my  hand 
on  my  conscience,  and  accustomed  as  I  am  by  my  labors  as  a 
member  of  the  committee  at  the  Odeon  to  judge  of  literary 
efforts,  rafter  reading  some  passages  of  the  incriminating 
document,  I  cannot  see  that  the  tone  of  that  pamphlet  is  such 
as  to  justify  the  rigorous  measures  that  have  been  taken. 
Between  you  and  me,"  added  the  great  citizen,  lowering  his 
voice,  "I  confess  it  is  a  small-minded  action  on  the  part  of 
the  Government." 

"That  is  my  opinion  too,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "But  I  do 
not  undertake  the  defence.  I  have  advised  Thuillier  to  secure 
the  help  of  some  celebrated  counsel." 

"That  may  be  good  advice,"  said  Phellion.  "And  at  any 
rate  it  does  honor  to  your  modesty.  You  have  just  seen  our 
dear  friend,  no  doubt  ?  I  called  on  him  on  the  day  when  the 
bomb  fell,  and  I  am  on  my  way  to  him  now.  I  did  not  find  him 
at  home  on  my  first  visit;  I  only  saw  Brigitte,  who  was  dis- 
cussing the  matter  with  Madame  de  Godollo.  There  is  a 
woman  of  political  purview !  On  my  honor,  she  had  fore- 
told the  catastrophe." 

"You  know  that  she  has  left  Paris?"  said  la  Peyrade,  seiz- 
ing an  opening  for  coming  back  to  the  absorbing  idea  of  the 
moment. 

"Indeed!  she  is  gone?"  said  Phellion.  "Well,  monsieur, 
though  you  and  she  were  little  in  sympathy,  I  must  tell  you 
that  I  regard  her  departure  as  a  misfortune.  She  will  leave 
a  great  gap  in  our  friends'  drawing-room.  I  must  say  so,  for 
I  really  think  it,  and  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  disguising  my 
feelings." 


328  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Why,  certainly,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "she  was  a  very  remark- 
able woman,  with  whom  I  believe  I  should  have  come  to  an 
understanding  in  spite  of  her  prejudices.  But  this  morn- 
ing, without  leaving  any  trace  as  to  whither  she  was  going, 
she  set  out  suddenly,  posting." 

"Ah !  posting,"  replied  Phellion.  "I  do  not  know  whether 
you  are  of  my  mind,  but  that  seems  to  me,  monsieur,  a  very 
pleasant  way  of  traveling;  and  Louis  XI.,  to  whom  we  owe 
the  institution,  had  certainly  a  very  clever  idea,  though  in 
other  respects,  his  despotic  and  sanguinary  rule  was  not,  ac- 
cording to  my  poor  lights,  absolutely  above  reproach. — Only 
once  in  my  life  have  I  availed  myself  of  that  mode  of  locomo- 
tion, and  I  must  say  I  found  it  very  superior,  in  spite  of  its 
relative  slowness,  to  the  mad  career  of  a  railway,  on  which 
rapidity  is  achieved  only  at  the  risk  of  the  passengers  and  the 
tax-payers." 

La  Peyrade  was  paying  little  heed  to  Phellion's  grandilo- 
quence. 

"Where  can  she  have  gone?"  This  was  the  thought  he 
turned  over  and  over  in  his  mind,  an  absorbing  thought  which 
would  have  rendered  him  indifferent  to  a  far  more  interesting 
discourse;  but  the  great  citizen,  fairly  started  like  a  locomo- 
tive, went  on  steadily. 

"It  was  the  last  time  Madame  Phellion  was  confined.  She 
was  in  the  country  of  le  Perche  with  her  mother,  when  I  heard 
that  serious  complications  had  supervened  with  milk-fever. 
A  wound  in  the  pocket  is  never  fatal,  as  they  say,  so,  terrified 
by  the  danger  that  threatened  my  wife,  I  flew  off  to  the 
coach-office  to  take  steps  to  secure  a  place  in  the  mail.  Not 
one  was  to  be  had;  they  were  all  taken  for  a  week  to  come- 
At  once  I  made  up  my  mind.  I  went  off  to  the  Rue  Pigalle  and 
for  gold  down  I  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  use  of  a  chaise 
and  two  horses,  when  the  necessity  for  a  passport,  with  which 
I  had  omitted  to  provide  myself,  and  without  which,  by  a 
decree  of  the  Consulate  of  the  17th  ISTivose,  Year  XII.,  no 
traveler  was  to  be  allowed  to  take  horses — 

But  these  words  were  as  a  flash  of  light  to  la  Peyrade,  and 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  329 

without  waiting  for  the  end  of  the  great  citizen's  posting 
Odyssey,  he  had  set  off  in  the  direction  of  the  Eue  Pigalle, 
before  Phellion,  cut  short  in  his  speech,  was  fully  aware  of 
his  disappearance. 

But  when  he  had  reached  the  royal  posting  station,  la  Pey- 
rade  was  not  a  little  puzzled  to  know  where  he  could  apply 
for  the  information  he  had  come  to  seek.  So  he  was  engaged 
in  explaining  to  the  office-porter  that  he  had  a  letter  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  transmit  to  a  lady  of  his  acquaintance ; 
that  this  lady  had  been  so  heedless  as  to  leave  no  address,  and 
that  he  had  thought  he  might  learn  her  place  of  destination 
from  the  passport  she  must  have  shown  before  she  could 
engage  horses,  when  a  postilion,  sitting  in  the  corner  of  the 
office  where  la  Peyrade  was  making  his  inquiries,  put  his 
word  in. 

"Was  it,  now,  a  lady  traveling  with  her  maid,  that  I  loaded 
up  not  far  from  the  Madeleine  ?"  he  asked. 

"The  very  thing,"  said  la  Peyrade,  advancing  eagerly  and 
slipping  a  five-franc  piece  into  this  providential  informant's 
hand. 

"Bless  me,  but  she's  a  rum  sort  of  traveler,"  said  the  man. 
"She  made  me  take  her  to  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  where  we 
drove  round  and  round  for  an  hour.  Then  we  pulled  up  at 
the  Barriere  de  1'fitoile,  where  she  gave  me  something  hand- 
some for  myself,  and  took  a  cab,  telling  me  to  take  the  car- 
riage back  to  a  man  she  had  hired  it  from  in  the  Cour  des 
Coches,  Faubourg  Saint-Honore." 

"And  what  is  the  man's  name  ?"  asked  la  Peyrade  eagerly. 

"Simonin,"  answered  the  postilion. 

Armed  with  this  information,  la  Peyrade  set  out  again, 
and  a  quarter  of  an  hour  later  he  confronted  the  job  master ; 
but  all  the  man  knew  was  that  a  lady  living  near  the  Made- 
leine had  hired  a  traveling  carriage,  without  horses,  for  half 
a  day ;  that  it  had  been  sent  out  at  nine  in  the  morning,  and 
had  been  back  in  the  coach-house  by  noon,  brought  home  by 
a  postilion  from  the  Eoyal  Office. 

"Never  mind,"  said  la  Peyrade.    "I  know  now  that  she  has 


330  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

not  left  Paris,  and  is  not  avoiding  me.  She  has  made  a  pre- 
tence of  setting  out,  to  be  rid,  once  for  all,  of  the  Thuilliers. 
Fool  that  I  am  !  I  dare  say  a  letter  is  waiting  for  me  at  home, 
explaining  everything." 

Dead  with  fatigue  and  agitation,  la  Peyrade,  to  verify  the 
truth  of  this  idea  as  quickly  as  possible,  got  into  a  hackney 
cab;  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  for  he  had  promised 
good  pay,  he  was  set  down  in  the  Eue  Saint-Dominique- 
d'Enfer. 

Here  again  he  had  to  endure  the  torments  of  waiting. 
Since  Brigitte  had  ceased  to  live  in  the  house,  Monsieur 
Coffinet,  the  porter,  neglected  his  duties,  and  when  la  Peyrade 
rushed  to  the  lodge  to  get  his  letter,  which,  in  fact,  he  could 
see  in  the  pigeon-hole  appropriated  to  his  service,  the  porter 
and  his  wife  were  both  absent  and  their  door  locked.  The 
woman  was  busy  doing  the  housework  of  one  of  the  tenants, 
and  Coffinet,  taking  advantage  of  the  opportunity,  had  al- 
lowed himself  to  be  tempted  to  a  tavern  in  the  neighborhood, 
where,  between  two  noggins  of  wine,  he  was  defending  the 
cause  of  the  householder  against  a  republican  who  had  small 
respect  for  proprietors. 

It  was  fully  twenty  minutes  before  this  worthy,  remember- 
ing the  property  supposed  to  be  in  his  charge,  came  back  to 
resume  his  functions.  The  torrent  of  abuse  vented  on  him 
by  la  Peyrade  may  be  imagined.  He  excused  himself,  saying 
that  he  had  been  out  on  an  errand  by  Mademoiselle's  orders, 
and  that  he  could  not  be  at  the  same  time  in  the  lodge  and 
running  messages  for  his  mistress. 

At  last  he  gave  the  lawyer  a  letter  with  the  Paris  stamp. 
It  was  his  heart  rather  than  his  eyes  that  recognized  the  writ- 
ing, and  turning  the  letter  over,  the  arms  and  motto  assured 
him  that  he  saw  the  end  of  the  most  cruel  experience  of  his 
life. 

To  read  the  letter  in  the  presence  of  this  dreadful  porter 
seemed  to  him  sheer  profanation;  with  a  refinement  of  pas- 
sion in  which  every  lover  will  sympathize,  he  allowed  himself 
the  pleasure  of  postponing  his  happiness ;  he  would  not  open 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  -  331 

this  thrice-blessed  missive  till,  in  his  own  rooms,  with  the 
doors  shut,  so  that  nothing  could  disturb  him,  he  might  be 
able  to  revel  in  the  delicious  sensations  of  which  his  heart 
already  felt  the  foretaste. 

Having  flown  up  the  stairs  with  a  rush,  the  lawyer  was 
childish  enough  to  lock  himself  in,  and  at  length,  seated  at  his 
ease  before  his  desk,  after  raising  the  seal  with  pious  care, 
he  was  obliged  to  press  his  hand  to  his  heart,  which  seemed 
ready  to  burst  his  ribs. 

"My  dear  Sir,"  said  the  letter,  "I  am  disappearing  for  ever, 
as  my  part  is  played  out.  I  must  thank  you  for  having  made 
it  not  only  easy,  but  agreeable.  By  entangling  you  in  a 
quarrel  with  the  Thuilliers  and  the  Collevilles,  who  are  now 
very  fully  informed  as  to  the  true  feelings  you  entertain  to- 
wards them,  and  by  taking  care  to  comment  on  the  sufficiently 
aggravating  circumstances  of  your  sudden  and  ruthless 
breach,  in  the  way  most  likely  to  nettle  their  middle-class 
pride,  I  am  proud  and  happy  to  have  done  you  signal  service. 
The  girl  does  not  love  you,  and  you  love  only  the  bright  looks 
of  her  fortune.  So  1  have  saved  yon  both  from  a  hell  on 
earth.  In  exchange  for  the  young  lady  you  have  so  impu- 
dently thrown  over,  a  charming  wife  is  in  reserve  for  you. 
She  is  richer  and  handsomer  than  Mademoiselle  Colleville, 
and,  to  allude  to  myself,  she  is  freer  than  your  unworthy 
servant, 

the  married  woman,  TORNA,  COMTESSE  DE  GODOLLO. 

"P.S.  For  further  information  refer  without  delay  to  M. 
du  Portail,  gentleman,  Rue  Honore-Chevalier,  near  Eue 
Cassette,  Quartier  Saint-Sulpice.  He  expects  you." 

Having  read  to  the  end,  the  advocate  of  the  poor  clasped 
his  head  in  both  hands;  he  saw  nothing,  heard  nothing, 
thought  nothing;  he  was  crushed. 

Some  days  elapsed  before  la  Peyrade  could  rally  from  the 
VOL.  14 — 47 


332    •  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

sledge-hammer  blow  that  had  felled  him.  The  shock  was  in- 
deed a  terrible  one.  On  coming  out  of  the  golden  dream  that 
had  shown  him  the  future  under  so  fair  a  guise,  he  saw  him- 
self the  victim  of  a  hoax  which  was  all  the  more  cruel  to  his 
conceit,  and  his  pretensions  to  craft  and  skill,  because  it  left 
him  irrevocably  embroiled  with  the  Thuilliers  and  loaded 
with  a  debt  of  twenty-five  thousand  francs.  This,  to  be  sure, 
was  not  immediately  due,  but  he  was  also  pledged  to  pay 
Brigitte  a  sum  of  ten  thousand  francs,  and  this  his  care  for 
his  dignity  required  him  to  do  as  soon  as  possible;  finally, 
the  thing  that  put  the  finishing  touch  to  his  humiliation  and 
disappointment  was  that,  on  searching  his  heart,  he  felt  that 
he  was  not  radically  cured  of  his  passionate  admiration  for 
the  woman  who  had  wrought  this  great  disaster  and  led  him 
to  ruin. 

Either  this  Delilah  was  a  very  great  lady,  of  such  high  posi- 
tion that  she  might  indulge  her  most  compromising  whims, 
and  had  given  herself  the  amusement  of  playing  the  coquette 
in  a  sort  of  dialogue,  he  playing  the  simpleton ;  or  she  was  an 
adventuress  of  great  accomplishment,  in  the  pay  of  this  Mon- 
sieur du  Portail,  and  the  agent  for  his  matrimonial  schemes. 
So  the  two  alternative  verdicts  he  could  pronounce  on  this 
dangerous  lady  were,  that  she  was  a  bad  woman,  or  that  she 
had  a  bad  heart ;  and  in  either  case  it  did  not  seem  that  she 
had  any  great  claim  to  be  regretted  by  her  victim. 

But  we  must  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of  this  son  of  the 
south,  with  his  hot  blood  and  fiery  spirit,  who,  for  the  first 
time  in  his  life,  had  found  himself  in  presence  of  a  passion 
in  scent  and  laces,  and  believed  he  might  drink  it  out  of 
a  golden  cup.  As  on  waking,  we  retain  the  impression  of  a 
dream  that  agitated  us,  so  la  Peyrade,  still  bewitched  with 
what  had  never  been  but  a  shadow,  needed  all  his  moral 
strength  to  evict  the  image  of  the  perfidious  Countess.  To 
be  accurate,  he  did  not  cease  to  yearn  for  her;  only  he  took 
care  to  clothe  in  a  decent  pretext  his  intense  desire  to  find  her 
which  he  called  curiosity,  thirst  for  revenge,  working  out 
this  ingenious  argument: — 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  333 

"Cerizet  spoke  to  me  of  a  rich  heiress ;  the  Countess  in  her 
letter  tells  me  that  the  elaborate  intrigue  in  which  she  had 
entangled  me  will  lead  to  a  wealthy  marriage.  Now,  rich 
marriages,  to  be  flung  at  a  man's  feet,  do  not  grow  so  thick 
that  two  such  chances  should  fall  in  my  way  within  a  few 
weeks.  Consequently,  'the  match  proposed  to  me  by  Cerizet, 
and  this  that  has  again  been  offered  me  are  the  same — this 
crazy  girl  to  whom  they  are  so  strangely  bent  on  marrying 
me !  Consequently,  Cerizet,  being  in  the  plot,  must  know 
the  Countess;  consequently  through  him  I  must  get  on  the 
track  of  the  Hungarian.  At  any  rate  I  shall  get  some  in- 
formation as  to  the  strange  selection  of  which  I  am  the  object. 
People  who  can  bring  such  well-dressed  puppets  on  the  stage 
to  gain  their  ends  must  be  of  some  importance  in  the  world. 
I  will  go  to  see  Cerizet." 

And  he  went  to  see  Cerizet. 

The  two  old  allies  had  not  met  since  the  dinner  at  the 
Roclier  de  Cancale.  Once  or  twice  at  Thuillier's,  whither 
Dutocq  came  but  rarely  now  that  they  lived  so  far  apart,  la 
Peyrade  had  asked  the  clerk  of  assize  what  had  become  of 
his  copying-clerk. 

"He  never  mentions  you,"  replied  Dutocq.  Whence  the 
lawyer  had  concluded  that  resentment,  the  manet  alia  mente 
repostum,  was  still  hot  in  the  vindictive  money-lender. 

This  did  not  stop  la  Peyrade.  After  all,  he  was  not  going 
to  ask  him  a  favor ;  he  was  going  under  pretence  of  reopening 
an  affair  in  which  Cerizet  had  interfered;  and  Cerizet  never 
interfered  in  anything  that  was  not  likely  to  prove  profitable 
to  himself.  Hence  the  chances  were  in  favor  of  an  eager  and 
affectionate  reception  rather  than  a  repulse.  Also,  the  lawyer 
decided  on  calling  on  Cerizet  in  his  master's  office;  it  was  a 
less  personal  visit  than  going  to  see  him  in  his  den  in  the  Eue 
des  Poules,  not  an  inviting  spot. 

It  was  about  two  o'clock  when  la  Peyrade  went  into  the 
offices  of  the  police  court  of  the  twelfth  arrondissement.  He 
went  through  the  outer  room  where  the  appellants  were  wait- 
ing, who  perpetually  besiege  the  magistrates  of  the  lower 


334  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

courts  for  matters  connected  with  the  affixing  and  removing 
of  seals  after  a  death,  with  affidavits  and  declarations,  with 
disputes  between  employers  and  servants,  landlords  and 
tenants,  purchasers  and  dealers,  or  cases  brought  in  by  the 
police.  Without  stopping,  la  Peyrade  went  on  to  the  room 
between  the  waiting-room  and  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  assize. 
There  sat  Cerizet,  writing  at  a  shabby  desk  of  black  stained 
wood,  opposite  a  chair  for  an  inferior  clerk,  at  this  moment 
vacant. 

As  Cerizet  saw  the  advocate  come  in,  he  gave  him  a  sinister 
look,  and,  without  moving  from  his  place,  or  ceasing  to  copy 
a  decision  that  lay  before  him,  he  said : 

"What !  You,  Maitre  la  Peyrade.  Well,  you  have  got  your 
friend  Thuillier  into  a  pretty  mess !" 

"How  are  you?"  said  la  Peyrade,  with  determined  fa- 
miliarity. 

"I?"  replied  Cerizet.  "As  you  see,  always  chained  to  the 
oar;  and  to  continue  the  nautical  metaphor,  I  may  ask  you 
what  wind  has  blown  you  here.  Is  it  by  chance  the  blast  of 
adversity  ?" 

La  Peyrade,  without  answering,  brought  a  chair  up  to  the 
table,  and  said  very  gravely: 

"My  dear  boy,  we  must  have  a  few  words  together." 

"It  would  seem,"  said  Cerizet  with  malignant  insistency, 
"that  there  is  a  coolness  between  you  and  the  Thuilliers  since 
the  seizure  of  the  pamphlet." 

"The  Thuilliers  are  ungrateful  wretches,"  answered  la  Pey- 
rade. "I  have  cut  their  acquaintance." 

"Whether  you  have  cut  them  or  they  have  cut  you,"  said 
Cerizet,  "they  have  shut  their  door  on  you;  and  from  what 
Dutocq  tells  me,  Brigitte  speaks  of  you  with  anything  rather 
than  respect.  This,  my  friend,  is  what  comes  of  trying  to 
manage  your  affairs  single-handed;  when  difficulties  arise 
there  is  no  one  to  round  the  corners  off.  If  you  had  but  got 
me  the  lease,  I  should  have  been  acquainted  with  the  Thuil- 
liers, Dutocq  would  not  have  thrown  you  over,  and  we  could 
have  steered  you  safely  into  port." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  335 

"And  supposing  I  don't  want  to  be  steered  into  port," 
retorted  la  Peyrade  rather  angrily.  "I  tell  you  I  have  had 
more  than  enough  of  the  Thuilliers;  I  was  the  first  to  break 
off  with  them ;  I  told  them  to  get  out  of  my  light ;  and  if  Du- 
tocq  told  you  anything  different  you  may  tell  him  he  is  a  liar ; 
is  that  plain  enough?  It  seems  to  me  1  am  explicit." 

"Just  so,  my  dear  fellow,  and  if  you  are  so  much  annoyed 
at  all  this  Thuillerie,  you  should  have  turned  me  loose  among 
them;  you  would  have  seen  how  I  would  have  avenged  you 
and  worried  them." 

"There  you  are  right  enough,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "and  I 
should  be  glad  to  have  set  you  at  their  heels ;  but,  once  for  all, 
I  could  do  nothing  in  the  matter  of  the  lease." 

"I  suppose,"  said  Cerizet,  "that  your  conscience  made  you 
feel  it  a  duty  to  explain  to  Brigitte  that  the  sum  of  twelve 
thousand  francs,  which  I  hoped  to  make,  might  as  well  re- 
main in  her  pocket." 

"It  seems  that  Dutocq  still  carries  on  the  worthy  business 
of  spy  which  he  used  to  exercise  in  the  Exchequer  offices; 
and  like  all  men  of  that  foul  calling,  he  draws  up  reports 
that  are  no  more  ingenious  than  they  are  true." 

"Take  care !"  said  Cerizet.  "You  are  speaking  of  my 
master  and  in  his  own  den." 

"Come  now,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "I  came  to  discuss  serious 
business.  Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  let  me  hear  no  more  of  the 
Thuilliers  or  their  concerns,  and  to  give  me  all  your  atten- 
tion?" 

"Speak  on,  my  dear  boy,"  said  Cerizet,  laying  down  his 
pen,  which,  till  now,  had  not  ceased  to  run  over  the  sheet  of 
stamped  paper.  "I  am  listening." 

"Not  long  ago,"  la  Peyrade  went  on,  "you  spoke  to  me  of  a 
girl  to  be  married,  rich,  of  full  age,  and  suffering  a  little  from 
hysteria — as  you  euphemistically  expressed  it." 

"Aha!"  cried  the  money-lender,  "I  have  been  waiting  for 
this.  You  have  had  great  difficulty  in  catching  me  up !" 

"When  you  proposed  this  heiress  to  me,"  asked  la  Peyrade, 
"what  had  you  in  your  head  ?" 


336  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Why,  a  splendid  stroke  of  business  for  you,  to  be  sure; 
you  had  only  to  stoop  and  pick  her  up.  I  was  formally 
instructed  to  make  the  offer,  and  there  was  no  brokerage;  I 
should  have  relied  entirely  on  your  generosity." 

"But  you  were  not  the  only  person  instructed  to  sound  me ; 
there  was  a  woman  employed  on  the  same  errand." 

"A  woman!"  said  Cerizet  quite  naturally.  "Not  to  my 
knowledge." 

"Yes.  A  foreigner,  fairly  young  and  pretty,  whom  you 
must  surely  have  met  at  the  house  of  the  young  lady's  family, 
for  she  seemed  very  ardently  devoted  to  them." 

"There  has  never  been  any  woman  implicated  in  this  nego- 
tiation. I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  left  en- 
tirely to  me." 

"Do  you  mean  to  say,"  said  la  Peyrade,  fixing  a  scrutinizing 
eye  on  the  copying-clerk,  "that  you  have  never  heard  of  the 
Comtesse  Torna  de  Godollo?" 

"Never  in  all  the  days  of  my  life.  I  never  heard  the  name 
till  this  moment." 

"Then  there  must  be  another  party  in  the  field;  for  this 
lady,  after  many  singular  preliminaries  too  long  to  relate, 
formally  proposed  to  me  a  match  with  a  young  person  of 
greater  wealth  than  Mademoiselle  Colleville." 

"Of  full  age  and  hysterical  ?"  asked  Cerizet. 

"No,  the  offer  was  not  enhanced  by  those  accessory  details ; 
but  there  was  another  point  which  may  perhaps  afford  a  clue. 
Madame  de  Godollo  desired  me,  if  I  cared  to  follow  the 
matter  up,  to  call  on  one  Monsieur  du  Portail,  gentleman." 

"Rue  Honore-Chevalier  ?"  asked  Cerizet  eagerly. 

"Just  so." 

"Well,  then,  it  is  certainly  the  same  match  offered  through 
two  intermediaries.  But  it  is  strange  that  I  should  not  have 
been  told  of  this  combination  of  forces." 

"So  that,  in  fact,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "you  not  only  had  no 
suspicion  of  the  Countess'  intervention,  out  you  do  not  know 
her,  and  can  give  me  no  information  about  her  ?" 

"At  this  moment  certainly  not,"  said  the  money-lender. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  337 

"But  I  shall  make  inquiries,  for  such  a  proceeding,  as  regards 
myself,  strikes  me  as  a  little  cool.  As  regards  you,  this  em- 
ployment of  two  agents  proves  how  suitable  the  family  think 
you." 

At  this  moment  the  door  of  the  office  was  cautiously  opened 
a  little  way;  a  woman's  head  appeared,  and  a  voice,  at  once 
recognized  by  la  Peyrade,  said : 

"Oh !  I  beg  pardon !  You  are  engaged,  sir.  Might  I 
speak  two  words  to  you,  sir,  when  you  are  alone?" 

Cerizet,  whose  eye  was  as  quick  as  his  pen,  noticed  this. 
La  Peyrade,  sitting  where  the  newcomer  could  see  him,  no 
sooner  heard  the  honeyed  drawl,  than  he  hastened  to  turn  his 
head  so  as  to  hide  his  features.  Consequently,  instead  of  dis- 
missing the  woman  roughly,  as  was  the  usual  treatment  ac- 
corded to  intruders  by  this  least  affable  and  kindly  of  copying- 
clerks,  the  modest  visitor  heard  the  words: 

"Come  in,  come  in,  Madame  Lambert;  you  would  have  to 
wait  a  long  time." 

"Oh !  monsieur !  The  advocate  of  the  poor !"  cried  his 
creditor,  whom  the  reader  has  no  doubt  recognized.  "How 
glad  I  am  to  meet  you,  sir.  I  had  been  several  times  to  your 
place  to  ask  whether  you  had  had  time  to  attend  to  my  little 
affair." 

"To  be  sure.  I  have  had  lately  many  occupations  that  have 
taken  me  out,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "But  everything  is  done, 
and  the  papers  sent  in  to  the  secretary." 

"How  good  you  are,  sir !"  said  the  pious  dame,  clasping  her 
hands. 

"What,  you  and  Madame  Lambert  have  business  together !" 
said  Cerizet ;  "you  did  not  tell  me  that.  Are  you  old  Picot's 
adviser  ?" 

"No,  indeed,  unfortunately,"  said  the  woman.  "My  master 
will  take  advice  of  no  one ;  he  is  so  wilful,  so  pigheaded.  But, 
my  dear  sir,  is  it  true  that  another  family  council  is  to  be 
held?" 

"Not  a  doubt  of  it,"  said  Cerizet,  "and  no  later  than  to- 
morrow." 


338  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"But  how  is  that,  monsieur,  when  the  judges  in  court  have 
decided  that  the  family  has  110  rights?" 

"Very  true,  yes,"  replied  the  clerk,  "the  lower  court  and 
the  Court  of  Appeal  rejected  the  application  on  the  part  of 
the  relations  for  a  commission  in  lunacy." 

"I  should  think  so,  indeed,"  said  Madame  Lambert. 
"Fancy  trying  to  make  out  that  such  a  capable  man  is  mad." 

"But  the  relations  will  not  give  in.  They  are  taking  the 
matter  up  from  another  side,  and  insist  on  the  appointment 
of  trustees  of  the  estate.  It  is  for  that  they  are  to  meet  to- 
morrow, and  this  time  I  think,  my  dear  Madame  Lambert, 
that  old  father  Picot  will  be  placed  in  leading-strings. 
There  are  some  very  serious  allegations;  to  pluck  the  bird 
a  little  is  one  thing,  but  not  till  it  is  quite  bare." 

"What !  Can  you  believe  ?"  said  the  woman,  raising  her 
clasped  hands  to  her  chin,  and  lifting  her  shoulders. 

"I !  I  believe  nothing,"  said  Cerizet,  "I  am  not  the  judge 
in  the  case.  But  the  relations  say  that  you  have  made  away 
with  considerable  sums  of  money,  and  made  investments 
which  they  mean  to  inquire  into." 

"Dear  Heaven !"  said  the  pious  soul,  "they  may  search.  I 
have  not  a  bond,  not  a  share,  not  a  note,  not  the  smallest 
security  in  my  possession." 

"Oho !"  said  Cerizet,  with  a  side  glance  at  la  Peyrade. 
"You  have  obliging  friends  who  take  charge — well,  well,  it 
is  no  concern  of  mine ;  people  must  go  their  own  way.  And 
what  in  particular  do  you  want  to  say  to  me  ?" 

"I  wanted,"  replied  the  bigot,  "to  entreat  you,  monsieur,  to 
ask  Monsieur  Dutocq  to  intercede  for  us  with  Monsieur  the 
Justice  of  the  Peace;  the  vicar  of  Saint- Jacques  will  speak 
for  us,  too.  Poor  old  man !"  she  added,  with  tears,  "if  they 
worry  him  so,  they  will  be  the  death  of  him." 

"The  Justice  of  the  Peace  is  against  you,  I  cannot  conceal 
the  fact,"  replied  Cerizet.  "The  other  day,  as  you  know,  he 
refused  to  see  you.  As  to  the  clerk  of  assize  and  myself,  there 
is  little  that  we  can  do.  And  besides,  my  good  lady,  you  are 
really  too  close  with  us." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  339 

"You  ask  me,  monsieur,  if  I  had  invested  any  little  savings. 
I  cannot  say  I  have,  when,  on  the  contrary,  all  my  own  /ittle 
money  has  been  spent  in  housekeeping  for  poor  Monsieur 
Pi-i-cot,  whom  I  am  accu-u-used  of  robbing." 

Madame  Lambert  had  come  to  sobs. 

"It  is  my  opinion,  and  I  tell  you  so  plainly,"  said  Cerizet, 
"that  you  make  yourself  out  much  poorer  than  you  are,  and 
if  my  friend  la  Peyrade,  who  seems  to  be  honored  with  your 
confidence,  were  not  tongue-tied  by  the  obligations  of  his  pro- 
fession  " 

"I,"  interrupted  la  Peyrade  quickly,  "I  know  nothing  of 
this  lady's  affairs.  She  came  to  me  to  draw  up  a  memorial 
for  her  in  a  matter  that  has  no  connection  with  either  law 
or  finance." 

"Ah,  yes ;  that  was  it,"  remarked  Cerizet.  "Madame  Lam- 
bert had  been  to  you  about  that  memorial  on  the  day  when 
Dutocq  met  her — the  day  after  the  famous  dinner  at  the 
Rocher  de  Cancale,  where  you  played  the  lord." 

And  then,  as  if  he  attached  no  importance  to  this  recollec- 
tion, he  added: 

"Well,  my  good  Madame  Lambert,  I  will  ask  the  Master 
to  speak  to  the  Justice,  and  if  I  have  a  chance  I  will  do  so 
myself ;  but  I  warn  you,  he  is  not  on  your  side/' 

Madame  Lambert  withdrew  with  many  courtesies  and 
many  protestations  of  gratitude. 

When  she  was  gone  la  Peyrade  spoke. 

"You  do  not  seem  to  believe,"  said  he,  "that  this  woman 
came  to  me  to  get  a  memorial  drawn  up.  It  is,  nevertheless, 
absolutely  true;  she  is  regarded  as  a  saint  in  the  street  where 
she  lives,  and  from  all  I  could  find  out  about  her,  the  old 
man,  whom  she  is  accused  of  fleecing,  lives  on  her  sacrifices. 
Consequently,  somebody  put  it  into  the  good  lady's  head  to 
try  for  one  of  the  Monthyon  prizes,  and  it  was  her  various 
claims  to  such  a  reward  that  she  asked  me  to  prove  and  set 
forth." 

"To  be  sure,  the  Monthyon  prizes !"  exclaimed  Cerizet. 
"That  is  a  hint,  my  dear  fellow,  and  we  are  foolish  not  to  try 


340  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

for  them  ourselves.  I,  especially,  being  the  banker  of  the 
poor,  as  you  are  their  advocate.  As  to  your  client,  she  may 
think  herself  lucky  that  old  Picot's  relatives  are  not  members 
of  the  Academy,  for  the  prize  for  virtue  they  would  award 
her  is  given  in  the  criminal  court. — But  to  return  to  our  own 
business;  as  I  was  saying,  I  advise  you  to  have  done  with 
shilly-shally,  and  like  your  Countess,  I  say  you  cannot  do 
better  than  go  to  call  on  du  Portail." 

"What  sort  of  man  is  he  ?"  asked  la  Peyrade. 

"A  little  old  man  as  delicate  as  amber,"  answered  Cerizet, 
"and  who  seems  to  me  to  have  quite  unlimited  credit.  Go. 
Seeing,  as  they  say,  costs  nothing." 

"Yes,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "I  may  possibly  go.  But  first  you 
must  find  out  who  and  what  is  this  Comtesse  de  Godollo." 

"What  is  the  Countess  to  you  ?"  said  Cerizet ;  "she  is  only  a 
supernumerary  in  the  play." 

"I  have  my  notions,"  said  the  lawyer.  "Within  two  or  three 
days  you  will  surely  know  where  you  stand  with  regard  to  her, 
and  then  I  will  call  on  you  again." 

"My  good  fellow,"  said  the  money-lender,  "you  seem  to 
me  to  be  dawdling  over  trifles  at  the  very  door.  Are  you  in 
love,  by  chance,  with  this  fair  matrimonial  agent  ?" 

"A  plague  on  the  man !"  thought  the  lawyer.  "He  guesses 
everything,  and  it  is  impossible  to  keep  one's  own  secrets. 
No,"  said  he  aloud,  "I  am  not  in  love;  on  the  contrary,  I  am 
cautious.  I  confess  that  I  nibble  but  feebly  at  this  marriage 
with  a  mad  woman,  and  before  embarking  on  the  enterprise,  I 
should  like  to  see  where  I  am  setting  foot.  This  roundabout 
method  of  proceeding  is  barely  satisfactory,  and  since  such 
various  influences  are  brought  to  bear,  I  will  try  to  check  one 
by  the  other.  So  do  not  try  any  of  your  tricks,  nor  give  me 
the  sort  of  information  concerning  the  Comtesse  Torna  de 
Godollo  that  you  can  spin  out  of  your  own  brain,  like  the 
description  in  a  passport ;  a  round  chin  and  oval  face — a  sad- 
dle to  fit  any  horse.  I  warn  you  that  I  am  quite  able  to  verify 
the  accuracy  of  your  report,  and  if  I  find  you  trying  to  play 
any  games  on  me,  I  have  nothing  to  say  to  your  du  Portail.'' 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  341 

"Play  any  games  on  you,  monseigneur ;  who  would  dare  try 
it  ?"  replied  Cerizet,  putting  on  the  tone  and  accent  of  Fre- 
derick Lemaitre. 

As  he  made  this  ironical  speech,  Dutocq  came  in,  followed 
by  his  under-clerk.  He  had  been  employed  on  business  in 
town. 

"Hallo !"  cried  he,  on  finding  la  Peyrade  with  Cerizet,  "be- 
hold the  Trinity  re-instituted.  But  the  object  of  the  alliance, 
the  casus  fosderis,  is  gone  down  stream,  it  seems.  What  have 
you  been  doing  to  our  worthy  Brigitte,  my  dear  la  Peyrade? 
She  is  mortally  offended  with  you." 

"And  Thuillier  ?"  asked  the  advocate. 

It  was  the  scene  in  Moliere  the  other  way  about;  Tartuffe 
asking  for  news  of  Orgon. 

"Thuillier  at  first  was  not  so  hostile ;  but  the  matter  of  the 
pamphlet,  it  would  seem,  is  not  looking  badly.  As  he  wants 
you  less,  he  is  beginning  to  swim  in  his  sister's  wake ;  and  as 
things  go  on  I  hardly  doubt  that  within  a  few  days,  if  the 
King's  Counsel  decide  that  there  is  no  case  against  him,  you 
will  be  a  man  to  be  hanged,  in  his  opinion." 

"Well,  I  am  out  of  that  mess,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "and  if  I  am 
ever  caught  in  such  another !  Good-bye,  my  dear  boys,"  he 
added.  "And  you,  Cerizet,  in  the  matter  I  spoke  to  you  about, 
promptitude,  accuracy,  and  secrecy." 

When  la  Peyrade  got  out  into  the  courtyard  of  the  Mairie, 
he  was  accosted  by  Madame  Lambert,  who  had  waited  for  him. 

"I  hope,  monsieur,"  she  said  unctuously,  "that  you  do  not 
believe  all  the  shocking  things  Monsieur  Cerizet  said  in  your 
presence.  You  know,  for  a  fact,  that  I  came  by  my  money 
through  inheritance  from  my  uncle  in  England  ?" 

"Well  and  good !"  said  la  Peyrade.  "But  you  must  under- 
stand that,  with  all  the  reports  put  about  by  your  master's 
relations,  there  is  little  enough  chance  for  you  of  the  prize 
for  virtue." 

"If  it  is  not  God's  will  that  I  should  obtain  it— 

"And  you  must  see,  too,  how  important  it  is,  for  your 
own  sake,  that  you  should  keep  the  secret  of  the  service  I 


842  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

have  done  you.  At  the  very  first  breath  of  indiscretion,  as  I 
told  you,  the  money  will  be  returned  to  you  without  mercy." 

"Oh,  sir,  you  may  be  quite  easy." 

"Well,  then,  good-bye,  my  dear,"  said  la  Peyrade,  in  a 
patronizing  tone. 

As  he  went  away  he  heard  a  voice  calling  from  a  window 
on  the  stairs : 

"Madame  Lambert!" 

It  was  Cerizet,  who  suspected  this  meeting,  and  came  to 
make  sure. 

"Madame  Lambert,"  he  repeated,  "Monsieur  Dutocq  is 
come  in,  and  if  you  want  to  speak  to  him " 

La  Peyrade  had  no  means  of  hindering  the  interview, 
though  he  felt  that  the  secret  of  his  borrowing  from  the  wo- 
man would  be  in  the  greatest  danger. 

"Decidedly,"  thought  he,  as  he  went  on  his  way,  "I  am  out 
of  luck.  I  do  not  see  the  end  of  it." 

There  was  so  strong  an  instinct  of  dominion  in  Brigitte 
that  it  was  without  regret,  nay,  it  must  be  said,  with  secret 
joy,  that  she  saw  Madame  de  Godollo  disappear.  That  wo- 
man, she  was  well  aware,  was  her  superior  to  a  crushing 
degree;  and  this,  though  it  added  to  the  good  effect  of  her 
house,  at  the  same  time  put  her  ill  at  ease ;  so,  when  the  part- 
ing took  place,  on  perfectly  good  terms  and  under  a  plausible 
and  decent  pretext,  Miss  Thuillier  breathed  more  freely. 
She  was  like  a  sovereign  who  has  been  long  overborne  by  a 
domineering  but  indispensable  minister,  and  who  illuminates 
his  heart  on  the  day  when  death  comes  to  deliver  him  from 
the  tyrant  whose  services  and  rival  influence  he  has  so  im- 
patiently endured. 

Thuillier  was  not  far  from  feeling  the  same  with  regard 
to  la  Peyrade.  But  Madame  de  Godollo  had  only  added 
elegance,  whereas  the  advocate  had  been  useful  in  the  house 
they  had  almost  simultaneously  abandoned;  and  by  the  end 
of  a  few  days,  the  presence  of  the  Provengal  was  a  want 
keenly  felt,  as  prospectuses  say,  in  his  "dear  fellow's"  political 
and  literary  plans. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  343 

The  town  councillor  found  himself  suddenly  called  upon 
to  draw  up  an  important  report.  He  could  not  shirk  the 
task  which  had  fallen  to  him  a$  a  result  of  the  reputation 
his  pamphlet  had  earned  him  as  a  clever  writer  and  a  man 
of  letters;  and  confronted  with  the  perilous  honor  conferred 
on  him  by  his  colleagues  of  the  Municipal  Board,  he  felt 
overwhelmed  by  his  isolation  and  incapacity. 

In  vain  did  he  shut  himself  up  in  his  study,  gorge  him- 
self with  black  coffee,  mend  his  pens,  and  write  twenty 
times  over,  on  paper  which  he  carefully  cut  to  the  exact  size 
of  that  used  by  la  Peyrade,  "A  Report  to  the  Worshipful 
Members  of  the  Municipal  Council  of  the  City  of  Paris;" 
adding  on  a  separate  line  a  grandly  engrossed  "Gentlemen" 
and  then  rush  frantically  out  to  complain  that  a  fearful 
racket  checked  the  flow  of  his  ideas,  when  some  one  in  the 
house  had  merely  shut  a  door,  opened  a  cupboard,  or  moved 
a  chair.  All  this  did  not  advance  matters,  nor  even  begin 
the  composition. 

Fortunately,  Eabourdin  wanted  to  make  some  little  alter- 
ation in  the  arrangement  of  the  rooms  he  occupied,  and  he 
came,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  submit  the  plan  to  the  land- 
lord. Thuillier  eagerly  consented,  and  he  then  spoke  to  his 
tenant  of  the  report  he  was  to  draw  up,  being  anxious,  as  he 
said,  to  have  his  opinion  on  the  subject  of  it. 

Eabourdin,  to  whom  no  detail  of  official  work  was  un- 
familiar, at  once  shed  a  vast  amount  of  clear  and  helpful 
light  on  the  question  submitted  to  him.  He  was  one  of  those 
men  to  whom  the  intellectual  character  of  their  hearers  is 
a  matter  of  indifference ;  a  fool  or  a  clever  man  serves  equally 
well  to  spur  them  to  think  aloud,  and  is  an  equally  efficient 
exciting  cause. 

When  he  had  done,  Eabourdin  saw  perfectly  that  Thuil- 
lier had  not  understood  him;  but  he  had  listened  to  himself 
with  much  pleasure;  he  was  grateful,  too,  for  his  hearer's 
attention,  obtuse  as  it  was,  and  for  his  landlord's  readiness  to 
grant  his  request. 

"Indeed,"  he  added,  as  he  went  away,  "I  must  have  some 


344  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

notes  on  the  subject  among  my  papers;  I  will  look  them  up 
and  send  them  to  you." 

And  that  evening  he  sent  a  voluminous  manuscript  to 
Thuillier,  who  spent  the  night  in  drawing  on  this  valuable 
well-spring  of  ideas.  He  finally  extracted  more  than  he 
needed  to  compose  a  really  remarkable  paper,  in  spite  of  a 
somewhat  inept  use  of  his  plunder. 

The  report,  which  was  read  two  days  after  to  the  Council, 
had  an  immense  success,  and  Thuillier  came  home  beaming 
from  the  compliments  he  had  received.  From  that  hour — 
for  even  in  his  old  age  he  would  still  talk  of  "the"  report  I 
had  the  honor  of  laying  before  the  Municipal  Council  of  the 
Seine" — la  Peyrade  sank  considerably  in  his  estimation;  he 
thought  he  could  henceforth  well  dispense  with  the  Pro- 
vengal's  services,  and  thus  proudly  emancipated,  he  encour- 
aged himself  with  the  prospect  of  another  piece  of  fortune 
which  came  upon  him  at  about  the  same  time. 

A  parliamentary  crisis  was  impending;  this  suggested  to 
the  Ministry  that,  with  a  view  to  depriving  the  opposition 
of  a  ground  of  hostility,  which  always  strongly  influences 
public  opinion,  they  would  do  well  to  relax  the  rigorous 
measures  which  had  of  late  been  too  strenuously  dealt  to  the 
press.  Thuillier  was  included  in  this  hypocritical  amnesty, 
and  received  a  letter  one  morning  from  the  advocate  he  had 
engaged  instead  of  la  Peyrade.  This  letter  informed  him 
that  the  Council  had  dismissed  the  case,  and  that  the  seizure 
of  the  documents  was  nullified. 

Then  Dutocq's  prophecy  came  true.  With,  this  load  re- 
moved, Thuillier  swaggered  over  the  dismissal  of  the  case, 
and,  joining  in  chorus  with  Brigitte,  he  spoke  of  la  Peyrade 
as  a  sort  of  sneak  whom  he  had  nourished,  who  had  swindled 
him  of  considerable  sums,  and  behaved  with  the  grossest 
ingratitude,  and  whom  he  rejoiced  no  longer  to  count  among 
his  acquaintance.  Orgon,  in  short,  had  rebelled,  and  like 
Dorine,  would  have  been  ready  to  cry : 

"A  pauper  who  came  without  shoes  to  his  feet, 
Whose  clothes  not  a  beggar  would  wear  in  the  street." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  345 

C6rizet,  to  whom  Dutocq  duly  reported  these  indignities, 
would  not  have  failed  to  repeat  them  all  hot  to  la  Peyrade; 
but  the  interview  with  the  copying-clerk,  when  he  was  to 
supply  the  required  information,  never  took  place.  La  Pey- 
rade found  out  the  truth  for  himself. 

This  was  what  happened. 

Haunted  persistently  by  the  thought  of  the  fair  Hunga- 
rian, while  waiting — or  rather  without  waiting — for  the  re- 
sult of  Cerizet's  investigations,  he  tramped  all  over  Paris, 
and  was  to  be  seen  like  the  idlest  of  loafers  in  all  the  most 
crowded  resorts,  his  heart  persuading  him  that  at  any  moment 
he  might  meet  the  object  of  his  burning  search. 

One  evening  in  the  middle  of  October, — the  autumn  was 
splendid,  as  it  often  is  in  Paris, — on  the  boulevards  where 
the  lawyer  aired  his  passion  and  his  melancholy,  the  bustle 
of  out-of-door  life  was  as  lively  as  in  the  middle  of  the 
summer. 

On  the  Boulevard  des  Italiens,  formerly  called  the  Boule- 
vard de  Gand,  as  he  wandered  past  the  row  of  chairs  in  front 
of  the  Cafe  de  Paris,  where  an  espalier  of  fly-by-night  beauties 
await  the  gloved  hand  that  shall  pluck  them,  mixing  mean- 
while with  married  wives  from  the  Chaussee  d'Antin,  ac- 
companied by  their  husbands  and  children,  la  Peyrade  was 
suddenly  pierced  to  the  heart;  he  saw  from  afar  his  adored 
Countess. 

She  was  alone,  and  in  a  splendor  of  dress  which  seemed 
scarcely  appropriate  to  the  place  and  to  her  loneliness; 'in 
a  chair  in  front  of  her  was  a  little  white  dog,  which  she 
was  caressing  with  her  elegant  hands. 

After  convincing  himself  that  he  was  not  mistaken,  the 
lawyer  was  rushing  to  greet  the  heavenly  vision,  when  he 
was  outstripped  by  a  lion  of  the  most  conquering  type ;  with- 
out throwing  away  his  cigar,  or  even  lifting  his  hat,  this 
fine  young  gentleman  began  to  talk  with  the  Ideal  Being. 
As  she  caught  sight  of  the  Provengal,  very  pale  and  about 
to  address  her,  the  siren  no  doubt  took  fright,  for  she  rose, 
and  hastily  taking  the  young  man's  arm: 


346  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Is  your  carriage  here,  Smile?"  said  she,  "it  is  the  last 
night  at  Mabille,  and  I  want  to  go." 

The  name  of  that  disreputable  resort,  thus  flung  at  the 
unhappy  lawyer,  was  in  fact  a  boon,  for  it  saved  him  from  a 
signal  act  of  folly ;  that  of  speaking  to  a  woman  arm  in  arm 
with  a  man  so  suddenly  constituted  her  protector — a  worth- 
less creature  of  whom  he  had  been  thinking  with  a  world  of 
tenderness,  only  a  few  minutes  since. 

"She  is  not  worth  insulting,"  said  he  to  himself. 

But,  as  lovers  are  not  easily  driven  to  raise  a  siege  when 
they  have  begun  it,  the  Provengal  would  not  yet  believe  that 
he  knew  all. 

Not  far  from  the  seat  just  left  by  the  Hungarian  lady, 
sat  another  woman,  also  alone,  but  she  was  elderly,  with  a 
feathered  bonnet ;  and  under  an  Indian  shawl,  a  worn  stand- 
ard with  colors  faded  by  time,  were  some  pitiable  relics  of 
tarnished  elegance,  and  shabby,  unfashionable  magnificence. 
Her  whole  appearance,  in  short,  was  not  imposing  or  respect- 
inspiring — on  the  contrary.  So  la  Peyrade  sat  down  next 
this  matron,  and  addressing  her  without  ceremony,  asked 
her: 

"Do  you,  madame,  happen  to  know  the  woman  who  has 
just  gone  off  on  a  gentleman's  arm?" 

"Certainly  I  do,  monsieur.  I  know  nearly  all  those  ladies 
who  come  here." 

"And  her  name  is?" 

"Madame  Komorn." 

"Is  she  as  impregnable  as  the  fortress  whose  name  she 
bears?"  asked  the  lawyer. 

•  It  may  be  remembered  that  at  the  time  of  the  revolution 
in  Hungary,  our  ears  were  constantly  pestered  by  novel- 
writers  and  the  newspaper  press,  with  the  famous  citadel 
of  Komorn,  and  la  Peyrade  knew  that  an  inquiry  started  with 
apparent  indifference  and  levity  is  always  more  likely  to  be 
successful. 

"Did  you  think  of  making  her  acquaintance,  monsieur  ?" 

"I  do  not  know,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "But  she  is  a  woman 
to  be  remembered." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  347 

"And  a  very  dangerous  woman,  monsieur,"  replied  the 
matron;  "a  leech  for  monej',  and  without  any  propensity  for 
a  generous  acknowledgment  of  anything  done  for  her.  I 
speak  of  what  I  know;  when  she  came  here  from  Berlin,  six 
months  ago,  she  was  very  highly  introduced  to  me." 

"Indeed  !"  said  la  Peyrade  eagerly. 

"Yes,  I  had  a  very  fine  place  at  that  time,  near  Ville 
d'Avray, — a  park,  preserves,  a  fishing-stream, — and  as  I  was 
dull  there,  all  by  myself,  and  had  not  money  enough  to  lead 
a  genteel  country  life,  several  gentlemen  and  ladies  said  to 
me:  'Madame  Louchard,  you  ought  to  get  up  parties,  pic- 
nics—' 

"Madame  Louchard  ?"  exclaimed  la  Peyrade.  "Are  you  re- 
lated to  Monsieur  Louchard,  of  the  commercial  police?" 

"I  am  his  wife,  sir,  but  legally  separated.  A  dreadful 
man,  who  only  wanted  me  to  make  it  up  again.  But,  no !  I 
can  forgive  anything  but  want  of  consideration;  when  I 
tell  you  that  one  day  he  dared  to  raise  his  hand  to  strike 
me " 

"And  so  you  arranged  the  picnics,"  said  la  Peyrade,  to 
bring  the  lady  back  to  the  point,  "and  Madame  de  Godollo — 
Madame  Komorn,  I  should  sa}r ?" 

"She  was  one  of  the  first  to  dwell  under  my  roof.  There 
she  made  the  acquaintance  of  an  Italian,  a  very  genteel  young 
man,  a  political  refugee,  but  quite  high  class.  As  you  may 
suppose,  I  did  not  choose  that  any  intrigues  should  be  carried 
on  in  my  house ;  but  the  poor  man  was  so  much  in  love,  and 
so  unhappy  because  Madame  Komorn  would  have  nothing  to 
say  to  him,  that  I  really  took  an  interest  in  his  love-affair — 
which  was  a  very  good  stroke  of  business  for  that  madam, 
for  she  got  large  sums  out  of  the  Italian  gentleman.  Well, 
and  would  you  believe  that,  when  I  happened  to  stand  in  need 
of  a  small  sum,  and  asked  her  to  oblige  me,  she  refused  point- 
blank,  and  left  the  house,  taking  her  young  man  with  her; 
and  he  has  had  no  reason  to  rejoice  over  the  connection." 

"Why.  what  happened  to  him?"  asked  la  Peyrade. 

"What  happened  was  that   that  viper  knows  every  Ian- 


348  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

guage  of  Europe;  that  she  is  clever  down  to  the  ends  of  her 
finger-nails,  and  even  more  intriguing;  and  being,  it  would 
seem,  in  some  way  employed  by  the  police,  she  handed  over 
to  the  Government  some  papers  her  Italian  had  left  about, 
so  that  he  was  packed  out  of  this  country." 

"And  since  the  Italian  left,  Madame  Komorn ?" 

"Since  then  she  has  had  many  adventures  and  damaged 
some  fine  fortunes;  I  thought  she  had  vanished.  For  more 
than  two  months  she  remained  perfectly  invisible,  till  the 
other  day  she  reappeared,  more  splendid  than  ever.  For  my 
part,  I  cannot  advise  you,  monsieur,  to  run  after  her.  At 
the  same  time,  you  look  like  a  southerner;  you  have  your 
passions,  no  doubt,  and  perhaps  all  I  have  told  you  has  only 
fired  your  fancy.  And,  after  all,  being  warned,  there  is  no 
great  danger;  you  honor  your  saint  as  you  find  her.  And  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  she  is  a  fascinating  woman,  oh,  most 
fascinating.  She  was  really  very  fond  of  me,  though  we  did 
not  part  friends;  and  only  just  now  she  asked  me  my  address 
that  she  might  come  to  see  me." 

"Well,  madame,  I  will  think  it  over,"  said  la  Peyrade,  ris- 
ing and  bowing. 

The  bow  was  returned  with  stern  coldness;  his  abrupt  de- 
parture showed  that  he  did  not  really  mean  business. 

On  finding  the  lawyer  making  his  investigation  almost 
gayly,  the  reader  might  suppose  that  he  was  suddenly  cured ; 
but  this  superficial  coolness  and  impartiality  were  but  the  un- 
wonted calm  which  precedes  a  tempest. 

On  leaving  Madame  Louchard,  la  Peyrade  jumped  into  a 
hackney  cab,  and  then  a  deluge  of  tears,  like  that  which 
Madame  Colleville  had  witnessed  on  the  occasion  of  the 
bidding  for  the  house,  when  he  believed  Cerizet  to  have 
cheated  him,  was  the  first  explosion  of  his  grief. 

The  siege  he  had  so  elaborately  and  patiently  laid  to  the 
Thuilliers,  at  the  cost  of  so  many  sacrifices,  now  absolutely 
useless;  Flavie  so  completely  avenged  for  the  atrocious  farce 
he  had  played  with  her;  his  affairs  in  a  worse  plight  now 
than  when  Cerizet  and  Dutocq  had  shut  him  up,  like  a  wolf 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  349 

in  the  fold,  from  which  he  was  now  driven  out  like  a  mere 
silly  sheep;  then  the  schemes  prompted  by  hatred  to  ruin 
the  woman  who  had  so  easily  got  the  better  of  him  in  spite  of 
all  his  skill,  and  the  still  lively  remembrance  of  the  charms 
to  which  he  had  succumbed, — these  were  the  thoughts  and 
emotions  of  a  night  spent  in  waking,  or  in  sleep  disturbed  by 
painful  dreams. 

By  morning  la  Peyrade  had  ceased  to  think;  he  was  in 
a  violent  fever,  and  the  complications  were  sufficiently  serious 
for  the  physician,  who  was  called  in,  to  take  precautions 
against  the  development  of  brain  fever,  of  which  the  sym- 
toms  supervened.  Leeches,  bleeding,  ice  on  his  head — these 
were  the  delightful  sequel  to  the  Provengal's  dream  of  love; 
but  then  it  must  be  said  that  the  crisis  to  his  constitution 
physically  led  to  a  complete  cure  of  the  moral  malady.  The 
advocate  no  longer  felt  anything  but  the  coldest  contempt 
for  the  treacherous  Hungarian,  not  even  rising  to  the  notion  of 
revenge. 

Restored  to  health,  and  seriously  considering  his  future 
prospects,  having  lost  so  much  ground,  la  Peyrade  asked  him- 
self whether  it  would  not  be  wise  to  patch  up  his  quarrel  with 
the  Thuilliers,  or  whether  he  had  better  continue  his  road 
in  the  company  of  the  crazy  heiress  who  had  gold  where 
others  have  a  brain.  But  everything  that  could  remind  him 
of  his  disastrous  experience  filled  him  with  invincible  disgust ; 
besides,  what  security  had  he  in  dealing  with  this  du  Portail, 
who  could  bring  into  the  range  of  the  means  he  employed 
instruments  of  such  base  quality  ? 

Great  agitations  of  soul  are  like  storms  that  purify  the 
atmosphere;  they  give  tone  and  bring  counsel  of  strong  and 
generous  resolve. 

La  Peyrade,  after  the  mortification  he  had  suffered,  was 
led  to  introspection.  He  looked  back  on  the  life  of  base 
and  ignoble  intrigue  he  had  been  leading  for  a  year  past. 
Was  there  no  better,  no  nobler  use  to  be  made  of  the  high 
faculties  of  which  he  was  conscious?  The  bar  was  open  to 


350  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

him  as  to  all;  and  this  was  a  broad  and  direct  road  which 
might  lead  him  to  the  satisfaction  of  every  legitimate  am- 
bition. Like  Figaro,  who,  merely  to  live,  had  expended  more 
science  and  learning  than  had  been  brought  to  bear  in  a 
century  on  the  government  of  the  Spanish  Empire,  he,  to 
establish  and  maintain  his  footing  in  the  Thuilliers'  house  and 
to  marry  the  daughter  of  a  musician  and  a  flirt,  had  laid  out 
more  wit,  more  art,  and — it  must  be  said,  since  in  so  corrupt  a 
society  it  is  a  factor  to  be  counted  with — more  dishonesty  than 
would  have  been  needed  to  get  on  in  an  honorable  career. 

"Enough,"  thought  he  to  himself,  "of  such  acquaintances 
as  Dutocq  and  Cerizet;  enough  of  the  nauseous  atmosphere 
that  is  breathed  in  the  world  of  the  Minards,  the  Phellions, 
the  Collevilles,  the  Barniols,  the  Laudigeois!  Let  me  live  in 
Paris,  and  shake  off  this  provincial  life  in  town,  which  is  a 
thousand  times  more  absurd  and  more  petty  than  provincial 
life  in  the  country.  That,  with  all  its  narrowness,  had  at 
least  its  individuality  and  a  dignity  sui  generis;  it  is  hon- 
estly what  is  it,  the  antipodes  of  Paris  life;  this  is  but  its 
parody." 

La  Peyrade,  in  consequence,  went  to  call  on  two  or  three 
attorneys  who  had  offered  to  introduce  him  to  the  courts  by 
giving  him  some  second-class  cases;  he  accepted  those  that 
were  at  once  offered  him,  and  three  weeks  after  his  quarrel 
with  the  Thuilliers  he  had  ceased  to  be  the  advocate  of  the  poor 
and  had  become  a  recognized  pleader. 

La  Peyrade  had  already  defended  some  cases  with  success, 
when  a  letter  reached  him  one  morning  which  disturbed  him 
greatly.  The  president  of  the  Association  of  Advocates 
begged  him  to  call  on  him  in  his  chambers  in  the  Palais  in 
the  course  of  the  day;  something  of  importance  was  to  be 
communicated  to  him. 

The  house  near  the  Madeleine  at  once  occurred  to  him. 
This  transaction,  if  it  had  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Board 
of  Control,  would  render  him  immediately  answerable  to  that 
body,  and  he  knew  how  strict  the  rules  were. 

Now,  du  Portail,  on  whom  he  had  not  yet  called,  in  spite  of 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  351 

the  half  promise  made  to  Cerizet,  might  have  heard  the  whole 
story  from  Cerizet  himself.  To  that  man,  if  he  might  judge 
from  his  employing  the  Hungarian,  all  ways  and  means  were 
acceptable.  In  his  determination  to  arrange  the  crazy  girl's 
marriage,  it  was  quite  possible  that  the  maniac,  du  Portail, 
might  have  reported  him  to  the  board.  Might  not  his  perse- 
cutor, on  seeing  him  starting  with  courage  and  some  prospects 
of  success  in  a  career  that  promised  independence  and  fortune, 
have  made  up  his  mind  to  render  his  advancement  impossible  ? 
This  certainly  was  probable  enough  to  make  the  lawyer  look 
forward  with  anxiety  to  the  moment  when  he  should  be  able  to 
verify  the  exact  nature  of  this  alarming  invitation. 

While  the  Provengal  gave  himself  up  to  conjecture  over  a 
frugal  breakfast,  Madame  Coffmet,  whose  privilege  it  was  to 
do  his  rooms,  came  to  ask  him  if  he  would  receive  Monsieur 
fitienne  Lousteau. 

fitienne  Lousteau  !  La  Peyrade  fancied  he  had  somewhere 
seen  the  name. 

"Show  him  into  my  private  room,"  said  he. 

And  a  moment  later  he  went  to  greet  the  visitor,  whose  face, 
too,  was  not  altogether  unknown  to  him. 

"Monsieur,"  said  he  to  la  Peyrade,  "I  had  the  honor  of 
breakfasting  in  your  company  not  long  ago  at  Vefour's.  I 
was  invited  to  that  entertainment,  which  did  not  go  quite 
smoothly,  by  your  friend  Monsieur  Thuillier." 

"Ah,  to  be  sure,"  said  the  lawyer,  giving  him  a  chair,  "you 
are  employed  on  some  newspaper." 

"Editor  of  Echo  de  la  Bievre;  and  it  is  with  regard  to  that 
paper  that  I  wish  to  speak  with  you.  You  know  what  is 
going  on?" 

"No,"  said  la  Peyrade. 

"What  ?  not  that  the  Ministry  met  with  a  severe  rebuff  yes- 
terday, and  that  instead  of  retiring  as  everybody  expected, 
they  have  dissolved  Parliament  and  intend  to  appeal  to  the 
country." 

"I  knew  nothing  of  it,"  said  la  Peyrade;  "I  have  not  read 
the  morning's  papers." 


352  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"So  the  campaign  of  parliamentary  ambitions  has  begun, 
and,  if  I  am  well  informed,  Monsieur  Thuillier,  a  member 
already  of  the  Municipal  Council,  will  be  getting  himself 
nominated  as  candidate  for  the  twelfth  arrondissement." 

"That,  no  doubt,  will  be  his  next  step." 

"Well,  then,  monsieur,  I  should  wish  to  place  at  his  dis- 
posal an  organ  of  which  I  fancy  you  will  appreciate  the  value. 
The  Echo  de  la  Bievre,  as  a  local  paper,  may  have  an  im- 
portant influence  on  the  election  in  that  district." 

"And  you  are  prepared  to  use  that  influence  to  support 
Thuillier's  election  ?"  asked  la  Peyrade. 

"More  than  that,"  replied  £tienne  Lousteau.  "I  wish  to 
propose  to  Monsieur  Thuillier  that  ho  should  become  the 
owner  of  the  paper;  as  the  owner  he  can  command  it  as  a 
master." 

"But  in  the  first  place/'  said  the  lawyer,  "what  position 
does  the  paper  hold?  As  a  local  paper,  as  you  say,  I  have 
scarcely  come  across  it;  indeed,  it  would  be  altogether  un- 
known to  me  but  for  the  remarkable  article  you  were  good 
enough  to  publish  in  Thuillier's  defence,  when  his  pamphlet 
was  seized." 

Lousteau  bowed  in  acknowledgment ;  then  he  went  on : 

"The  position  is  sound,  and  we  could  sell  on  very  reason- 
able terms,  for  we  were  on  the  point  of  giving  it  up." 

"That  is  strange,  with  a  prosperous  paper." 

"Not  at  all,  nothing  can  be  more  natural,"  said  Lousteau. 
"The  founders,  all  representative  men  of  the  great  leather 
industries,  had  started  the  paper  for  a  special  end.  That  end 
is  achieved;  the  Echo  de  la  Bievre  remained  an  effect  with- 
out a  cause.  Under  these  circumstances,  for  shareholders 
who  do  not  care  for  unnecessary  trouble  or  fag  ends  of  busi- 
ness, and  who  do  not  fancy  small  investments,  the  simplest 
thing  is  to  sell  the  concern." 

"Well"  said  la  Peyrade,  "but  does  the  paper  pay  its  way ?" 

"That,"  said  Lousteau,  "is  a  matter  we  have  never  troubled 
ourselves  about.  We  never  looked  for  subscribers.  The  ma- 
chinery was  simply  put  in  motion  to  exert  a  direct  effect 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  353 

on  the  Ministry  of  Commerce  to  secure  an  increased  duty  on 
imported  leather.  This,  as  you  may  suppose,  was  not  a 
matter  to  fire  the  enthusiasm  of  the  public  outside  the  trade." 

"But  I  certainly  supposed,"  said  la  Peyrade  doggedly, 
"that  a  newspaper,  however  limited  its  aim,  was  a  lever  of 
which  the  force  must  depend  on  the  number  of  subscribers'?" 

"Not  in  the  case  of  a  paper  started  for  a  definite  pur- 
pose," replied  Lousteau  pompously.  "In  that  case,  on  the 
contrary,  subscribers  are  a  trouble;  they  want  to  be  catered 
for  and  amused,  and  meanwhile  the  aim  in  view  is  neglected. 
A  paper  working  within  restricted  limits  ought  to  be  a  lens, 
which,  being  constantly  focused  to  a  certain  spot,  makes  the 
gun  go  off  at  the  right  moment." 

"Very  well,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "and  what  value  do  you 
suppose  such  a  publication  to  stand  at,  when  it  has  few  or 
no  subscribers,  and  does  not  pay  its  way,  especially  when  it 
has  hitherto  been  devoted  to  a  quite  different  purpose  from 
that  to  which  it  must  henceforward  be  directed?" 

"Before  answering  you,"  said  Lousteau,  "I  must  ask  you  a 
question:  Are  you  thinking  of  buying?" 

"That  must  depend  on  circumstances,"  said  the  lawyer. 
"Of  course  I  must  see  Thuillier;  but  I  may  say  at  once  that 
he  has  no  sort  of  experience  in  the  business  of  a  newspaper; 
that,  to  his  narrow  and  commonplace  ideas,  a  newspaper  is 
an  almost  ruinous  form  of  property.  Consequently,  if,  when 
presenting  to  his  mind  an  entirely  novel  idea  which  cannot 
fail  to  scare  him,  you  at  the  same  time  name  a  formidable 
figure,  it  is  quite  useless  to  broach  the  matter.  I  can  tell 
you  at  once  that  it  will  come  to  nothing." 

"No,"  answered  Lousteau,  "as  I  have  told  you,  we  will  bo 
reasonable,  and  the  gentlemen  have  given  me  a  free  hand. 
At  the  same  time  I  may  tell  you  that  we  have  several  offers, 
and  that  in  giving  Monsieur  Thuillier  the  refusal  we  believe 
ourselves  to  be  doing  him  a  special  service.  When  may  I 
hope  for  a  reply  ?" 

"By  to-morrow,  I  think.  Shall  I  do  myself  the  honor  of 
calling  on  you,  or  at  the  office  of  the  paper  ?" 


354  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"No,"  said  Lousteau,  rising,  "I  will  be  here  at  the  same 
hour  to-morrow,  if  that  suits  you." 

"Perfectly,"  said  la  Peyrade,  seeing  out  his  visitor,  who 
struck  him  as  self-sufficient  rather  than  capable. 

The  reader  will  have  understood,  from  la  Peyrade's  way  of 
meeting  the  suggestion  that  he  was  to  play  the  go-between 
to  Thuillier,  that  a  sudden  change  had  come  over  his  notions 
of  things.  Even  if  he  had  not  received  that  disturbing 
note  from  the  President  of  the  Association,  the  new  position 
in  which  Thuillier  now  found  himself  by  the  opportunity 
afforded  to  his  parliamentary  ambition,  would  have  given 
him  much  to  think  about.  His  "dear  fellow"  would  evidently 
be  brought  back  to  him,  and  his  mania  for  sitting  in  the 
Chamber  would  hand  Thuillier  over  to  him,  bound  hand  and 
foot.  Was  not  this  an  opportunity,  while  hedging  himself  be- 
hind all  the  cautions  suggested  by  past  experience,  for  re- 
opening the  question  of  his  marriage  to  Celeste  ?  This  possi- 
ble conclusion,  far  from  invalidating  the  good  resolutions 
formed  at  the  time  of  his  luckless  love-affair  and  his  fever, 
would,  on  the  contrary,  secure  their  fulfilment  and  success. 
Still,  if,  as  might  be  feared,  he  should  receive  from  the  Board 
of  Control  of  his  Society  one  of  those  reprimands  which  crush 
a  career  at  the  outset,  it  would  seem  natural  enough  that  he 
should  look  for  the  remedy  to  the  originator  of  the  mischief ; 
it  was  his  instinct  and  his  right  to  apply  to  the  Thuilliers 
for  protection,  as  the  accomplices  of  his  ill  deed  and  the  first 
cause  of  his  overthrow. 

And  thinking  over  all  these  things,  la  Peyrade  made  his 
way  to  wait  on  the  President  at  the  Palais  de  Justice. 

He  had  guessed  rightly ;  in  a  clear  and  circumstantial  state- 
ment, a  report  of  all  he  had  done  in  the  matter  of  the  house 
had  been  laid  before  the  council  of  his  fellow-advocates;  and 
the  dignitary  of  the  Association,  while  admitting  that  an 
anonymous  indictment  must  always  be  regarded  with  extreme 
suspicion,  explained  to  the  accused  that  he  was  prepared  te 
accept  his  explanations. 

La  Peyrade  dared  not  risk  a  formal  denial  of  the  charges. 
The  hand  that  had  dealt  the  blow  was,  he  felt  sure,  too  de- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  355 

termined  and  too  skilful  to  be  unsupported  by  proofs.  But, 
while  acknowledging  the  fundamental  accuracy  of  the  state- 
ment, he  tried  to  give  the  facts  a  presentable  aspect. 

He  understood,  however,  that  he  had  not  won  the  day  when 
the  President  of  the  Board  made  reply : 

"Immediately  after  the  next  vacation  I  will  lay  the  matter 
before  the  council — both  the  information  against  you,  and 
your  plea  on  your  own  behalf.  Only  the  council  can  pro- 
nounce judgment  in  so  important  a  case." 

Thus  dismissed,  la  Peyrade  saw  that  his  prospects  as  a 
pleader  were  in  danger.  However,  there  was  a  respite,  and 
in  case  of  the  worst,  he  might  find  where  to  lay  his  head. 
He  put  on  his  gown,  which  he  still  had  the  right  to  wear,  and 
went  into  court,  where  he  had  a  case  to  argue. 

On  coming  out  of  court,  loaded  with  one  of  those  bundles 
of  briefs  which  are  carried  tied  up  with  a  webbing  strap,  and 
being  too  big  to  tuck  under  one  arm,  are  necessarily  balanced 
on  the  forearm  and  hand,  propped  against  the  body,  the 
Provengal  began  to  walk  along  the  gallery  known  as  the  Salle 
des  pas  perdus,  with  the  hurried  gait  of  a  man  who  is  so  busy 
that  he  only  wishes  he  could  be  in  two  places  at  once. 

Whether  he  had  really  got  heated  over  his  defence,  or 
merely  affected  to  be  in  a  violent  perspiration  so  as  to  prove 
that  his  gown  was  not  for  show  only,  but  his  panoply  in  the 
fight,  he  was  mopping  his  brow  with  his  handkerchief  as  he 
went,  when  from  afar  he  caught  sight  of  his  Thuillier,  who 
had  just  seen  him  in  the  vast  hall  and  was  bearing  down  upon 
him. 

The  meeting  did  not  surprise  him.  On  leaving  home  he 
had  told  Madame  Coffinet  that  he  was  going  into  court  and 
should  remain  there  till  three  o'clock,  so  that  she  should  send 
everybody  on  who  wanted  to  see  him. 

Not  wishing  to  make  matters  too  easy  for  Thuillier,  la 
Peyrade  turned  round,  as  if  he  had  suddenly  remembered 
something,  and  sat  down  on  one  of  the  benches  that  are 
placed  all  round  that  great  ante-room  to  justice.  He  then 
unstrapped  his  bundle,  took  out  some  papers,  and  buried  him- 


S5G  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

self  behind  them  with  the  air  of  a  man  who  has  not  had 
time  to  study  in  his  private  room  the  case  which  his  readiness 
of  thought  and  speech  will  enable  him  to  plead  at  sight.  Or 
this  airy  reference  to  his  papers  in  this  public  spot  might 
be  regarded  as  the  act  of  a  cautious  and  conscientious  pleader, 
refreshing  his  memory  and  giving  a  last  glance  at  his  forces 
before  engaging  the  foe. 

All  this  time,  of  course,  the  Provengal  was  watching 
Thuillier's  manoeuvres  out  of  the  corner  of  his  eye;  and  he, 
supposing  la  Peyrade  to  be  engrossed  in  serious  business,  was 
doubting  how  to  address  him. 

After  a  few  turns  up  and  down,  the  Town  Councillor  at 
last  made  up  his  mind,  and  making  straight  sail  for  the  point 
towards  which  he  had  for  the  last  quarter  of  an  hour  been 
mentally  steering: 

"Why,  Theodose !"  he  exclaimed.  "Then  you  are  often  in 
court  now?" 

"Well,  it  seems  to  me,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "that  a  pleader  in 
the  law-courts  is  like  a  Turk  at  Constantinople,  where  a 
fellow-countryman  of  mine  assures  me  that  they  abound. 
I  ought  rather,  on  the  contrary,  to  be  surprised  at  seeing  you 
here." 

"Not  at  all,"  said  Thuillier  lightly.  "I  am  here  about  that 
confounded  pamphlet.  Is  there  ever  an  end  of  your  law  and 
justice?  I  was  called  upon  to  appear  again  this  morning. 
However,  I  cannot  regret  it,  since  I  have  been  so  lucky  as 
to  come  across  you." 

And  he,  like  la  Peyrade,  used  the  fraternal  tu. 

"I  am  delighted,  too,  to  have  met  you,"  said  Theodose, 
tying  up  his  papers;  "but  I  must  leave  you;  I  have  an  ap- 
pointment. You,  too,  have  to  go  into  court." 

"I  have  just  come  out,"  said  Thuillier. 

"Was  it  your  favorite  foe,  Olivier  Vinet,  that  you  saw  ?" 

"No,"  said  Thuillier,  and  he  named  another  judge. 

"That's  queer,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "That  youthful  deputy 
judge  seems  to  be  ubiquitous.  He  has  been  on  the  bench  all 
the  morning,  and  pronounced  judgment  in  a  case  I  was  de- 
fending only  a  minute  ago." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  357 

Thuillier  colored,  and  making  the  best  of  his  blunder  he 
said: 

"Well,  well !  I  do  not  know  one  of  these  men  from  the 
other.  I  mistook  him,  perhaps." 

La  Peyrade  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  spoke  his  thoughts 
aloud  to  himself. 

"Still  the  same  man- — finessing,  wriggling,  never  going 
straight  to  the  goal !" 

"Of  whom  are  you  speaking  ?"  asked  Thuillier,  looking  not 
a  little  out  of  countenance. 

"Why,  of  you,  my  dear  fellow,  who  seem  to  think  us  a 
pack  of  fools;  as  if  everybody  did  not  know  that  the  case  of 
your  pamphlet  was  quashed  this  fortnight  since.  Come,  what 
were  you  called  here  for  ?" 

"I  was  bidden  to  attend,"  said  Thuillier  awkwardly,  "to 
pay  some  fees  or  expenses  to  the  office.  How  should  I  know 
what  all  this  scribbling  and  scrawling  is  about?" 

"Ha !  and  so  they  bid  you  to  attend,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "on 
the  very  day  when  the  Moniteur,  announcing  the  dissolution 
of  the  Chambers,  also  speaks  of  jrou  as  a  candidate  for  election 
in  the  twelfth  arrondissement  ?" 

"And  why  not?"  said  Thuillier.  "What  connection  can 
there  be  between  my  nomination  and  the  costs  I  am  called 
on  to  pay?" 

"I  will  explain  the  connection,"  said  la  Peyrade  dryly. 
"There  is  nothing  so  amiable  and  obliging  as  Justice.  'Ha- 
ha  !'  says  she,  'here  is  good  Monsieur  Thuillier  preparing 
to  stand  for  the  lower  Chamber ;  he  must  be  a  little  hampered 
now  by  his  position  relatively  to  his  former  friend  Monsieur 
de  la  Peyrade,  a  little  sorry  now  that-  he  ever  quarreled  with 
him.  I  must  get  him  out  of  the  scrape.  I  will  "bid  him 
to  attend"  about  some  costs  he  does  not  owe;  then  he  will 
come  to  the  Palais  where  la  Peyrade  comes  every  day;  thus 
he  can  meet  him  in  the  most  innocent  way  in  the  world,  and 
a  proceeding  which  might  be  humiliating  to  his  self-respect 
will  be  quite  cleverly  glozed  over.' >: 

"Well,  I  can  only  be  quits  with  you  by  telling  you  without 


358  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

any  sort  of  finesse,"  said  Thuillier,  "that  I  came  here  from 
your  house,  and  it  was  your  porter's  wife  who  sent  me  here." 

"Ah !  that  is  better,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "I  like  plain  deal- 
ing. It  is  easy  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  a  man 
who  plays  a  square  game.  Well,  now,  what  is  it  you  want  of 
me?  Did  you  want  to  discuss  your  election?  I  have  been 
working  at  that  already." 

"Really !"  said  Thuillier,  "and  in  what  way  ?" 

"Look  here,"  said  la  Peyrade,  fumbling  under  his  gown 
and  producing  a  paper  from  his  pocket.  "This  is  what  I  was 
writing  just  now,  in  court,  while  my  opponent  was  beating 
about  the  bush  with  his  precedents." 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Thuillier. 

"Read,  and  you  will  see." 

The  paper  was  as  follows : 

ESTIMATE 

FOR     A     NEWSPAPER,     QUARTO     SIZE,     SUBSCRIPTION     THIRTY 
FRANCS  A  YEAR. 

Calculating  for  five  thousand  copies,  the  cost  per  mensem 
would  be: — 

Paper;  five  reams  at  12  francs         .          .  1,860  (sic) 

Type-setting     .....          .  2,400 

Printing 450 

Editor 250 

Office  clerk 100 

Business  manager  and  cashier          .          .  200 

Despatch  clerk 100 

Women  to  fold  it.     .                                   .  120 

Office  boy 80 

Wrappers  and  office  expenses           .          .  150 

Rent 100 

Postage  and  stamps          ....  7,500 

Editing  and  reporters      ....  1,800 


Total  per  mensem     .        .        .        frs.     15,110 
Total  per  annum        ....      181,320 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  359 

"Do  you  want  to  start  a  paper?"  asked  Thuillier,  in  dis- 
may. 

"I  ?"  said  la  Peyrade ;  "I  do  not  want  anything ;  you  must 
ask  yourself  if  you  want  to  be  deputy."  . 

"Undoubtedly,  since  you  put  that  ambition  into  my  head 
by  getting  me  on  to  the  Town  Council.  But  consider,  my 
dear  boy,  a  hundred  and  eighty-one  thousand  three  hundred 
francs  to  be  put  down !  Have  I  a  fortune  that  can  meet  such 
an  outlay?" 

"Yes,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "In  the  first  place,  you  could 
actually,  and  without  any  pinch,  afford  the  expense,  which, 
as  compared  with  the  end  in  view,  is  by  no  means  exorbitant. 
In  England  a  man  spends  a  great  deal  more  than  that  to 
get  a  seat  in  Parliament.  But  I  would  have  you  to  observe, 
at  the  same  time,  that  the  figures  in  this  estimate  are  un- 
necessarily high.  There  are  certain  items  to  be  docked;  for 
instance,  you  do  not  need  a  manager.  You  as  an  old  ac- 
countant, and  I  as  an  ex-journalist,  may  well  undertake  the 
management,  and  do  it  without  any  trouble ;  in  the  same  way 
we  need  not  allow  for  rent,  you  have  your  old  rooms  in  the  Eue 
Saint-Dominique,  which  are  not  let,  and  will  make  a  splendid 
office." 

"All  that,"  said  Thuillier,  "only  saves  us  two  thousand 
four  hundred  francs  a  year." 

"That  is  something,  at  any  rate ;  but  the  mistake  you  make 
is  basing  your  calculations  on  a  year's  expenses.  When  is 
the  election?" 

"In  two  months'  time." 

"Well,  then,  for  two  months  it  will  cost  you  just  thirty 
thousand  francs,  even  supposing  that  you  never  had  a  single 
subscriber." 

"That  is  true,"  said  Thuillier.  "The  outlay  is  certainly 
less  than  I  had  fancied  at  first.  But  do  you  really  think  a 
paper  indispensable." 

"So  indispensable  that  without  that  weapon  in  our  hands 
I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  election.  You  do  not 


960  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

fully  realize,  my  poor  friend,  that  by  settling  on  the  other  side 
of  the  river  you  lost  ground  very  seriously,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  an  election.  You  are  no  longer  the  man  on  the  spot,  and 
may  be  destroyed  by  a  word;  what  the  English  call  Ab- 
senteeism. You  have  a  far  more  difficult  game  to  play  than 
you  had." 

"That  I  admit,"  said  Thuillier;  "but  for  this  paper  we 
need,  besides  mone}r,  a  name,  an  editor,  contributors." 

"The  name  is  ready  made.  The  contributors  are  you  and 
I,  and  a  few  of  such  young  men  as  are  to  be  found  in  shovel- 
fuls in  Paris.  The  responsible  editor — well,  I  have  a  man  in 
my  eye." 

"And  what  is  the  name  to  be  ?"  asked  Thuillier. 

"The  tfcho  de  la  Bievre/' 

"But  there  is  a  paper  of  that  name  already." 

"That  is  the  very  reason  why  I  advise  you  to  take  this 
matter  up.  Do  you  suppose  I  am  fool  enough  to  want  to 
start  a  new  paper?  L'Eclio  de  la  Bievre!  Tha.  title  is  in 
itself  a  treasure  when  jou  want  to  stand  for  election  in  the 
twelfth  arrondissement.  Say  the  word,  and  that  treasure  is 
yours." 

"How?"  asked  Thuillier,  with  interest. 

"How?     By  buying  it.     You  can  have  it  for  a  mere  song." 

"You  see,"  said  Thuillier  gloomily,  "there  is  the  purchase 
money  you  had  not  included." 

"You  are  dashed  by  mere  trifles,"  said  la  Peyrade,  with  a 
shrug.  "There  are  far  worse  difficulties  to  be  met." 

"Worse  difficulties !"  echoed  Thuillier. 

"Bless  me!  do  you  suppose,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "that  after 
all  that  has  passed  between  you  and  me,  I  am  bold  enough 
to  go  in  for  your  election  before  I  know  exactly  what  I  am 
to  get  by  it  ?" 

"Indeed!"  said  Thuillier,  in  some  surprise,  "I  supposed 
'that  friendship  meant  the  interchange  of  services." 

"By  all  means.  But  when  the  interchange  is  all  on  one 
side,  with  nothing  on  the  other,  friendship  gets  tired  of  the 
bargain,  and  asks  for  something  rather  more  equitable." 


THE  MIDDLE  GLASSES  361 

"But,  my  dear  fellow,  what  have  I  to  offer  you  but  the 
thing  you  yourself  rejected  ?" 

"I  rejected  it,  because  it  was  not  honestly  offered  me,  and 
seasoned  with  Mademoiselle  Brigitte's  vinegar  sauce,  any 
self-respecting  man  would  have  acted  as  I  did.  You  cannot 
both  give  a  thing  and  keep  it,  is  an  axiom  in  law,  and  that 
is  what  you  tried  to  do." 

"For  my  part,  I  think  you  took  offence  very  absurdly; 
however,  negotiations  may  be  reopened." 

"So  be  it,"  said  la  Peyrade ;  "but  I  will  not  be  dependent 
on  the  success  of  the  election,  nor  the  slave  of  Mademoiselle 
Celeste's  whims.  I  ask  for  something  definite  and  certain. 
One  good  turn  for  another.  Short  accounts  make  long  friend- 
ships." 

"I  quite  agree  with  you,"  replied  Thuillier,  "and  I  have 
always  been  too  entirely  honest  with  you,  to  have  any  reason 
to  fear  such  precautions  as  you  may  take ;  but  what  do  you  ask 
as  a  guarantee  ?" 

"I  ask  that  it  should  be  Celeste's  husband  who  helps  you  on, 
not  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade." 

"Hurry  as  we  will,  as  Brigitte  observed,  that  would  take 
a  fortnight;  and,  just  think,  out  of  the  eight  weeks  before 
the  election,  we  should  have  to  stand  at  ease  for  two." 

"Our  names  can  be  posted  at  the  Mairie  by  the  day  after 
to-morrow,"  replied  the  Provengal,  "and  we  may  do  some- 
thing in  the  interval  between  the  publishing  of  the  banns. 
That  is  not,  of  course,  an  act  which  is  absolutely  irrevocable, 
but  it  is  a  serious  pledge,  and  a  great  step  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. We  can  have  the  contract  drawn  up  by  your  notary; 
and,  above  all,  if  you  make  up  your  mind  to  buy  the  paper, 
as  you  would  not  want  to  have  a  horse  idle  in  your  stable, 
I  should  have  no  fear  of  your  throwing  me  over,  for  the  gun 
will  be  too  heavy  for  you  to  handle  without  my  help." 

"But  if,  after  all,  my  dear  boy,  the  transaction  should  prove 
to  be  beyond  my  means." 

"You,  of  course,  can  be  the  only  judge  of  the  conditions  of 
the  sale.  I  no  more  wish  to  buy  a  pig  in  a  poke  than  you 


3G2  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

do.  To-morrow,  -if  you  authorize  me  not  to  deal,  but  to  say 
that  you  might  be  willing  to  deal,  I  will  talk  the  matter  over 
with  the  owner,  and  you  need  not  doubt  that  I  should  regard 
your  interests  as  though  they  were  my  own." 

"Very  well,  my  boy,  go  ahead." 

"And  as  soon  as  the  paper  is  yours  the  day  for  the  signing 
of  the  contract  is  to  be  fixed." 

"As  soon  as  you  please,"  said  Thuillier.  "But  you  pledge 
yourself  to  exert  all  your  influence  in  my  favor?" 

"As  I  would  for  my  own  success-,  and  that  is  not  altogether 
hypothetical;  for  I  have  had  it  hinted  to  me  that  I  might 
come  forward  myself,  and  if  I  were  vindictive " 

"There  can  be  no  doubt,"  said  Thuillier  humbly,  "that 
you  would  make  the  better  deputy.  But  you  are  not  of  legal 
age,  surely?" 

"There  is  a  stronger  objection  than  that,"  said  la  Peyrade. 
"You  are  my  friend.  I  find  you  now  just  what  you  have 
always  been,  and  I  will  keep  the  promise  I  gave  you.  I  should 
like  it  to  be  said  of  me,  'He  made  deputies,  but  would  never 
be  made  one.'  Now,  I  must  leave  you  and  keep  my  appoint- 
ment. Come  to  my  office  to-morrow  at  noon.  I  shall  have 
news  for  you." 

He  who  has  dabbled  in  journalism  will  dabble  in  it  again 
— the  prediction  is  as  certain  as  that  relating  to  drunkards. 

Every  man  who  has  known  that  life  of  fevered  occupa- 
tion and  of  comparative  idleness  and  independence;  who 
has  wielded  that  power  over  intellect,  art.  talent,  glory,  virtue, 
ridicule,  and  even  truth  itself;  who  has  strutted  on  the  plat- 
form raised  by  his  own  hands  and  fulfilled  the  functions  of 
the  tribunal  with  which  his  own  authority  has  invested  him ; 
who  has,  in  short,  if  only  for  an  hour,  been  the  representa- 
tive of  public  opinion,  arrogating  his  own  dignity  by  unani- 
mous vote,  and  when  thrown  back  into  private  life  feeling 
himself  in  exile,  like  royalty  sent  to  Cherbourg, — as  soon  as 
the  opportunity  offers,  anxiously  stretches  out  a  hand  to  snatch 
back  his  crown. 

From  the  mere   fact   that   la   Pevrade  had  once  been  a 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  363 

journalist,  when  fitienne  Lousteau  placed  within  his  reach 
the  weapon  known  as  the  flcho  de  la  Bievre,  however  poor 
its  temper,  he  felt  all  his  instincts  as  a  warrior  of  the  press 
revive  within  him. 

The  journal  had  failed ;  la  Peyrade  believed  that  he  could 
work  it  up  again.  The  subscribers,  as  even  the  vendor  ad- 
mitted, had  always  been  few  and  far  between;  compelle  intrare 
should  be  brought  to  bear  on  them  in  a  coercive  and  irresisti- 
ble manner.  And  in  the  circumstances  attending  this  trans- 
action, might  it  not  be  regarded  a  dispensation  of  Providence  ? 
The  lawyer,  in  danger  of  being  disbarred,  thus  would  acquire 
a  perfectly  independent  position,  and  if  he  should  be  com- 
pelled to  defend  himself,  might  take  the  initiative  and  oblige 
his  adversaries  to  treat  him  with  respect. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  Thuilliers  the  newspaper  would  certainly 
make  him  a  person  of  importance ;  it  would  give  him  a  better 
chance  of  working  the  election  with  success ;  and  at  the  same 
time,  by  employing  their  capital  in  an  undertaking  which, 
to  them,  without  him,  could  only  be  a  snare  and  an  engulfing 
void,  he  bound  them  over  too  closely  to  feel  any  further  fear 
of  their  whims  or  their  ingratitude. 

This  horizon,  which  had  opened  before  him  since  Lousteau's 
visit,  had  dazzled  the  Provengal,  and  we  have  seen  how  im- 
peratively he  had  hinted  to  Thuillier  that  he  must  throw 
himself  heart  and  soul  into  this  search  for  the  philosopher's 
stone. 

The  price  of  the  property  was  a  mere  trifle.  For  a  five- 
hundred-franc  note,  of  which  fitienne  Lousteau  gave  no  very 
clear  account  to  the  shareholders,  the  ownership,  title-deeds, 
plant,  and  good-will  of  the  newspaper  were  transferred 
to  Thuillier;  and  the  reorganization  was  at  once  put  in 
hand. 

This  reform  was  in  progress,  when  Cerizet  one  morning 
went  to  call  on  du  Portail,  with  whom  la  Peyrade  was  more 
than  ever  resolved  to  avoid  all  contact, 

"Well,"  said  the  little  old  gentleman  to  the  money-lender, 
"have  you  heard  what  effect  the  information  transmitted  to 


364  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

the  President  of  the  Board  has  had  on  our  man?  Has  the 
matter  got  wind  among  the  lawyers?" 

"Faugh !"  said  C6rizet,  whose  increasingly  frequent  inter- 
views with  Monsieur  du  Portail  had  led  to  his  assuming  a 
certain  degree  of  familiarity,  "what  the  devil  does  it  matter  ? 
The  eel  has  slipped  through  our  lingers.  Xeither  gentleness 
nor  violence  can  catch  that  limb  of  a  man.  If  he  has  got 
into  a  scrape  with  his  President,  he  is  thicker  than  ever  with 
his  Thuilliers.  'Mutual  utility,'  says  Figaro,  'bridges  over 
distance.'  Thuillier  needs  him  for  his  nomination  in  the 
Saint-Jacques  quarter;  they  have  kissed  and  made  friends." 

"And  the  marriage,  no  doubt,  is  fixed  to  take  place  at  an 
early  date?"  said  du  Portail,  without  seeming  much  im- 
pressed. 

"Quite  soon,"  said  Cerizet,  "and  then  there  is  another  ma- 
chine to  work.  That  lunatic  has  persuaded  Thuillier  to  buy 
a  newspaper;  he  will  let  them  in  for  forty  thousand  francs 
over  this  concern.  Thuillier,  when  he  finds  himself  in  the 
swim,  will  want  to  get  his  money  back,  so  they  are  likely  to 
stick  together  for  an  unlimited  period." 

"What  is  the  paper?"  asked  du  Portail,  with  indifference. 

"A  rag,  a  'cabbage-leaf/  called  L'Echo  de  la  Bievre,"  said 
Cerizet  scornfully,  "a  paper  that  an  old  journalist,  out  at 
elbows,  managed  to  set  going  in  the  Mouffetard  quarter  among 
the  curriers,  that  being,  as  you  know,  the  chief  industry  in 
that  part  of  the  town.  From  the  literary  and  political  point 
of  view,  the  thing  is  not  a  paper  at  all ;  but  from  Thuillier's 
it  is  a  master-stroke  of  business." 

"Well,  for  a  local  election  the  instrument  is  not  ill-chosen," 
observed  the  old  gentleman.  "La  Pcyrade  is  clever,  energetic, 
full  of  resource — he  may  make  something  of  his  ficho.  And 
under  what  flag  does  Messire  Thuillier  sail?" 

"Thuillier!"  said  Cerizet.  "He  is  a  mere  oyster;  he  has 
no  opinions.  Until  his  pamphlet  came  out,  he  was  a  rabid 
conservative  like  all  his  class.  But  since  the  seizure  of  his 
work  he  has,  no  doubt,  gone  over  to  the  opposition.  Left 
centre  was  probably  his  first  stage ;  but  if,  at  the  election,  the 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  365 

wind  blows  another  way,  he  will  easily  back  over  to  the  ex- 
treme left.  With  men  like  that  interest  is  the  standard  of 
conviction." 

"Peste !"  said  du  Portail,  "this  notion  of  the  lawyer's  might 
rise  to  the  dignity  of  political  mischief,  from  the  point  of 
view  I  take ;  my  opinions  are  strongly  conservative  and  on  the 
side  of  the  Government." 

Then  he  remarked  thoughtfully: 

"You  have  dabbled  in  journalism,  I  think,  Cerizet  the 
Brave?" 

"Yes,"  answered  the  money-lender.  "I  even  managed  a 
paper  with  la  Peyrade — an  evening  paper.  A  nice  business  it 
was  too,  and  we  were  well  paid." 

"Well,  then,"  said  du  Portail,  "why  should  you  not  do  the 
same  again,  with  la  Peyrade?" 

Cerizet  looked  at  him  with  amazement. 

"My  word !"  he  said.  "Are  you  the  devil  in  person,  mon- 
sieur, that  nothing  can  be  hidden  from  you  ?" 

"Aye,"  said  du  Portail,  "I  know  a  good  many  things. 
But  now,  exactly  how  far  are  you  and  la  Peyrade  in  agree- 
ment ?" 

"Thus  far;  that  he,  remembering  my  experience  in  the 
business,  and  not  knowing  whom  he  could  employ,  came  last 
evening  to  offer  me  the  management." 

"I  did  not  know  that,"  said  du  Portail,  "but  it  seemed 
probable.  And  you  accepted?" 

"Very  conditionally.  I  asked  for  time  to  consider  it.  I 
wanted  to  know  what  you  would  think  of  the  matter." 

"Ah !  Well,  I  think  that  when  mischief  cannot  be  hin- 
dered, it  is  well  to  get  out  of  the  scrape  as  best  we  may.  I 
would  rather  see  you  in  the  plot  than  out  of  it." 

"Very  good.  But  to  get  in,  there  is  a  little  obstacle;  la 
Peyrade  knows  that  I  am  in  debt,  and  he  declines  to  stand 
security  for  the  thirty-three  thousand  francs  that  have  to  be 
posted  in  my  name.  Now,  I  have  not  got  them ;  and  even  if 
I  had.  I  should  not  care  to  admit  it,  and  expose  the  sum  to 
being  seized  by  my  creditors." 


366  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"But  you  still  have  a  large  sum  left  from  the  twenty-five 
thousand  francs  which  la  Peyrade  repaid  you  two  months 
ago?" 

"I  have  just  two  thousand  two  hundred  francs,  fifty  cen- 
times," replied  Cerizet.  "I  counted  it  over  yesterday.  The 
rest  went  in  paying  pressing  creditors." 

"But  if  you  have  paid  you  are  out  of  debt  ?" 

"Yes,  so  far  as  I  have  paid;  but  I  still  owe  what  I  have 
not  paid." 

"Do  you  mean  that  you  owed  more  than  twenty-five  thou- 
sand francs,"  said  du  Portail,  in  a  tone  of  disbelief. 

"Would  a  man  become  bankrupt  for  less  ?"  replied  Cerizet, 
as  if  stating  an  axiom. 

"I  see  I  shall  have  to  stand  the  money,"  said  du  Portail, 
with  annoyance.  "The  question  is  whether  your  cooperation 
in  the  job  is  likely  to  be  worth  three  hundred  and  thirty  thou- 
sand three  hundred  and  thirty-three  francs,  thirty-three  cen- 
times." 

"As  to  that,"  said  Cerizet,  "if  once  I  were  at  Thuillier's 
elbow,  I  should  not  despair  of  setting  him  and  la  Peyrade 
by  the  ears  before  long.  In  the  management  of  a  paper  there 
are  no  end  of  inevitable  hitches,  and  by  always  taking  the 
fool's  part  against  the  clever  man,  I  should  inflate  the  vanity 
of  one  and  snub  the  vanity  of  the  other  to  a  degree  which 
would  soon  make  it  impossible  for  them  to  work  together. 
And  then  you  said  something  about  political  dangers.  A 
manager,  as  you  must  know,  if  he  has  wit  enough  to  be  more 
than  a  man  of  straw,  can  often  quietly  give  matters  a  list  to 
the  side  where  it  is  needed." 

"There  is  some  truth  in  that,"  replied  du  PortaiL  "But 
what  is  most  important  to  me  is  to  upset  la  Peyrade's  coach." 

"Well,"  said  Cerizet,  "I  fancy  I  have  another  rather  in- 
sidious little  trick  that  will  demolish  him  as  regards  Thuil- 
lier." 

"Out  with  it,  then,"  exclaimed  du  Portail  irritably.  "You 
beat  about  the  bush  as  if  you  could  get  anything  by  finessing 
with  me." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  361 

"You  remember,"  said  Cerizet,  delivering  himself  at  last, 
"that  some  time  ago  Dutocq  and  I  were  excessively  puzzled 
at  the  insolent  fashion  in  which  la  Peyrade  suddenly  found 
himself  in  a  position  to  pay  that  twenty-five  thousand  francs." 

"Well,"  the  old  man  eagerly  put  in,  "have  you  discovered 
the  source  of  that  unexpected  flow  of  money  into  the  lawyer's 
hands  ?  Is  there  anything  discreditable  in  that  ?" 

"This  is  the  story,"  said  Cerizet;  and  he  related  with  full 
details  the  history  of  Madame  Lambert,  adding,  however, 
that  after  an  interview  with  the  woman  in  the  justice's  office 
on  the  day  when  she  had  met  la  Peyrade  there,  he  could  get 
no  facts  out  of  her,  though  by  her  fencing  the  good  lady  had 
amply  confirmed  his  suspicions  and  Dutocq's. 

"Madame  Lambert,  Hue  du  Val-de-Grace,  No.  9,  at  Mon- 
sieur Picot's,  a  professor  of  mathematics,"  said  du  Portail, 
writing  down  the  address.  "Very  good,  my  dear  sir.  Come 
and  see  me  again  to-morrow,"  he  added. 

"But  I  beg  to  remind  you,"  said  the  money-lender,  "that  I 
must  give  la  Peyrade  an  answer  in  the  course  of  to-day.  He 
is  in  a  hurry  to  settle  matters." 

"Very  good.  Accept;  ask  for  twenty-four  hours'  grace  to 
pay  in  the  security  money,  and  if  after  I  have  made  in- 
quiries we  see  any  good  reason  for  getting  out  of  the  business 
you  will  only  have  failed  to  keep  your  word.  You  will  not 
find  yourself  in  the  dark  for  that." 

Apart  from  a  sort  of  unexplained  fascination  exerted  by  du 
Portail  over  his  agent,  he  never  missed  an  opportunity  of  re- 
minding him  of  the  somewhat  shady  beginnings  of  their  busi- 
ness connection. 

Next  day,  when  Ce"rizet  was  again  in  the  presence  of  his 
patron : 

"You  guessed  rightly,"  said  du  Portail,  "the  woman  Lam- 
bert, being  anxious  to  conceal  the  existence  of  her  hoard,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  hide  it  at  good  interest,  thought  of  going 
to  seek  la  Peyrade;  his  apparent  piety  recommended  him  to 
her  confidence,  as  the  money  was  to  be  handed  over  to  hi  a 


368  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

without  any  written  acknowledgment.  In  what  form  was 
Dutocq  paid  ?" 

"In  nineteen  thousand-franc  notes  and  twelve  five-hun- 
dred-franc  notes." 

"Exactly  so,"  said  du  Portail,  "and  not  a  doubt  remains. 
And  now,  with  regard  to  Thuillier,  what  use  do  you  propose 
to  make  of  this  information  ?" 

"I  shall  hint  to  him  that  la  Peyrade,  who  is  to  marry  his 
goddaughter,  is  loaded  with  debt;  that  he  borrows  money  un- 
der the  rose  at  usurious  rates;  that  to  pay  his  way  he  will 
pick  the  newspaper  profits  to  the  bone;  that  his  position  of 
insolvency  may  come  out  at  any  moment,  and  do  the  greatest 
injury  to  the  candidate  who  stands  for  election  with  him  for 
a  supporter." 

"Not  amiss,"  said  du  Portail.  "But  you  can  make  a  further 
and  more  decisive  use  of  our  discovery." 

"Tell  me,  sir;  I  hear  and  obey." 

"Thuillier  is  to  this  day  mystified,  I  imagine,  as  to  the 
seizure  of  the  famous  pamphlet." 

"Certainly,"  replied  the  money-lender.  "Only  yesterday  la 
Peyrade  was  saying,  to  show  how  far  Thuillier's  guileless 
stupidity  could  go,  that  he  had  made  him  swallow  the  most 
absurd  invention.  The  worthy  citizen  was  convinced  that  the 
attack  had  been  prompted  by  Monsieur  Olivier  Vinet,  the  At- 
torney-General's deputy.  This  young  lawyer  had  for  a 
moment  aspired  to  the  hand  of  Mademoiselle  Colleville,  and, 
to  the  estimable  Thuillier,  this  procedure  of  the  law  was  by 
way  of  avenging  the  refusal  of  one  of  its  members." 

"Well  done !"  said  du  Portail.  "To-morrow,  as  prelimi- 
nary to  another  version  of  the  business,  which  it  will  be  your 
part  to  communicate  to  Thuillier,  the  good  man  will  receive 
from  Monsieur  Vinet  an  emphatic  and  unqualified  protest 
denying  such  an  abuse  of  power  as  he  so  ridiculously  be- 
lieved in." 

"Indeed?"  said  Cerizet  inquisitively. 

"Another  explanation  must  then  be  given,"  du  Portail  went 
on,  "and  you  must  affirm  to  Thuillier  that  he  has  been  the 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  369 

victim  of  the  horrible  machinations  of  the  police.  As 
you  know,  that  is  the  great  business  of  the  police — machina- 
tion?" 

"Precisely  so,"  said  the  money-lender.  "I  have  put  my 
name  to  the  statement  a  score  of  times,  when  I  worked  on 
the  Eepublican  papers  and  when " 

"When  you  were  Cerizet  the  Brave,"  du  Portail  put  in. 
"Well  now,  the  machination  of  the  police  was  this:  The 
government  was  much  annoyed  at  Thuillier's  election,  with« 
out  Ministerial  influence,  to  the  Municipal  Council  of  the 
Seine;  it  owed  a  deep  grudge  to  an  independent  and  patri- 
otic citizen  who  had  carried  his  nomination  through  with 
such  a  high  hand;  it  also  knew  that  this  great  citizen  was 
preparing  a  pamphlet  on  the  always  delicate  financial  ques- 
tion, on  which  this  dangerous  adversary  was  an  authority  of 
great  experience.  What,  then,  was  the  action  of  this  corrupt ( 
and  bribing  Government?  Why,  it  circumvented  the  man 
with  whom  Thuillier  was  said  to  take  counsel,  and  for  the 
price  of  twenty-five  thousand  francs, — a  mere  trifle  to  the 
police, — that  perfidious  adviser  undertook,  without  betraying 
himself,  to  slip  into  the  work  two  or  three  sentences  for 
which  the  writer  might  be  haled  before  the  bench. — Now, 
why  should  Thuillier  doubt  this  story  for  an  instant  when  he 
is  told  that  la  Peyrade,  who,  as  he  knows,  had  not  a  sou  in 
the  world,  paid  down  in  good  money  to  Dutocq  exactly  that 
sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  francs  ?" 

"The  deuce!"  exclaimed  Cerizet.  "Not  a  bad  idea.  Men 
like  Thuillier  believe  everything  you  can  tell  them  of  the 
police." 

"Very  well,  then,  you  understand,"  added  du  Portail,  "that 
Thuillier  will  not  particularly  wish  to  secure  the  assistance 
of  such  a  colleague,  and  still  less  to  see  him  married  to  his  god- 
daughter." 

"You  are  a  remarkable  man,  monsieur,"  said  Cerizet,  again 
approving.  "But  I  must  confess  to  you  that  I  am  not  with- 
out some  scruples  as  to  the  part  you  wish  me  to  play  in  the 


370  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

matter.  La  Peyrade  has  offered  me  the  management  of  the 
paper,  and  I  meanwhile  am  to  try  to  squeeze  him  out." 

"And  how  about  the  lease  he  kept  you  out  of,  after  the 
most  solemn  promises;  have  you  forgotten  that?"  asked  the 
old  man.  "Besides,  are  we  not  really  working  for  the  happi- 
ness of  that  obstinate  fellow,  who  so  persistently  evades  our 
most  benevolent  intentions  ?" 

"The  result,  no  doubt,  will  absolve  me,"  said  Cerizet. 
"I  will  proceed  undauntedly  in  the  road  you  have  pointed 
out  to  me.  Still,  there  is  one  things  to  be  considered.  I  can- 
not simply  fling  the  facts  at  Thuillier's  head  on  the  first 
day;  there  must  be  some  little  preparation;  whereas  the  cau- 
tion money  must  be  paid  almost  immediately." 

"Listen  to  me,  Monsieur  Cerizet,"  said  du  Portail  authori- 
tatively; "if  la  Peyrade  marries  my  ward,  I  have  every  in- 
tention of  rewarding  you  for  your  services,  and  the  thirty 
thousand  francs  shall  be  yours.  Thus  with  thirty  thousand 
francs  from  one  party,  and  twenty-five  thousand  from  ^the 
other,  you  will  have  got  fifty-five  thousand  out  of  your  friend 
la  Peyrade's  matrimonial  affairs.  But  I  do  not  mean  to 
pay  before  I  come  out,  as  peasants  do  in  the  shows  at  a  fair. 
Now,  if  you  deposit  the  security,  I  shall  be  quite  easy;  you 
will  no  doubt  find  some  way  of  saving  it  from  your  creditors' 
clutches.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  my  money  that  is  risked, 
you  will  be  neither  so  anxious  to  protect  it  from  danger,  nor 
so  ingenious  in  your  methods.  So  you  must  manage,  by  hook 
or  by  crook,  to  deposit  the  thirty  thousand  francs  on  your  own 
account.  If  all  turns  out  well,  you  will  have  invested  the 
money  at  cent  per  cent.  That  is  my  last  word,  and  I  listen 
to  no  arguments." 

Cerizet  had  no  time  for  argument,  for  at  this  moment 
the  door  suddenly  opened — the  interview  had  taken  place  in 
du  Portail's  study — and  a  fair,  slender  woman,  with  a  counte- 
nance of  angelic  sweetness,  came  hastily  into  the  room. 

In  her  arms,  wrapped  in  fine  white  baby-clothes,  lay  the 
form  of  an  infant. 

"Ah!"  said  she,  "that  wicked  Katt!     She  assured  me  it 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  371 

was  not  the  doctor.  But  I  was  quite  sure  that  I  had 
Keen  him  come  in.  Do  you  know,  doctor,"  she  went  on,  ad- 
dressing Cerizet,  "I  am  not  satisfied  about  the  child,  not  at  all 
satisfied ;  she  is  pale  and  much  thinner.  I  believe  she  is  cut- 
ting her  teeth." 

Du  Portail  signed  to  Cerizet  to  accept  the  part  so  unex- 
pectedly suggested  to  him,  and  which  reminded  him  of  that 
he  had  for  a  moment  thought  of  assuming  in  the  famous  busi- 
ness with  Madame  Cardinal. 

"It  is  evidently  teething,"  said  he.  "Children  are  always 
a  little  pulled  down  at  that  time ;  but  I  assure  you,  dear  ma- 
dame,  that  there  is  nothing  to  make  you  at  all  uneasy." 

"You  really  think  so,  doctor,"  said  the  crazy  woman — for 
the  reader  will  have  understood  that  this  was  Lydie,  du 
PortaiPs  ward.  "But  only  look  at  her  poor  little  arms ;  they 
have  dwindled  to  nothing."  « 

And  unpinning  the  outer  wrappings,  she  showed  to  Cerizet 
a  bundle  of  clothes  which  to  her  poor  wits  represented  a  sweet 
pink-and-white  baby. 

"Not  at  all,  not  at  all,"  said  Cerizet.  "She  is  a  little  thin, 
no  doubt ;  but  the  flesh  is  firm  and  her  color  healthy." 

"Poor  darling !"  said  Lydie,  clasping  her  dream  to  her 
bosom.  "Yes,  I  really  think  she  is  better  since  this  morning. 
What  must  I  give  her,  doctor?  She  will  not  take  pap,  nor 
will  she  touch  broth  of  any  kind." 

"Well,  then,"  said  Cerizet,  "try  a  little  bread  and  milk. 
Does  she  fancy  sweet  things?" 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  the  poor  soul,  brightening ;  "she  loves  them. 
Would  chocolate  be  good  for  her?" 

"Certainly,"  said  Cerizet;  "but  without  vanilla;  that  is 
heating." 

"What  they  call  chocolat  de  Sante"  said  Lydie,  in  the  tone 
of  a  mother  who  listens  to  the  voice  of  the  doctor  who  can 
reassure  her,  as  to  the  voice  of  a  god.  "Uncle,"  said  she, 
turning  to  du  Portail,  "will  you  ring  for  Bruno,  that  he  may 
go  at  once  and  buy  a  few  pounds  from  Marquis?" 

"Bruno  is  just  gone  out,"  replied  the  old  man ;  "but  thert 
is  no  hurry ;  he  shall  go  in  the  course  of  the  day." 


372  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"There,  she  is  falling  asleep,"  said  Cerizet,  not  sorry  to  put 
an  end  to  a  scene  of  which  even  his  callous  nature  could  not 
fail  to  feel  the  pathos. 

"So  she  is,"  said  the  crazy  girl,  wrapping  up  the  bundle 
and  rising.  "I  will  put  her  in  her  bed.  Good-bye,  doctor, 
it  is  very  kind  of  you  to  come  sometimes  without  being  sent 
for;  if  you  could  only  fancy  how  anxious  we  poor  mothers 
are,  and  how  much  good  you  can  do  them  with  a  few  words ! 
Oh,  now  she  is  crying  again." 

"It  is  but  natural,"  said  Cerizet ;  "she  is  dying  for  sleep ; 
she  will  be  far  better  in  her  cradle !" 

"I  will  go  and  play  her  the  sonata  by  Beethoven  that  my 
poor  father  was  so  fond  of.  It  is  wonderful  how  soothing 
it  is.  Good-bye,  doctor,"  she  repeated,  as  she  stood  in  the 
doorway.  "Good-bye,  kind  doctor." 

And  she  kissed  her  hand  to  him. 

Cerizet  was  quite  overcome. 

"You  see,"  said  du  Portail,  "what  an  angel  she  is;  never 
cross,  never  a  sharp  word.  Melancholy  sometimes,  but  always 
from  some  anxiety  arising  from  her  motherly  instincts.  That 
is  what  makes  the  physicians  so  sure  that  if  the  reality  could 
take  the  place  of  her  constant  hallucinations,  it  would  restore 
her  reason.  Well,  and  that  is  what  that  fool  la  Peyrade  re- 
fuses, with  the  addition  of  a  splendid  fortune !  But  he  must 
be  brought  round  or  I  shall  lose  my  reputation.  Hark !" 
he  added,  as  they  heard  the  piano.  "Listen,  what  playing! 
A  mad  woman !  Why,  there  are  thousands  of  sane  women 
who  are  not  to  compare  with  her,  and  whose  better  sense  is 
but  on  the  surface." 

When  the  sonata,  played  with  a  perfection  of  feeling  and 
emotion  which  filled  Cerizet  with  admiration,  had  come  to  a 
close : 

"I  quite  agree  with  you,  monsieur,"  said  he;  "la  Peyrade 
is  rejecting  an  angel,  a  jewel,  a  pearl,  and  if  I  stood  in  his 

shoes But  we  will  bring  him  to  a  better  mind;  and  it 

is  not  with  zeal  alone  that  I  will  do  your  bidding,  but  with 
passion — fanatically." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  373 

Just  as  Cerizet  had  pronounced  this  oath  of  fidelity,  out- 
pide  the  door  of  the  room  where  du  Portail  had  received  him 
he  heard  a  woman's  voice,  which  was  certainly  not  Lydie's. 

"And  is  the  dear  Commandeur  in  his  study?"  asked  the 
voice,  with  a  slight  foreign  accent. 

"Yes,  madame ;  but  please  go  into  the  drawing-room.  My 
master  is  engaged ;  I  will  tell  him  you  are  here." 

And  this  was  the  voice  of  Katt,  the  old  Dutch  house- 
keeper. 

1  "Here — this  way,"  said  du  Portail  hurriedly,  to  Cerizet; 
and  he  opened  a  small  door  into  a  dark  passage  leading  to 
the  stairs. 

The  first  leader  in  a  new  newspaper,  by  which  it  is  in- 
troduced to  the  public — its  profession  of  faith,  as  it  is 
technically  called — is  always  a  difficult  and  laborious  effort. 
In  this  particular  case  it  was  indispensable  that  Thuillier's 
aspiration  to  election  should  be  hinted  at,  if  not  actually  de- 
clared. The  outlines  of  this  manifesto  were  the  subject  of 
long  discussions  after  la  Peyrade  had  sketched  them.  Ceri- 
zet was  present  at  the  debate,  for,  in  obedience  to  du  Portail's 
instructions,  he  had  accepted  the  editorship ;  he  had  not  yet, 
however,  deposited  the  security,  taking  advantage  of  the  days 
of  grace  which,  on  the  transfer  of  such  property,  is  usually 
accorded  to  the  new  officials. 

The  discussion,  skilfully  fanned  by  the  crafty  money- 
lender, who  at  once  put  himself  forward  as  Thuillier's  flat- 
terer, more  than  once  grew  stormy,  and  took  an  acrid  tone; 
but  as,  by  the  code  of  partnership,  la  Peyrade  was  always  to 
have  the  last  word  on  every  point  connected  with  the  editing, 
it  ended  in  his  sending  the  article  to  be  printed  exactly  as  he 
had  written  it. 

Thuillier  was  furious  at  what  he  regarded  as  an  abuse  of 
power,  and  on  the  following  day,  finding  himself  alone  with 
Cerizet,  while  hastening  to  pour  his  woes  and  grievances  into 
the  ear  of  his  faithful  manager,  he  gave  him  the  most  natural 
opening  for  repeating  the  calumnious  revelations  he  had 
plotted  with  the  old  man  in  the  Kue  Honore-Chevalier. 


3M  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

The  insinuation  was  hinted  with  a  skill  and  moderation 
which  would  have  taken  in  a  keener  judgment  than  Thuil- 
lier's.  Cerizet  affected  to  he  frightened  at  having  hetrayed  a 
secret  dragged  from  him  hy  the  fervor  of  his  zeal,  and  by  the 
sympathy  commanded  by  the  dignity  of  mind  and  character, 
which  had  struck  him  from  the  first  in  Thuillier.  Thuil- 
lier  reassured  the  traitor  by  pledging  himself  that  Cerizet's 
name  should  not  even  be  hinted  at  in  .the  explanation  to 
which  this  information  might  probably  lead.  He  would  allow 
it  to  be  supposed  that  it  had  reached  him  from  another  source, 
and,  at  a  pinch,  would  direct  suspicion  to  Dutocq.  So,  leav- 
ing the  dart  in  the  wound,  Cerizet  went  away  to  make  certain 
arrangements  for  the  final  settlement  of  the  security. 

The  scene  had  taken  place  in  the  office.  Ever  since  he  had 
concluded  the  purchase,  Thuillier,  coming  to  the  office  two 
hours  sooner  than  was  necessar}r,  spent  his  day  there,  wearing 
everybody  to  death  with  his  officious  restlessness;  he  came 
back  again  after  dinner ;  he  would  almost  have  slept  there,  and 
at  the  rare  times  when  he  was  visible  to  his  family,  he  had 
nothing  to  say  but  lamentations  over  his  fatigue  under  such 
a  multiplicity  of  occupations,  till  it  might  have  been  sup- 
posed that  he  must  succumb  to  the  burden,  or  seriously  in- 
jure his  health. 

Thuillier,  thus  crammed  with  the  dreadful  revelation, 
could  not  sit  still;  he  wanted  to  disburden  himself,  to  talk 
over  the  attitude  he  ought  to  assume  under  such  a  diabolical 
plot.  So  he  sent  for  a  hackney  cab,  and  within  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  he  had  poured  it  all  out  to  his  Egeria,  his  be- 
loved sister  Brigitte. 

Brigitte  had  been  strenuously  antagonistic  to  all  that  Thuil- 
lier had  done  during  the  last  few  days.  To  begin  with,  on 
no  account  whatever,,  not  even  to  secure  her  brother's  election, 
would  she  have  had  him  renew  his  relations  with  la  Peyrade. 
She  had  a  deep  grudge  against  him,  the  strongest  grounds 
for  a  lasting  estrangement.  And  then,  in  the  event  of  this 
intriguing  rogue,  as  she  called  him,  marrying  Celeste  after 
all,  the  dread  of  seeing  her  own  influence  diminished  giving 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  375 

her  a  sort  of  second  sight,  she  saw  at  last  all  the  black  depths 
of  the  ProvengaPs  character,  and  declared  that  on  no  con- 
sideration whatever,  in  any  circumstances,  would  she  agree 
to  be  one  in  a  joint  household  with  him. 

Thuillier,  rabid  with  ambition,  had  changed  the  subject; 
he  hoped  to  cure  his  sister  later  of  these  prejudices.  But 
when,  on  the  top  of  this,  the  question  of  the  newspaper  was 
raised,  he  found  Brigitte  in  a  frame  of  antagonism  amounting 
to  acrimony. 

"Ruin  yourself,  my  dear,"  said  she;  "it  is  your  own  busi- 
ness. What  comes  in  by  the  flute  goes  out  by  the  drum." 

However,  when  the  purchase  was  concluded,  when  Brigitte 
had  been  consulted  as  to  various  details  of  the  management, 
in  which  she  found  new  play  for  her  economical  skill,  when 
she  had  been  able  to  place  two  women  as  folders  in  the  office, 
and  had  promoted  her  concierge  of  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique 
to  be  the  office  "boy,"  diminishing  his  wages  as  doorkeeper 
there  by  two  hundred  francs,  in  consideration  of  this  plural- 
ity; when  she  had  been  entrusted  with  the  purchase  of  the 
calico  for  the  office  curtains,  of  the  lamps,  shovels,  and  tongs, 
and  had  been  requested  to  look  in  from  time  to  time,  and  keep 
an  eye  on  the  washing  of  the  inkstands,  the  sweeping  of  the 
floors,  and  other  little  details  of  order  and  cleanliness,  her 
ill-humor  was  considerably  mollified;  so  that  now,  as  she 
listened  to  her  brother's  confidential  narrative,  she  responded 
not  with  reproaches,  but  with  a  sort  of  pagan  of  triumph  in 
honor  of  the  probable  increase  of  her  own  powers. 

"So  much  the  better!"  cried  she.-  "At  last  we  know  for 
certain  that  he  is  a  skunk.  I  always  suspected  that  sneak. 
Turn  him  out  of  doors  without  a  word.  We  do  not  want 
him;  we  can  manage  the  paper  without  him.  That  Mon- 
sieur Cerizet,  who,  from  what  you  say  of  him,  must  be  such 
a  good  fellow,  will  find  us  another  man.  And  Madame  de 
Godollo,  when  she  left,  promised  to  write  to  me;  as  soon  as 
I  hear  from  her,  she  will  have  no  difficulty  in  finding  some- 
body! Our  poor  Celeste!  A  pretty  dish  we  were  cooking 
for  her  1" 


376  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"You  go  too  fast,"  said  Thuillier.  "La  Peyrade,  my  dear, 
is  only  accused;  he  must  first  be  heard;  besides,  we  are  bound 
by  an  agreement." 

"Oh,  very  well !"  retorted  Brigitte.  "I  see  the  whole  thing. 
You  will  be  entrapped  again.  An  agreement  with  that  sneak  ! 
As  if  such  men  as  he  were  to  hold  or  to  bind !" 

"Come,  come,  compose  j'ourself,  my  dear  Brigitte,"  said 
Thuillier.  "We  must  not  let  temper  run  away  with  us. 
Certainly,  unless  la  Peyrade  can  justify  himself, — and  in 
the  clearest,  fullest,  and  most  categorical  manner, — I  shall 
have  done  with  him,  and  I  will  show  you  that  I  am  no 
chicken-hearted  gaby.  But  Cerizet  himself  has  no  evidence, 
only  inferences;  and  I  came  to  consult  you  merely  as  to 
whether  or  no  I  should  demand  an  explanation." 

"Not  a  doubt  of  it,"  said  Brigitte,  "and  a  complete  ex- 
planation too,  or  I  deny  you  as  my  brother." 

"That  is  enough,"  said  Thuillier,  departing  with  solemnity. 
"You  will  see  that  you  and  I  are  of  one  mind  in  such  mat- 
ters." 

The  arrangements  made  for  the  establishment  of  the 
flclio  de  la  Bievre  in  the  apartment  in  the  Eue  Saint-Domi- 
nique-d'Enfer  were  as  yet  very  incomplete,  for  they  had  been 
made  in  great  haste;  the  old  offices  in  the  Eue  des  Noyers 
had  seemed  uninhabitable  for  an  hour;  the  house  was  of  the 
most  squalid  appearance,  and  in  going  over  the  furniture 
included  in  the  deed  of  sale,  Thuillier  had  been  considerably 
disappointed. 

The  inventory  of  this  property  was  something  as  follows : — 

1.     Three  tables  of  black  stained  wood. 

'      2.     Six  chairs,  with  their  straw  seats  complete,  or  nearly 
so — like  the  famous  Bologna  lute  immortalized  by  Moliere. 

3.  A  set  of  pigeon-holes,  also  in  wood  stained  black,  and 
used  for  storing  the  back  numbers  of  the  paper  according  to 
their  dates. 

4.  An  earthenware  cistern  covered  with  wicker,  an  article 
gone  out  of  fashion,  but  large  enough  to  contain  six  pails  of 
water. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  377 

5.  Three  candlesticks  and  a  pair  of  snuffers,  the  illumi- 
nation of  the  office  under  the  old  management  not  having  risen 
even  to  the  dignity  of  snuffless  "moulds." 

6.  A  water-bottle  and  two  glasses. 

7.  Nine  empty  bottles,  most  of  which,  if  we  may  believe 
the  printed  labels,  had  contained  the  best  Jamaica  rum  and 
genuine  Swiss  absinthe. 

But  the  thing  that  gave  the  crowning  stamp  to  the  estab- 
lishment, justifying  Leon  de  Lora's  famous  proverb:  "It  is 
a  long  lane  that  has  no  burning,"  was  a  splendid  store  of 
peats  discovered  in  a  cupboard  of  the  editor's  room,  large, 
dry,  compact,  and  durable;  fuel,  in  short,  of  prime  quality, 
showing  very  plainly  that  the  original  shareholders  had  had 
a  finger  in  the  purchase. 

The  list  being  verified,  Thuillier,  after  the  first  quarter 
of  an  hour's  disgust,  saw  that  something  must  be  done,  and 
jumping  into  a  cab,  he  was  driven  to  the  Rue  Chapon. 

Next  day  a  painter  was  instructed  to  inscribe  on  one  of 
the  doors  of  the  new  rooms,  the  sacramental  formula:  Office 
and  cashier;  the  room  was  divided  by  a  boarding  with  a  brass 
railing  above;  and  on  each  side  of  the  opening  where  sub- 
scriptions could  be  paid,  this  grating  was  provided  with  green 
cotton  curtains  hung  by  Brigitte  to  a  brass  rod. 

In  the  editor's  room,  also  protected  by  a  legend  in  smaller 
characters,  No  admittance  except  on  business,  were  a  dozen 
cherry-wood  chairs,  a  high  desk  of  oak,  and  a  large  oval  table 
not  yet  covered  with  a  green  cloth,  as  Mademoiselle  Brigitte 
had  undertaken  to  find  one  second-hand;  a  case  for  papers, 
a  Dutch  clock  hanging  on  the  wall  and  striking  like  a  village 
church-bell.  All  this,  with  two  ancient  maps  made  by  Sam- 
son, "Geographer  to  the  King,"  composed  a  very  decent 
temporary  outfit. 

And  at  the  moment  when  Thuillier,  returning  from  his 
conclave  with  Brigitte,  came  into  the  editor's  office,  the  crown- 
ing consecration  was  given  to  the  existence  of  the  newspaper ; 
a  printer's  devil  brought  in  from  the  press  a  ream  of  sheets 


378  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

headed  with  the  style,  title,  and  address  of  the  ficlio.  Until 
ihe  head-line  is  in  type  the  paper  cannot  be  said  to  exist. 
This  is,  so  to  speak,  its  baptism,  and  that  is  why  the  founders 
of  a  newspaper  always  begin  by  this  great  symbolical  act ;  they 
are  afraid  lest  the  bantling  should  die  unchristened. 

Thuillier  found  la  Peyrade  at  his  post  as  editor,  but  during 
the  last  quarter  of  an  hour  the  lawyer  had  been  considerably 
embarrassed  by  the  final  authority  he  had  arrogated  to  him- 
self as  to  the  choice  of  articles  and  writers.  Phellion, 
prompted  by  his  family,  and  as  a  corollary  to  his  functions 
as  a  member  of  the  committee  of  the  Odeon,  had  come  to  pro- 
pose himself  as  a  contributor  of  articles  on  the  stage.  , 

"My  dear  monsieur,"  said  he,  after  inquiring  of  Thuillier 
as  to  his  health,  "I  was  a  very  constant  play-goer  in  my 
young  days:  theatrical  performances,  all  through  my  some- 
what long  career,  have  had  an  unfailing  and  special  interest 
in  my  eyes,  and  the  white  hairs  which  now  crown  my  brow 
do  not  seem  to  me  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  my  giving  your 
interesting  publication  the  benefit  of  my  studies  and  of  my 
experience.  As  a  member  of  the  Heading  Committee  of  the 
Odeon,  I  have  refreshed  my  impressions  in  the  modern  spring, 
and  if  I  were  quite  sure  of  your  secrecy  I  might  go  so  far 
as  to  tell  you  that  you  might  even  find  among  my  private 
documents  a  certain  tragedy  entitled  Sapor,  which  in  my 
golden  days  had  some  little  success  when  I  read  it  to  a  circle 
of  friends.'' 

"Well,"  said  la  Peyrade,  anxious  to  soften  the  refusal  that 
was  inevitable,  "but  why  not  try  now  to  get  it  put  upon  the 
stage  ?  We  might  be  of  use  in  helping  you." 

"Of  course,"  said  Thuillier,  "a  theatrical  manager  to  whom 
we  could  introduce  the  work " 

"No"  said  Phellion.  "In  the  first  place,  as  a  member  of 
the  Eeading  Committee  of  the  Odeon,  called  upon  to  pro- 
nounce on  the  works  of  others,  it  would  ill  become  me  to  enter 
the  arena.  I  am  an  old  athlete,  whose  function  now  is  to  be 
umpire  and  judge  of  the  blows  he  can  no  longer  deliver. 
From  that  point  of  view  criticism  is  quite  within  my  province ; 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  379 

all  the  more  so  because  I  have,  I  believe,  some  quite  new 
ideas  as  to  the  manner  of  composing  a  theatrical  article. 
Castigat  ridendo  mores  is  in  my  humble  opinion  the  grand 
rule,  nay,  let  me  say  the  only  rule,  of  the  stage.  Hence  I 
shall  be  merciless  in  dealing  with  purely  imaginative  works 
in  which  moral  lessons  have  no  place,  and  which  the  wisdom 
of  a  mother 

"Forgive  me  for  interrupting  you,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "but 
before  giving  you  the  trouble  of  expatiating  on  your  theory  1 1 
ought  to  tell  you  that  we  have  already  made  our  arrangements 
for  theatrical  criticism." 

"Ah!  Then,  indeed,"  replied  Phellion,  "an  honest  man 
has  but  one  word." 

"Yes,"  said  Thuillier,  "we  have  a  man.  It  never  occurred 
to  us  that  you  would  come  to  offer  us  the  honor  of  your  as- 
sistance." 

"Well,  then,"  said  Phellion,  becoming  eager, — for  in  the 
atmosphere  of  a  newspaper  there  is  a  mysterious  element  that 
mounts  to  a  man's  head,  especially  a  man  of  the  middle  class, 
— "since  you  are  kind  enough  to  imply  that  my  pen  might  be 
of  some  service  to  you,  possibly  some  detached  reflections  on 
different  subjects,  under  the  'varieties,'*  thoughts  which  I  do 
not  hesitate  to  describe  as  'detached,'  might  prove  to  some 
extent  interesting." 

"Yes,"  said  la  Peyrade,  with  a  mischievous  intent  which 
Phellion  failed  to  detect,  "detached  thoughts  by  all  means, 
especially  in  the  style  of  Rochefoucauld  or  la  Bruyere;  what 
do  you  say,  Thuillier?"  He  was  determined  to  leave  the 
responsibility  of  a  refusal  as  often  as  possible  to  the  pro- 
prietor. 

"It  seems  to  me,"  said  Thuillier,  "that  such  thoughts,  if 
they  were  detached,  would  be  rather  wanting  in  connection." 

"Obviously,"  replied  Phellion.  "When  I  say  'detached 
thoughts/  I  convey  the  idea  of  a  vast  number  of  subjects 
round  which  the  writer's  pen  may  play  without  connecting 
them  into  a  whole." 

"And  you  would,  of  course,  sign  your  name  in  full  ?"  said 
la  Peyrade. 


380  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Oh,  no,"  exclaimed  Phellion  in  dismay.  "I  should  not 
like  to  put  myself  forward  so  conspicuously." 

"That  coyness,  which  I  entirely  understand  and  approve 
of,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "settles  the  question.  The  'detached 
thought'  or  aphorism  is  a  peculiarly  personal  thing,  and 
must  absolutely  be  individualized  by  a  name.  You  must  your- 
self see  that  'thoughts  by  Mr.  Dash'  can  have  no  meaning  to 
.the  public." 

Seeing  that  Phellion  was  still  prepared  with  arguments, 
Thuillier,  in  a  hurry  to  come  to  high  words  with  the  Pro- 
vengal,  made  up  his  mind  to  cut  the  matter  short. 

"My  dear  Phellion,"  said  he,  "I  beg  your  pardon  for  saying 
that  we  must  no  longer  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  your  conversa- 
tion; but  I  have  to  discuss  an  important  article  with  la  Pey- 
rade, and  in  making  up  a  paper  time  flies  like  the  devil.  We 
will,  if  you  please,  postpone  this  matter  till  another  day. 
Madame  Phellion  is  quite  well,  I  hope?" 

"Quite  well,"  replied  the  other,  rising  without  seeming 
offended  by  his  dismissal.  "When  does  the  first  number  come 
out?"  he  added.  "It  is  eagerly  looked  for  in  the  arrondisse- 
ment." 

"Our  profession  of  faith  will,  I  hope,  appear  to-morrow," 
said  Thuillier,  seeing  him  to  the  door,  "and  it  is  high  time ; 
for,  if  we  set  up  nothing  but  the  leavings  in  the  editor's 
drawer,  we  shall  soon  put  the  subscribers  to  flight.  But  you 
will,  of  course,  have  a  copy  sent  you,  my  dear  friend,  and  we 
shall  see  you  again  ere  long  ?  Bring  us  some  copy ;  la  Peyrade 
is,  perhaps,  a  little  too  dogmatic." 

Balm  thus  shed  on  the  wound,  and  Phellion  fairly  off  the 
premises,  Thuillier  rang  for  the  office-boy. 

"You  would  know  that  gentleman  again,  wouldn't  you?''' 
he  asked. 

"Yes,  m'sieur,  he  has  a  queer  enough  phiz  of  his  own. 
Besides,  it  is  Monsieur  Phellion;  I  have  let  him  in  often 
enough,  I  should  think." 

"Well,  whenever  he  comes,  neither  I  nor  Monsieur  de  la 
Peyrade  are  ever  in  the  place.  Eemember  that,  without  ex- 
ception. Now  go." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  381 

"The  devil !"  said  la  Peyrade,  when  they  were  alone,  "you 
have  a  short  way  with  bores.  Be  careful,  however.  There 
might  happen  to  be  a  few  voters  among  them;  you  were  wise 
to  tell  Phellion  he  should  have  the  paper ;  he  is  a  man  of  im- 
portance in  that  quarter/' 

"Pooh !"  said  Thnillier,  "can  we  let  our  time  be  wasted  by 
every  vaporing  idler  who  may  come  to  offer  his  contributions'? 
And  it  was  no  idle  excuse  that  I  made  to  Phellion.  I  have 
something  to  discuss  with  you,  and  very  seriously  too.  Take 
a  chair  and  listen  to  me." 

"Do  you  know,  my  dear  old  boy,  that  journalism  is  making 
you  a  very  solemn  personage?  'Take  a  chair,  Cinna.'  Au- 
gustus himself  might  have  spoken  no  otherwise." 

"And  Cinnas  are  unfortunately  commoner  than  might  be 
supposed,"  replied  Thuillier. 

He  was  still  moved  by  the  impetus  of  his  promise  to 
Brigitte,  and  intended  to  be  scathingly  satirical ;  the  top  was 
still  in  violent  rotation  from  the  stroke  of  the  old  maid's  lash. 

La  Peyrade  sat  down  by  the  oval  table.  As  he  was  genuinely 
puzzled,  to  give  himself  countenance,  he  took  up  the  large 
scissors  which  were  used  for  cutting  out  borrowed  paragraphs 
from  other  papers,  and  snipped  a  sheet  of  paper  on  which  an 
article  had  been  sketched,  but  not  worked  up,  by  Thuillier. 

The  Provengal  was  seated,  but  yet  Thuillier  did  not  begin ; 
he  rose  and  went  to  the  door,  which  stood  ajar,  intending  to 
shut  it.  But  as  he  reached  it  it  was  thrown  wide  open  by 
Coffinet. 

"Monsieur,"  said  he  to  la  Peyrade,  "can  you  see  two  ladies 
who  wish  to  speak  to  you?" 

"Who  are  the  ladies  ?"  asked  the  lawyer. 

"Well-dressed  ladies,  sir, — a  mother  and  daughter,  I 
should  say ;  the  daughter  not  to  be  sneezed  at." 

"Shall  they  be  shown  in  ?"  la  Peyrade  asked  of  Thuillier,  "or 
would  you  rather  that  I  should  see  them  in  the  waiting- 
room  ?" 

"As  they  have  been  told  that  you  are  here,  have  them  in," 
said  Thuillier,  "but  try  to  get  rid  of  them  quickly." 


383  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

And  the  proprietor  of  the  ficlio  de  la  Bievrc  paced  the 
room  with  his  hands  behind  his  back;  there  was  a  reminis- 
cence of  Napoleon  in  his  attitude. 

Coffinet's  opinion  as  to  the  dress  of  the  two  visitors  whom 
he  now  showed  into  the  office  was  certainly  open  to  revision. 
A  woman  is  well  dressed,  not  when  she  wears  handsome  and 
expensive  clothes,  but  when  her  attire,  which  may  be  of  the 
utmost  simplicity,  shows  a  quiet  harmony  of  shape  and  color 
which  makes  it  essentially  the  dress  for  her.  Now,  a  bonnet 
with  a  very  shallow  front — called  bibi  in  the  lingo  of  the  day, 
trimmed  with  nodding  flowers,  and  set  so  far  back  that  it 
seemed  to  be  worn  as  a  protection  to  the  shoulders  rather 
than  as  a  setting  to  the  face ;  a  large  French  cashmere  shawl, 
worn  with  the  awkward  inexperience  of  a  bride;  a  dress  of 
tartan  silk  in  large  checks  with  three  flights  of  flouncing;  a 
quantity  of  chains  and  charms, — but  faultless  gloves  and 
shoes  it  must  be  owned, — composed  the  attire  of  the  younger 
woman.  As  to  the  other,  in  tow  as  it  were  of  her  smarter 
consort,  she  was  short,  thick-set,  with  a  high  color,  and  wore 
a  gown,  a  shawl,  and  a  bonnet,  in  which  a  practised  eye  would 
at  once  have  recognized,  if  not  the  rag-fair  tone  of  the 
Temple,  at  least  an  unmistakable  stamp  of  "second-hand." 
The  actress'  mother — of  whom  the  indescribable  type  stood 
incarnate  before  la  Peyrade — is  always  arrayed  by  these  in- 
expensive means;  the  garments  she  wears,  fated  to  do  duty 
for  two  generations,  reversing  the  natural  order  of  things, 
after  serving  the  young  have  reverted  to  the  old. 

After  politely  setting  two  chairs,  "Whom  have  I  the  honor 
of  addressing?''  asked  la  Peyrade. 

"Monsieur,"  said  the  younger  visitor,  who  had  uncere- 
moniously come  in  before  the  elder,  "I  beg  to  introduce  myself 
under  the  auspices  of  one  of  your  legal  colleagues,  Monsieur 
Minard,  the  advocate." 

"Indeed,  most  happy,"  said  the  Provencal.  "And  what  is 
the  matter  he  recommends  to  my  services  ?" 

"Monsieur,  I  am  a  dramatic  artist.     I  made  my  first  ap- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  383 

pearance  on  any  stage  in  this  part  of  the  town,  and  that  makes 
me  hope  that  a  local  paper  may  be  favorable  to  me;  I  have 
lately  left  the  Luxembourg  theatre,  where  I  was  leading 
lady." 

"And  now  you  are ?" 

"At  the  Folies,  monsieur,  where  I  take  Dejazet's  parts." 

"The  Folies?"  repeated  la  Peyrade,  in  a  tone  that  de- 
manded enlightenment. 

"The  Folies-Dramatiques,"  Madame  Cardinal  put  in  with 
an  engaging  smile — the  reader  will  no  doubt  have  identified 
her.  "These  young  ladies  have  a  trick,  you  see,  of  shortening 
the  names.  In  the  Delassements  Comiques  they  say  Delass- 
Com.  I  always  tell  them  that  it  is  shocking  bad  style.  In 
business,  now,  it  is  just  the  other  way  about.  In  the  fish  line, 
for  instance,  you  would  never  say  'Skate,  skate,'  but  'Fresh 
skate,  all  alive,  oh  !'  That  sounds  to  me  ever  so  much  better." 

"Mother!"  said  the  leading  lady,  with  imperious  severity, 
for  Madame  Cardinal,  carried  away  by  old  habits,  as  she 
ended  her  speech  had  fallen  into  the  sing-song  cry  of  her  trade 
as  a  fish-hawker. 

"And  you  are  coming  out  there  soon  ?"  asked  la  Peyrade. 

"Yes,  monsieur,  in  a  part  in  which  I  have  five  dresses:  a 
page's  costume,  the  uniform  of  a  little  drummer  of  the  cadets 
of  the  Imperial  Guard,  a  great  coquette,  a  dress  a  la  Dugazon, 
with  a  long  waist,  and  then  the  Fairy  Lilas,  appearing  at  the 
end  in  a  glow  of  colored  fire." 

"Very  well,  mademoiselle,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "I  will  instruct 
our  theatrical  critic  to  pay  particular  attention  to  your  first 
appearance." 

"And  to  give  her  a  little  encouragement,  monsieur?"  said 
Madame  Cardinal,  in  wheedling  entreaty.  "She  is  such  a 
young  thing !  And  though  I  say  it  as  oughtn't,  I  can  answer 
for  it  she  works  day  and  night." 

"Mother!"  said  Olympe  severely.  "I  must  take  my  chance. 
It  is  enough  if  the  gentleman  will  only  promise  that  I  shall 
have  a  notice.  So  many  pieces  are  brought  out  at  the  Folies 
that  nobody  thinks  about;  but,  as  I  say,  belonging  to  this 
part  of  the  town " 


8&1  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Quite  so,  mademoiselle,"  said  la  Peyrade  conclusively. 
"My  colleague  Minard  is  well,  I  hope?" 

"Oh,  yes;  he  spent  the  evening  with  us  yesterday,  putting 
me  through  my  parts." 

"Pray  give  him  my  compliments,"  said  la  Peyrade,  as  he 
saw  the  ladies  to  the  door. 

Olympe  Cardinal  went  out  first,  as  she  had  come  in,  leaving 
a  distance  of  about  twenty  yards  between  herself  and  her 
mother,  who  with  difficulty  kept  pace  with  her. 
!  "Well,  what  do  you  say  to  Monsieur  Minard?"  asked  la 
Peyrade  of  Thuillier  as  he  came  back,  "one  of  the  suitors  for 
Celeste's  hand.  There  is  a  man  who  can  bear  to  wait." 

"-Not  at  home  to  anybody,"  cried  Thuillier  to  the  office-boy, 
as  he  shut  the  door  and  bolted  it.  "Now,  my  good  fellow," 
he  added  to  la  Peyrade,  "I  really  must  talk  to  you. — My  dear 
boy,"  said  Thuillier,  beginning  in  a  tone  of  irony, — he  had 
heard  that  nothing  so  discomfited  an  adversary, — "I  have 
heard  something  that  will  delight  you,  I  am  sure ;  I  have  been 
told  why  my  pamphlet  was  seized." 

And  he  fixed  la  Peyrade  with  his  eye. 

"The  deuce !"  said  la  Peyrade,  with  perfect  simplicity,  "it 
was  seized  because  they  were  bent  on  seizing  it.  They  sought, 
and  they  found — as  anything  can  be  found  if  you  look  for  it 
— passages  which  the  King's  advisers  chose  to  call  seditious 
doctrine." 

"No,  you  are  quite  mistaken,"  replied  Thuillier.  "The 
seizure  was  a  thing  plotted,  prepared,  arranged  beforehand," 

"And  by  whom  ?"  asked  la  Peyrade. 

"By  those  who  wanted  to  crush  the  pamphlet  in  concert 
with  those  who  pledged  themselves  to  the  treachery." 

"At  any  rate  the  purchasers  made  no  great  bargain,"  re- 
torted the  lawyer,  "for  even  as  a  victim  to  persecution  I  do 
not  see  that  your  work  has  made  any  great  sensation." 

"But  how  about  the  sellers?"  said  Thuillier,  with  exacer- 
bated irony. 

"Well,  they  were  the  cleverer,  no  doubt,"  said  la  Peyrade. 

"Yes,  I  know,"  said  Thuillier,  "you  think  a  great  deal  of 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  385 

being  clever;  but  allow  me  to  observe  that  the  police,  whose 
hand  I  can  plainly  trace  in  this  matter,  is  not  apt,  as  a  rule, 
to  throw  money  out  of  the  window."' 

And  again  he  stared  hard  at  the  lawyer. 

"So  you  think  you  have  discovered  that  the  police  had 
bargained  in  advance  for  the  suppression  of  the  pamphlet?" 
said  la  Peyrade,  without  wincing. 

"Yes,  my  dear  sir;  and  I  even  know  for  certain  the  price 
paid  to  the  person  who  undertook  this  honorable  task." 

"The  person?"  said  la  Peyrade.  "It  is  not  impossible  that 
by  giving  my  mind  to  it  I  might  also  know  who  it  was ;  as  to 
the  amount,  I  have  no  idea  about  it  at  all." 

"Well,  but  I  can  state  the  figures — twenty-five  thousand 
francs,"  said  Thuillier  emphatically.  "That  was  the  sum 
paid  over  to  Judas." 

"Excuse  me,  my  dear  fellow,  but  twenty-five  thousand 
francs  is  a  large  sum  of  money.  You  are  a  man  of  importance, 
that  I  do  not  deny ;  at  the  same  time  you  are  scarcely  such  a 
bugbear  to  the  Government  as  to  be  worth  so  large  an  outlay. 
Twenty-five  thousand  francs  is  as  much  as  would  be  paid  to 
choke  off  some  famous  pamphlet  attacking  the  administration 
of  the  civil  list;  but  our  financial  treatise  did  not  aim  so 
high,  and  such  a  sum  of  money  drawn  from  the  secret  service 
fund  merely  for  the  pleasure  of  playing  you  a  trick,  seems  to 
me  rather  fabulously  large." 

"It  would  seem,  then,"  said  Thuillier  bitterly,  "that  the 
worthy  traitor  had  some  object  in  exaggerating  my  impor- 
tance. One  thing  is  certain :  that  gentleman  owed  twenty-five 
thousand  francs,  a  debt  that  worried  him  a  good  deal,  and  a 
little  while  before  the  seizure  the  said  gentleman  suddenly 
found  himself  in  a  position  to  pay.  Now,  unless  you  can  tell 
me  where  he  found  the  money,  the  inference,  it  strikes  me,  is 
one  you  will  not  find  it  hard  to  draw." 

It  was  now  la  Peyrade  who  stared  at  Thuillier. 

"Monsieur  Thuillier,"  said  he,  raising  his  voice,  "will  you 
be  good  enough  to  have  done  with  general  statements  and 
enigmas,  and  name  your  man?" 


886  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"No,  I  will  not,"  said  Thnillier,  striking  the  table  with  his 
fist.  "I  will  not  name  him,  in  consideration  of  the  feelings 
of  affection  and  esteem  which  have  so  long  united  us.  But 
you  have  understood  me,  Monsieur  de  la  Peyrade." 

"I  have  understood,"  said  the  Provencal,  in  a  voice  hoarse 
with  emotion.  "And  I  might  have  known  that  when  I 
brought  a  serpent  into  the  place  I  should  ere  long  be  fouled 
by  its  venom.  You  poor  fool,  do  you  not  see  that  you  are 
merely  echoing  some  slander  of  Cerizet's  ?" 

"Cerizet  has  nothing  to  do  with  it ;  on  the  contrary,  he  had 

i  nothing  but  good  to  say  of  you.    But  answer  me ;  how  was  it 

1  that,  not  having  a  sou  one  day,  as  I  know  to  my  cost,  on  the 

next  you  were  in  a  position  to  pay  over  to  Dutocq  the  round 

sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  francs?" 

La  Peyrade  reflected  a  minute. 

"No,"  said  he  decisively,  "it  was  not  Dutocq  who  told  you ; 
he  is  not  the  man  to  take  so  strong  an  enemy  on  his  hands  as 
I  should  be,  unless  it  were  very  greatly  to  his  interest.  The 
rascally  accuser  is  Cerizet,  from  whom  I  snatched  your  house 
near  the  Madeleine;  Cerizet,  whom  I,  in  my  long  endurance, 
sought  out  on  his  dunghill  to  place  him  in  a  respectable  posi- 
tion; that  wretch,  to  whom  every  benefit  received  is  but  an 
encouragement  to  some  fresh  treachery.  Faugh !  If  I  were  to 
tell  you  all  that  man  has  been,  I  should  sicken  you  with  loath- 
ing; he  has  discovered  new  worlds  in  the  realms  of  infamy." 

Thuilliers  answer  this  time  was  to  the  purpose. 

"I  know  not  who  or  what  Cerizet  may  be,"  said  he.  "I  am 
acquainted  with  him  only  through  you,  who  introduced  him 
as  an  editor  entirely  to  be  relied  on.  But,  if  he  were  as  black 
as  the  devil,  and  supposing  that  the  information  had  come 
to  me  through  him,  that,  my  boy,  would  not  make  you  a  shade 
whiter." 

"It  is  true,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "it  is  my  fault  that  you  have 
had  anything  to  do  with  him;  but  we  wanted  a  man  who  un- 
derstood the  working  of  a  newspaper,  and  he  had  that  merit 
for  us.  Can  the  depths  of  such  natures  ever  be  gauged  ?  I 
believed  him  reformed.  The  responsible  manager,  after  all, 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  387 

thought  I,  is  but  meat  for  the  jail,  a  signing  machine.  I 
fancied  there  would  be  in  him  the  stuff  for  a  man  of  straw ; 
I  was  mistaken;  he  will  never  be  anything  but  a  man  of 
mud." 

"That  is  all  very  fine/'  said  Thuillier,  "but  as  regards  those 
twenty-five  thousand  francs  that  dropped  so  opportunely  into 
your  hands,  where  did  they  come  from?  That  is  what  you 
omit  to  explain." 

"But  use  your  common  sense,"  said  la  Peyrade.  •  "How 
should  a  man  in  my  position  go  drawing  on  the  reserve  fund 
of  the  police ;  a  man  so  poor  that  I  could  not  even  fling  the 
money  in  the  teeth  of  your  harpy  of  a  sister  when  she  called 
on  me  to  produce  ten  thousand  francs  with  the  insolence  you 
yourself  witnessed?" 

"Well,  well,"  said  Thuillier,  "but  if  the  money  came  from 
an  honest  source,  as  I  am  more  than  read}'  to  believe,  what 
hinders  you  from  telling  me  ?" 

"I  cannot,"  replied  the  lawyer;  "the  source  of  that  money 
is  a  professional  secret." 

"What  next !  Why,  you  yourself  have  told  me  that  the 
rules  of  your  cloth  forbid  vour  meddling  in  money  transac- 
tions." 

"And,  granting  that  I  have  done  something  not  quite  regu- 
lar," said  la  Peyrade,  "it  would  be  strange,  I  think,  after  all 
I  have  risked  for  you,  if  you  had  the  face  to  blame  me." 

"My  poor  fellow,  you  are  trying  to  spoil  the  scent,  but  you 
will  not  put  us  off  the  track.  You  want  to  keep  your  secret ; 
well,  keep  it.  I  am  master  of  my  confidence  and  esteem,  and 
I  shall  simply  pay  you  the  forfeit  as  stipulated  in  our  agree- 
ment, and  remain  sole  master  of  the  paper." 

"Indeed  !  you  turn  me  out !"  cried  la  Peyrade.  "The  money 
you  have  invested  in  the  concern,  and  your  hopes  of  election 
— you  are  prepared  to  sacrifice  everything  to  an  imputation 
brought  by  a  Cerizet  ?" 

"In  the  first  place,  as  to  a  man  to  fill  your  place,  they  are 
to  be  found,  my  good  fellow.  It  was  said  long  ago,  the  indis- 
pensable man  does  not  exist.  As  to  the  election,  I  would 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

rather  never  be  returned  at  all,  than  owe  it  to  the  help  of  a 
man " 

"Finish  your  sentence,"  said  la  Peyrade,  seeing  Thuillier 
hesitate.  "Or,  no,  be  silent  rather,  for  you  will  certainly 
blush  at  your  suspicions,  and  ask  my  pardon  on  your  knees.'' 

The  Provencal  clearly  saw  that  unless  he  made  up  his  mind 
to  confess,  the  influence  and  prospects  he  had  just  recovered 
would  slip  from  his  hold. 

He -went  on  with  great  gravity: 

"You  will  remember,  my  friend,  that  you  are  quite  ruthless, 
and  that  by  subjecting  me  to  a  sort  of  moral  torture,  you  are 
forcing  me  to  reveal  a  secret  that  is  not  my  own." 

"Go  on,  all  the  same,"  said  Thuillier.  "I  will  take  the 
responsibility.  Only  show  me  light  in  this  darkness,  and  I 
will  be  the  first  to  acknowledge  myself  wrong." 

"Well,  then,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "the  twenty-five  thousand 
francs  were  the  savings  of  a  servant — a  woman  who  came  to 
implore  me  to  keep  the  money  and  pay  her  interest." 

"A  woman-servant  who  has  saved  twenty-five  thousand 
francs !  By  heaven,  she  must  have  lived  in  a  good  house." 

"On  the  contrary,  she  is  housekeeper  to  a  feeble  old  pro- 
fessor, and  it  was  because  her  possession  of  such  a  sum 
seemed  so  improbable,  that  she  was  anxious  to  make  me  a  sort 
of  trustee  by  leaving  it  in  my  hands." 

"On  my  honor,"  said  Thuillier,  in  a  mocking  tone,  "we 
wondered  where  we  were  to  get  romances  for  our  paper,  but 
with  you  here,  I  need  never  be  uneasy.  This  is  imagination,  I 
may  say,  with  a  vengeance." 

"What !"  exclaimed  la  Peyrade,  "you  do  not  believe  me  ?" 

"No,  I  do  not  believe  you.  Twenty-five  thousand  francs 
saved  in  the  service  of  an  old  professor !  Why,  it  is  about  as 
credible  as  the  story  of  the  captain  of  the  Dame  Blanche,  who 
bought  an  estate  out  of  his  pay." 

"But  if  I  prove  the  truth  of  my  statement,  if  you  put  your 
finger  on  it?" 

"Then,  like  Saint  Thomas,  I  will  dip  my  flag  to  evidence. 
But,  my  worthy  friend,  you  must  allow  me  to  wait  till  the 
proof  is  before  me." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  389 

Thuillier  thought  himself  magnificent.  "I  would  give  two 
louis,"  said  he  to  himself,  "if  Brigitte  were  here  to  see  how 
I  am  handling  him." 

"Come,  then,"  replied  la  Peyrade,  "supposing  that,  without 
going  out  of  this  room,  by  merely  writing  a  note  under  your 
own  eyes,  I  bring  here  the  person  from  whom  I  had  the 
money,  and  she  confirms  my  statement,  will  you  believe  me 
then?" 

This  proposition,  and  the  confidence  with  which  it  was 
made,  could  not  but  stagger  Thuillier. 

"Then,  indeed,"  said  he,  changing  his  tone.  "And  you  will 
do  it,  to-day ;  now,  while  we  sit  here  ?" 

"I  said  without  leaving  the  room ;  that  is  plain  enough,  I 
should  think." 

"And  who  is  to  carry  the  note?"  asked  Thuillier.  He 
fancied  that  by  thus  insisting  on  every  detail  he  was  display- 
ing the  profoundest  acumen. 

"Who  is  to  carry  it?  Why,  your  messenger,  of  course,  to 
whom  you  may  hand  it  yourself." 

"Well,  then,  write  it,"  said  Thuillier,  determined  to  corner 
his  man. 

La  Peyrade  took  a  sheet  of  paper  and  wrote,  saying  each 
word  aloud: 

"Madame  Lambert  is  requested  to  come  at  once,  on  im- 
portant business,  to  the  office  of  the  paper,  ficlio  de  la  Bievre, 
Hue  Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer,  whither  the  bearer  will  con- 
duct her.    She  is  impatiently  awaited  there  by  her 
"Very  obedient  servant, 

"TH^ODOSE  DE  LA  PEYEADE." 

"There,  will  that  satisfy  you  ?"  said  he,  handing  the  sheet 
to  Thuillier. 

"Perfectly,"  said  Thuillier,  taking  the  precaution  to  fold 
the  note  and  seal  it  himself. 

"Now  for  the  address,"  said  he,  and  the  note  went  back  into 
la  Peyrade's  hands. 


390  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Thuillier  rang  for  Coffinet. 

"You  must  take  this  note,"  said  he  to  the  porter,  "to  the 
person  to  whom  it  is  addressed,  and  bring  her  back  with  you. 
But  will  she  be  at  home?"  he  asked. 

"It  is  more  than  likely,"  replied  la  Peyradc.  "But  at  any 
rate  neither  you  nor  I  leave  this  place  till  she  comes.  We 
must  see  daylight !" 

"Go,"  said  Thuillier  to  the  messenger,  with  a  theatrical  air. 

As  soon  as  they  were  alone,  la  Peyrade  took  up  a  newspaper 
and  seemed  lost  in  study. 

Thuillier,  by  this  time  rather  uneasy  as  to  the  upshot  of  the 
matter,  was  now  sorry  that  he  had  not  sooner  had  an  idea 
which  dawned  on  him  too  late. 

"I  ought  to  have  torn  up  the  note  and  not  have  carried  the 
test  any  farther."  Being  anxious  to  appear  to  reinstate  la 
Peyrade  in  the  position  from  which  he  had  threatened  to  dis- 
miss him: 

"I  say,"  he  remarked,  "I  called  at  the  printer's  on  my  way. 
The  new  type  is  delivered,  and  I  think  we  may  get  our  first 
number  out  to-morrow." 

La  Peyrade  made  no  answer,  but  rose  and  carried  his  paper 
to  the  window. 

"He  is  annoyed  with  me,"  thought  Thuillier,  "and  not 
without  cause  if  he  is  guiltless.  But  then — why  did  he  bring 
that  Cerizet  on  to  the  premises?" 

To  cover  his  discomfiture  and  anxiety  he  sat  down  to  the 
editor's  table,  and  taking  a  sheet  of  paper  with  the  heading, 
set  himself  to  write  a  letter. 

La  Peyrade,  on  his  part,  soon  sat  down  again,  and  taking 
some  paper,  set  to  work,  his  pen  flying  over  the  page  with  the 
feverish  haste  that  betrays  agitation  of  mind. 

Out  of  the  corner  of  his  eye  Thuillier  tried  to  see  what  his 
colleague  was  writing;  and,  observing  that  he  was  dividing 
his  paragraphs,  with  a  number  in  the  margin  of  each, — 

"Why,"  said  he,  "are  you  sketching  a  scheme  for  a  law  ?" 

"Yes,"  said  la  Peyrade  coldly :  "the  law  of  the  beaten." 

A  few  minutes  after,  the  messenger  opened  the  door  and 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  391 

showed  in  Madame  Lambert,  whom  he  had  found  at  home, 
and  who  had  come  with  him  somewhat  scared. 

"You  are  Madame  Lambert  ?"  asked  Thuillier  in  an  austere 
tone. 

"Yes,  monsieur,"  she  replied,  in  a  quavering  voice. 

After  desiring  her  to  be  seated,  seeing  that  Coffinet  was 
standing  as  if  awaiting  further  orders: 

"That  will  do,"  he  added.    "Go,  and  admit  nobody." 

Thuillier's  solemnity  and  severe  manner  had  aggravated 
Madame  Lambert's  alarm.  She  had  expected  to  meet  only  la 
Peyrade,  and  she  found  herself  in  the  presence  of  a  stranger 
with  a  very  morose  air,  while  the  lawyer,  who  had  merely 
bowed  to  her,  spoke  not  a  word.  Moreover,  the  scene  was  tak- 
ing place  in  a  newspaper  office;  and,  as  we  all  know,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  very  pious  everything  that  has  to  do  with  the  press 
savors  of  the  pit  and  the  devil. 

"Well,"  said  Thuillier  to  the  lawyer,  "there  is  nothing  to 
hinder  you,  that  I  can  see,  from  explaining  to  the  lady  why 
you  sent  for  her." 

To  remove  Thuillier's  suspicions  la  Peyrade  was  bound  to 
attack  the  subject  rudely  and  without  any  preliminaries. 

"We  want  to  ask  you,  madame,"  said  he  ex  abrupto, 
"whether,  two  months  since,  you  did  not  place  in  my  hands, 
in  trust,  at  interest,  the  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  francs  ?" 

Though  Madame  Lambert  felt  that  Thuillier  and  the  Pro- 
ven gal  both  had  their  eye  on  her,  at  this  point-blank  question 
she  could  not  repress  a  little  jump. 

"Lord  in  Heaven!"  she  exclaimed,  "twenty-five  thousand 
francs !  Where  on  earth  should  I  have  got  such  a  sum?" 

La  Peyrade's  face  did  not  betray  such  disappointment  as 
might  have  been  expected.  Thuillier  turned  to  him  with  a 
look  of  pain  and  pity. 

"You  see,  my  dear  fellow "  said  he. 

"Then  you  are  quite  sure,  madame,"  said  the  lawyer,  "that 
you  did  not  hand  over  to  me  a  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand 
francs.  You  declare  it,  you  would  swear  to  it?" 

"Indeed,  sir,  is  it  a  likely  story  that  a  poor  woman  like  me 


392  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

and  twenty-five  thousand  francs  should  ever  have  gone  in  at 
the  same  door  together  ?  What  little  money  I  have  ever  had, 
as  every  one  knows,  I  have  spent  on  housekeeping  for  the 
poor  dear  gentleman  I  have  served  this  twenty  years  past." 

"This  seems  to  me  unanswerable,"  said  Thuillier  pom- 
pously. 

La  Peyrade  showed  not  the  faintest  shadow  of  distress ;  on 
the  contrary,  with  an  air  of  yielding  completely  to  Thuillier, 
he  said: 

"You  hear,  my  good  friend,  and  I  may  call  upon  you  to 
prove,  that  this  lady  never  had  twenty-five  thousand  francs, 
consequently  she  can  never  have  given  them  to  me.  So,  as 
the  notary,  Monsieur  Dupuis,  in  whose  hands  I  fancied  I  had 
deposited  the  sum  in  my  own  name,  went  off  to  Brussels  this 
morning  with  all  his  clients'  mone}r,  I  have  nothing  to  refund 
to  Madame  Lambert,  and  Dupuis  escapes " 

"Monsieur  Dupuis,  the  notary,  has  run  away !"  gasped 
Madame  Lambert,  carried  away  by  this  terrible  news  out  of 
her  usually  sweet  demeanor  and  Christian  resignation.  "I 
declare,  what  a  villain!  Only  this  morning  he  was  taking 
the  sacrament  at  Saint-Jacques  du  Haut-Pas!" 

"To  ensure  a  prosperous  journey,  no  doubt,"  replied  la 
Peyrade. 

"You  can  talk  lightly  enough,  sir,"  said  the  woman,  "but 
the  swindler  has  carried  off  all  my  savings;  and  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  I  did  give  them  to  you,  monsieur,  and  you  will  be 
answerable — I  look  only  to  you." 

"Now,  then,"  said  la  Peyrade  to  Thuillier,  indicating  Ma- 
dame Lambert,  in  whose  whole  demeanor  there  was  something 
of  the  she-wolf  just  robbed  of  her  cubs,  "is  that  spontaneous 
— natural — or  do  you  think  we  have  got  up  this  little 
comedy  ?" 

"I  am  speechless,"  replied  Thuillier,  "amazed  at  C^rizet's 
impudence  and  my  own  stupidity;  I  can  only  surrender  at 
discretion.'* 

"Madame,"  said  la  Peyrade  pleasantly,  "get  over  your  ter- 
rible alarm.  The  notary  Dupuis  is  still  a  saintly  man,  and 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  393 

quite  incapable  of  robbing  his  clients;  your  money  is  still 
perfectly  safe  in  his  hands.  As  to  this  gentleman, — to  whom 
it  was  necessary  that  I  should  prove  having,  in  fact,  received 
that  sum  from  you, — he  is  my  second  self,  and  your  secret, 
though  known  to  him,  still  dwells  locked  in  my  bosom." 

"Very  good,  monsieur,"  said  Madame  Lambert;  "then,  gen- 
tlemen, you  have  nothing  more  to  say  to  me  ?" 

"No,  dear  madame,  and  I  can  only  beg  your  forgiveness  for 
having  been  obliged  to  give  you  such  a  fright." 

Madame  Lambert  left  the  room  with  every  sign  of  the  most 
respectful  humility;  but  at  the  door  she  turned  back  and 
said  to  la  Peyrade,  in  a  tone  of  the  most  bland  suavity : 

"When,  sir,  do  you  think  you  could  make  it  convenient  to 
let  me  have  my  money  back?" 

"I  told  you  plainly,"  replied  la  Peyrade  stiffly,  "that  nota- 
ries never  return  on  demand  the  moneys  they  have  invested." 

"Do  you  think,  sir,  that  if  I  went  myself  to  Monsieur 
Dupuis  to  ask  him  to  oblige ?" 

"I  think,"  said  the  lawyer. sharply,  "that  by  going  to  him 
you  would  do  a  perfectly  idiotic  thing.  He  had  the  money 
from  me,  in  my  name,  as  you  wished,  and  knows  nothing  of 
any  one  else." 

"Then,  sir,  will  you  be  so  good  as  to  attend  to  the  matter 
and  get  back  that  little  sum,  which  is  but  a  trifle  to  you?  I 
do  not  wish  to  hurry  you,  sir,  as  is  but  fair;  but  within  two 
or  three  months  I  may  find  a  use  for  it;  I  was  told  of  a  little 
freehold  that  might  be  just  the  thing." 

"All  right,  Madame  Lambert,"  answered  la  Peyrade,  with 
suppressed  irritation.  "I  will  do  as  you  wish,  and  sooner 
perhaps  than  you  expect  I  shall  hope  to  hand  you  over  your 
money." 

"If  quite  convenient,  sir,"  said  the  bigot.  "You  told  me 
that  at  the  least  indiscretion  on  my  part  you  would " 

"Yes,  yes,  of  course,"  said  the  Provengal,  interrupting  her. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be  your  very  humble  servant — gentle- 
men both,"  said  the  woman,  who  this  time  really  went  away. 

"You  see,  my  dear  fellow,*"  said  Theodose,  when  he  was 


394  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

alone  with  Thuillier,  "to  what  straits  I  am  brought  by  the  ne- 
cessity for  humoring  your  sick  brain.  This  debt  was  dormant, 
in  a  chronic  state,  and  now  you  have  roused  it  to  the  acute 
form." 

"I  am  grieved,  my  dear  friend,  to  think  of  my  stupid 
credulity.  But  do  not  be  worried  about  the  woman's  de- 
mands; we  will  arrange  the  matter,  and  even  if  I  have  to 
advance  the  money  on  the  marriage  settlements " 

"Come  what  may,  my  excellent  friend,"  said  la  Peyrade, 
"we  must  begin  by  reconsidering  our  personal  arrangements. 
I  do  not  choose  to  be  hauled  over  the  coals  every  morning ;  and 
just  now,  while  we  were  waiting  for  that  woman,  I  sketched 
the  outlines  of  a  little  agreement  which  we  will  talk  over  and 
sign,  if  you  please,  before  our  first  number  comes  out." 

"But  our  deed  of  partnership,"  said  Thuillier,  "affords  as 
it  seems  to  me  a  charter " 

"Which,  as  clause  14  provides,  by  the  payment  of  a  miser- 
able forfeit  of  five  thousand  francs,  you  may  treat  as  so  much 
waste  paper.  Thank  you  for  nothing!  We  will  have  some- 
thing a  little  tighter  than  that." 

At  this  moment  Cerizet  came  in.  His  manner  was  swag- 
gering and  triumphant. 

"I  have  brought  the  money,  my  masters,"  said  he,  "and  in 
an  hour  the  security  will  be  signed  and  sealed." 

But  remarking  that  his  news  was  received  with  extreme 
coldness, — 

"Why,  what  is  the  matter  ?"  he  asked. 

"The  matter,"  said  Thuillier,  "is  that  I  have  no  dealings 
with  double-faces  and  slanderers;  that  we  will  have  nothing 
to  do  with  you  or  your  money,  and  that  I  advise  you  not  to 
honor  these  premises  with  your  presence  for  another  minute." 

"'Heyday !  heyday  !"  exclaimed  Cerizet.  "What,  is  our  dear 
old  Thuillier  caught  once  more?" 

"Go,  sir,"  said  Thuillier,  "you  have  no  further  business 
here." 

"Hallo,  my  boy !"  said  Cerizet  to  la  Peyrade,  "you  seem 
to  have  turned  the  good  man's  cream  sour.  Well,  he  did  not 


THE  MIDDLE  GLASSES  305 

invent  the  printing-press,  and  we  have  seen  what  you  can  do. 
Never  mind,  I  consider  that  you  were  wrong  in  not  going  to 
see  du  Portail,  and  I  will  tell  him " 

"Are  you  going  ?"  said  Thuillier  in  an  ominous  tone. 

"Well,  well,  my  good  sir,"  replied  the  money-lender,  "I  did 
not  come  to  seek  you.  I  managed  to  live  before  your  day,  and 
I  can  live  after  it.  Only  try  to  escape  paying  the  twenty-five 
thousand  francs  out  of  your  own  pocket,  for  you  are  within  an 
inch  of  it,  I  can  tell  you." 

Thus  speaking,  Cerizet  replaced  his  pocketbook,  with  the 
thirty-three  thousand  francs  in  banknotes,  in  his  breast- 
pocket, and,  taking  up  his  hat,  which  he  had  placed  on  the 
table,  he  carefully  polished  it  with  his  coat-sleeve,  and  de- 
parted. 

Cerizet' s  tale-bearing  had  led  Thuillier  to  attempt  a  most 
luckless  campaign.  He  was  now  la  Peyrade's  humble  slave, 
and  obliged  to  submit  to  all  his  terms.  The  lawyer  was  to 
have  five  hundred  francs  i\  month  for  his  services  to  the 
journal ;  all  his  contributions  were  to  be  separately  paid  for  at 
the  rate  of  fifty  francs  a  column,  an  exorbitant  figure  in 
view  of  the  small  size  of  the  sheet.  The  paper  was  to  be  kept 
going  for  six  months,  under  pain  of  a  forfeit  of  fifteen  thou- 
sand francs;  and  as  the  chief  contributor  he  stipulated  for 
despotic  omnipotence,  absolutely  free  to  insert,  alter,  or  reject 
any  article  without  even  assigning  his  reasons  for  the  deci- 
sion; such  were  the  ostensible  conditions  of  the  agreement 
made  in  duplicate  and  signed  in  good  faith  by  both  parties. 

But  in  virtue  of  another  and  private  document,  Thuillier 
undertook  to  stand  security  for  the  sum  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand francs  due  from  la  Peyrade  to  the  bigot;  "the  afore- 
mentioned la  Peyrade,  pleader-at-law,  of  the  second  part," 
promising  that  in  the  event  of  his  marrying  Mademoiselle 
Celeste  Colleville,  and  of  the  money  having  been  meanwhile 
disbursed  by  Thuillier,  he  would  acknowledge  the  sum 
paid  on  demand  as  received  in  advance  out  of  the  bride's 
fortune.  By  this  ingenious  trick  the  crafty  Provengal  evaded 


396  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

the  law,  which  allows  no  such  forestalling  of  money  in  con- 
sideration of  a  marriage.  For  what  else  than  a  payment  on 
account  was  this  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  francs,  for 
which  Thuillier  had  no  security  whatever  but  the  conclusion 
of  the  match,  which  was  still  no  more  than  a  proposal  in  the 
air? 

Matters  thus  arranged  and  ratified  by  the  candidate  for 
election,  who,  but  for  la  Peyrade,  saw  no  chance  of  success. 
Thuillier  had  a  happy  idea.  He  went  to  hunt  up,  at  the 
Cirque-Olympique,  where  he  had  seen  the  man  taking  tickets 
at  the  entrance,  a  retired  clerk  who  had  been  in  his  office, 
named  Fleury,  and  offered  him  Cerizet's  place.  Fleury,  for- 
merly in  the  army,  a  good  shot,  a  capital  swordsman,  would 
certainly  be  the  man  to  command  respect  in  the  office.  Not 
less  dexterous  in  the  art  of  "leading  creditors  a  dance,"  he 
was  the  first  in  the  Exchequer  office  to  hit  on  the  ingenious 
idea  of  inventing  spurious  claims  on  his  salary,  so  as  to 
nullify  any  real  claims  that  might  be  put  in  to  stop  his  pay. 
He  adopted  the  same  means  to  preserve  from  his  creditors  the 
thirty-three  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  francs 
thirty-three  centimes  which  he  was  required  by  law  to  deposit 
in  his  nfame. 

The  paper  thus  constituted,  and  lacking  only  a  few  contribu- 
tors, who  could  presently  be  found,  la  Peyrade,  meanwhile, 
with  his  ready  pen,  being  quite  able  to  fill  their  place,  the 
first  number  appeared. 

Thuillier  once  more  began  the  excursions  through  Paris  in 
which  we  found  him  embarked  when  his  pamphlet  was  pub- 
lished. He  would  walk  into  a  reading-room  or  a  cafe,  and 
call  for  the  ficho  de  la  Bievre,  and  when,  as  was  unfortunately 
too  often  the  case,  he  was  told  that  the  paper  was  not 
known, — 

"Why,  it  is  incredible,"  he  would  say,  "that  any  respectable 
place  should  not  take  in  such  a  popular  journal !" 

And  he  quitted  the  premises  in  disdain,  never  perceiving 
that  in  many  places,  where  this  bagman's  dodge  was  well 
known,  he  was  noticed  only  to  be  laughed  at. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  397 

On  the  evening  of  the  day  when  that  first  number  was 
brought  out,  Brigitte  had  a  large  crowd  in  her  rooms,  though 
it  was  not  a  Sunday.  She  had  made  up  her  quarrel  with  la 
Peyrade,  whom  her  brother  had  brought  in  to  dinner,  and 
she  declared  that,  flattery  quite  apart,  she  thought  his  first 
article  "wonderfully  well  hit  off."  And  indeed  every  visitor 
declared  that  the  public  was  delighted  with  this  first  number. 

The  public — everybody  known  what  that  means.  To  a  man 
who  has  launched  any  sort  of  work  in  print,  the  public  is 
composed  of  five  or  six  intimate  acquaintances,  who,  short  of 
quarreling  with  the  author,  cannot  escape  making  some  com- 
ment on  his  lucubrations. 

"For  my  part,"  cried  Colleville,  "I  may  say  that  it  is  the 
first  political  article  I  ever  read  which  did  not  send  me  to 
sleep." 

"Certainly,"  observed  Phellion,  "the  article  strikes  me  as 
stamped  with  vigor,  combined  with  such  a  classic  style  as  we 
should  seek  in  vain  in  the  ordinary  run  of  public  prints." 

"Yes,"  said  Dutocq,  "it  is  very  well  formulated ;  and  there 
is  a  turn,  a  character,  in  the  expression  that  is  by  no  means 
common  or  commonplace.  But  we  shall  see  how  it  wears. 
To-morrow  I  expect  to  find  that  the  Echo  de  la  Bievre  is  furi- 
ously attacked  by  all  the  other  papers." 

"But  that  is  all  we  ask,"  said  Thuillier,  "and  if  only  the 
Government  would  do  us  the  favor  to  be  down  upon  us !" 

"Thank  you,"  said  Fleury,  who  had  also  been  brought  in  to 
dinner  by  the  proprietor;  "but  I  would  just  as  soon  not  be 
called  upon  to  play  my  part  quite  so  soon." 

"Oh,  down  on  you !"  said  Dutocq.  "No,  you  will  not  be 
seized  or  stopped ;  but  I  fancy  the  Ministerial  papers  will  fire 
a  heavy  broadside." 

Thuillier  was  at  the  office  by  eight  o'clock  next  morning, 
to  be  the  first  to  meet  this  formidable  fire.  After  looking 
through  every  paper,  he  discovered  that  there  was  no  more 
notice  taken  of  the  $cho  de  la  Bievre  than  if  it  had  not  ex- 
isted. When  la  Peyrade  came  in,  he  found  his  luckless  friend 
in  despair. 


398  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Are  you  surprised?"  said  the  lawyer  coolly.  "I  left  jou 
yesterday  to  enjoy  your  anticipations  of  a  hot  engagement 
with  the  press;  but,  for  my  part,  I  knew  full  well  that  not  a 
word  would  be  said  about  us.  Is  not  every  paper  that  begins 
with  some  brilliancy  always  met  for  the  first  fortnight,  or 
even  for  a  month,  with  a  conspiracy  of  silence  ?" 

"A  conspiracy  of  silence !"  echoed  Thuillier  admiringly. 

He  had  no  idea  of  what  it  meant,  but  in  the  mere  words 
there  was  something  grandiose,  which  appealed  to  the  imagi- 
nation. When  la  Peyrade  had  explained  that,  by  a  conspiracy 
of  silence,  he  meant  a  deliberate  system  on  the  part  of  the 
established  journals  of  taking  no  notice  whatever  of  those 
newly  born,  so  as  to  avoid  advertising  them  by  their  com- 
ments, Thuillier  was  hardly  more  satisfied  than  he  had  been 
in  the  first  instance  by  the  sounding  magniloquence  of  the 
words  themselves.  That  is  the  way  with  the  middle-class 
mind;  words  are  a  coinage  which  pass  current  without  exam- 
ination. It  is  fired  or  soothed  by  a  word,  indignant  or  en- 
raptured. The  citizen  may  be  led  by  a  watchword  to  raise 
a  revolution  and  overthrow  the  government  he  has  chosen. 

The  paper,  however,  was  but  a  means  to  an  end;  the  end 
was  Thuillier' s  election.  It  was  hinted  at,  rather  than  urged, 
in  the  early  numbers ;  but  one  morning  in  the  columns  of  the 
Echo  a  letter  appeared  from  certain  of  the  voters,  thanking 
their  nominee  of  the  Municipal  Council  for  the  firm  and  genu- 
inely liberal  attitude  he  had  maintained  in  the  management 
of  certain  common  interests.  "This  firmness,"  said  the  com- 
munication, "had  brought  upon  him  persecution  by  a  govern- 
ment which,  following  in  tow  of  foreign  powers,  had  sacrificed 
Poland  and  sold  itself  to  England.  The  arrondissement  now 
looked  for  a  man  to  represent  it  in  the  Chamber,  who,  having 
well-tested  convictions,  would  carry  aloft  the  standard  of 
opposition  to  the  ruling  dynasty,  and  so,  by  the  mere  omen  of 
his  name,  become  a  standing  warning  to  the  existing  power." 

This  letter,  cleverly  commented  on  by  la  Peyrade,  was 
signed  with  the  names  of  Barbot  and  Metivier,  both  tenants 
in  the  old  house  in  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique,  the  second, 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  399 

jndeed,  supplying  the  paper  on  which  the  Echo  was  printed; 
and  with  those  of  most  of  the  tradespeople  that  Brigitte  dealt 
with,  having  still  given  them  her  custom  since  removing 
from  the  quarter,  with  an  eye  to  the  election ;  the  doctor,  the 
druggist,  and  the  architect  had  also  added  their  names,  and 
finally  Barniol,  Phellion's  son-in-law,  who  held  advanced 
opinions.  As  to  Phellon  himself,  he  had  thought  it  far  too 
mild,  and  ever  "without  fear  and  without  reproach,"  though 
he  feared  lest  his  refusal  might  damage  his  son's  love-affairs, 
he  had  bravely  abstained  from  signing  the  letter. 

This  tentative  flight  had  the  happiest  results;  the  ten  or 
twelve  men,  who  had  thus  put  their  names  forward,  were 
supposed  to  express  the  general  wish  of  the  voters  of  the  con- 
stituency, and  were  called  "the  voice  of  the  electors/'  and 
thus  Thuillier's  cause  at  once  made  such  a  leap  forward  that 
Minard  hesitated  to  put  forward  his  rival  claims. 

Brigitte,  enchanted  at  the  turn  things  were  taking,  was  the 
first  to  say  that  the  marriage  question  must  now  be  settled, 
and  Thuillier  was  quite  of  her  mind,  since  he  dreaded  lest  at 
any  moment  he  might  be  called  upon  to  pay  up  the  money  for 
which  he  was  security. 

The  old  maid  and  the  lawyer  thrashed  the  matter  out.  She 
did  not  conceal  her  fears  as  to  the  endurance  of  her  sovereign 
authority,  when  a  son-in-law  of  such  spirit  and  mastery  should 
be  settled  in  the  house. 

"And,  if  we  are  to  disagree,"  said  she  in  conclusion,  "we 
had  far  better  have  separate  establishments  from  the  first;  we 
shall  be  none  the  worse  friends  for  that." 

La  Peyrade  declared  that  he  would  never  for  all  the  world 
agree  to  such  an  arrangement.  On  the  contrary,  he  regarded 
the  perfect  security  he  should  enjoy  as  to  the  management  of 
his  domestic  affairs,  under  the  supreme  direction  of  Brigitte, 
as  one  of  the  most  important  features  of  the  happiness  that 
awaited  him.  He  would  have  enough  on  his  hands  in  the 
management  of  business  matters,  and  could  not  imagine  how 
she  could  suppose  that  he  would  want  to  interfere  in  concerns 
in  which  he  was  entirely  incompetent.  In  short,  he  so  effect- 


400  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

ually  reasoned  and  persuaded  Brigitte,  that  she  pledged  her- 
self to  take  immediate  steps  for  having  the  banns  published, 
and  to  make  it  her  business  to  announce  an  early  termination 
of  the  affair  to  Celeste,  who  she  said  would  consent  without 
demur. 

"My  dear  child,"  said  she  to  Celeste,  one  morning,  "I  sup- 
pose you  have  quite  given  up  the  idea  of  marrying  Felix  Phel- 
lion.  In  the  first  place,  he  is  more  an  atheist  than  ever,  and 
you  yourself  have  noticed  that  his  head  was  turned.  You 
have  met  Madame  Marmus,  at  Madame  Minard's,  the  wife 
of  a  savant,  an  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor;  indeed,  a 
member  of  the  Institute.  There  is  no  more  wretched  woman 
on  earth;  her  husband  buries  her  behind  the  Luxembourg, 
close  to  the  Eue  ISTotre-Dame  des  Champs,  in  the  Eue  Duguay- 
Trouin,  a  street  that  is  neither  paved  nor  lighted.  When  he 
goes  out,  he  does  not  know  which  way  he  is  walking,  and  finds 
himself  at  the  Champ  de  Mars,  when  he  meant  to  go  to  the 
Boulevard  Poissonniere.  He  is  incapable  even  of  giving  his 
address  to  a  cab-driver,  and  so  absent-minded  that  he  cannot 
tell  you  whether  he  has  had  his  dinner  or  no.  You  may  fancy 
what  life  is  to  the  wives  of  these  men,  who  always  have  their 
spectacles  on  their  nose  to  gaze  at  the  stars." 

"But  Felix  is  not  so  absent-minded  as  that,"  said  Celeste. 

"Of  course  not,  because  he  is  younger;  but  with  years  his 
absence  of  mind  will  increase  with  his  atheism.  So  we  are 
all  of  one  mind,  child,  that  he  is  not  a  suitable  husband  for 
you,  and  your  mother  and  father  and  Thuillier  and  I — every 
one  in  the  house  who  has  any  common  sense — we  have  all  de- 
cided that  you  are  to  make  up  your  mind  in  favor  of  la 
Peyrade,  a  man  of  the  world  who  will  make  his  way,  who  has 
done  us  great  service,  and  who  is  now  going  to  get  your  god- 
father into  the  Chamber.  We  are  prepared  to  settle  on  you, 
in  his  favor,  such  a  sum  as  we  should  certainly  not  give  you 
for  any  other  man.  So  consider  it  settled.  The  banns  will 
be  published,  and  this  day  week  we  will  sign  the  contract. 
We  shall  give  a  grand  dinner  for  your  relations  and  intimate 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  401 

friends,  with  an  evening  party  afterwards,  when  the  papers 
will  be  signed,  and  your  trousseau  and  presents  will  be 
shown ;  and  as  I  am  taking  it  in  hand,  you  may  depend  on  it 
things  will  be  done  in  style,  especially  if  you  do  not  behave 
like  a  baby,  but  fall  in  with  our  ideas." 

"But,  Aunt  Brigitte "  said  Celeste  timidly. 

"There  are  no  buts  nor  ifs  to  the  matter,"  said  the  old  maid 
peremptorily;  "the  whole  thing  is  settled,  and  unless  you 
think  yourself  wiser  than  your  betters,  mademoiselle ' 

"I  will  do  as  you  wish,  aunt,"  said  Celeste,  who  felt  a  cloud 
about  to  burst  over  her  head,  and  knew  she  was  not  strong 
enough  to  struggle  against  the  iron  will  that  had  pronounced 
sentence  on  her. 

So  she  went  off  to  pour  her  sorrows  into  her  godmother, 
Madame  Thuillier's  bosom;  and  hearing  herself  counseled 
to  be  patient  and  resigned,  the  poor  child  saw  that  here  again 
she  would  find  no  support  in  the  smallest  attempt  at  resist- 
ance, so  she  made  up  her  mind  that  the  sacrifice  was  an  ac- 
complished fact. 

Brigitte,  throwing  herself  with  frenzied  zeal  into  the  new 
sphere  of  occupation  thus  brought  into  her  life,  at  once  set  to 
work  to  get  the  trousseau  made,  and  dresses  and  accessories 
bought.  Like  all  misers,  who  on  great  occasions  shed  their 
habits,  and  seem  to  change  their  very  natures,  the  old  maid 
thought  nothing  good  enough,  and  flung  her  money  about  so 
freely  that  until  the  day  named  for  signing  the  contract,  the 
jeweler,  the  dressmaker,  the  seamstress,  the  milliner,  the  up- 
holsterer,— all  from  the  most  noted  shops, — almost  lived  in 
the  house. 

"It  is  like  a  procession,"  said  Josephine  the  cook,  lost  in 
admiration,  to  Franchise  from  the  Minards';  "from  morning 
till  night  the  bell  is  on  the  go." 

The  dinner  was  ordered  in  from  Chabot  and  Potel,  not 
from  Chevet.  Brigitte  thus  set  the  seal  to  her  original  genius, 
and  her  emancipation  from  the  beaten  track  of  Madame  de 
Godollo. 

The  party  consisted  of  three  Thuilliers,  three  Collevilles, 


402  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

including  the  bride-elect,  la  Peyrade,  Dutocq,  and  Fleury,  the 
responsible  manager  of  the  $cho  de  la  Bievre,  whom  he  had 
asked  to  witness  for  him,  the  very  small  number  of  his  ac- 
quaintance allowing  him  no  choice;  Minard  and  Rabourdin, 
the  witnesses  on  Celeste's  part;  Madame  and  Mademoiselle 
Minard,  and  Minard  junior;  two  of  Thuillier's  colleagues 
in  the  Town  Council;  Dupuis,  the  notary,  who  was  to  draw 
up  the  settlements,  and  finally  the  Abbe  Gondrin,  the  spir- 
itual director  of  both  Madame  Thuillier  and  Celeste,  who  was 
to  pronounce  the  nuptial  benediction. 

j  This  last-mentioned  member  of  the  chosen  party  had  for- 
merly been  priest  of  the  church  of  Saint-Jacques  du  Haut- 
Pas ;  his  elegant  manners  and  talent  for  preaching  had  led  to 
his  being  transferred  by  the  Archbishop  from  the  very  poor 
parish  to  which  he  had  first  been  appointed  to  the  fashionable 
church  of  the  Madeleine.  Since  these  two  ladies  had  again 
become  his  parishioners,  the  young  Abbe  occasionally  called 
on  them,  and  Thuillier,  who  had  gone  in  person  to  explain 
to  him  in  his  own  way  the  suitability  of  his  choice  of  la  Pey- 
rade,  while  taking  care  to  abuse  young  Phellion's  religious 
opinions,  had  easily  persuaded  him  to  use  his  unctuous  and 
persuasive  eloquence  to  secure  the  victim's  submission. 

Just  as  they  were  about  to  sit  down  three  guests  were  miss- 
ing: the  two  Minards,  father  and  son,  and  the  notary  Dupuis. 
The  notary  had,  indeed,  sent  Thuillier  a  line  in  the  morning 
to  beg  that  he  would  not  expect  him  to  dinner ;  that  at  nine 
precisely  he  would  join  the  part)-,  bringing  the  papers  with 
him,  and  be  at  Mademoiselle  Thuillier's  orders. 

Madame  Minard  apologized  for  her  son  by  saying  that  he 
was  confined  to  his  room  by  a  bad  sore  throat ;  as  to  the  elder 
Minard,  who  did  not  accompany  his  wife  and  daughter,  his 
absence  remained  unexplained,  and  Madame  Minard,  while 
assuring  them  that  he  would  certainly  come,  insisted  on  their 
sitting  down  without  him.  Brigitte  gave  orders  that  the  soup 
should  be  kept  hot  for  him;  for,  among  the  middle  classes, 
a  dinner  without  soup  is  not  a  dinner  at  all. 

The  meal  was  not  particularly  cheerful ;  and  so  far  as 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  403 

animation  of  talk  was  concerned,  though  the  fare  was  better, 
what  a  difference  between  this  dinner  and  the  famous  im- 
promptu banquet  before  the  election  to  the  Town  Council ! 

The  absence  of  three  of  the  company  was  an  initial  chill; 
then  Flavie  was  in  low  spirits,  she  had  had  an  interview 
with  la  Peyrade  in  her  own  house,  and  their  explanation  had 
been  drowned  in  tears.  Celeste,  even  if  she  had  been  happy 
in  the  choice  made  for  her,  could  not  with  propriety  have 
shown  much  joy  on  the  surface,  and  she  made  no  effort  to 
look  happy,  not  daring  even  to  glance  at  her  godmother,  whose 
face  looked  like  one  long  woful  bleat,  so  to  speak;  the  poor 
child  felt  that  if  they  only  exchanged  a  look,  the  tears  must 
rise  to  her  eyes.  Thuillier  was  puffed  up  with  importance, 
so  he  was  stiff  and  pompous ;  Brigitte,  quite  out  of  the  groove 
in  which  she  was  accustomed  to  rule  without  rivalry,  was 
equally  awkward  and  uncomfortable. 

Colleville,  indeed,  by  a  few  facetious  remarks  tried  to 
raise  the  temperature  of  the  meeting,  but  the  rough  flavor 
of  his  pleasantries,  in  the  atmosphere  on  which  he  tried  to 
float  them,  had  the  effect  of  cackling  laughter  in  a  sick  room, 
and  a  mute  hint  to  "behave,"  given  at  the  same  time  by 
Thuillier,  la  Peyrade,  and  Flavie,  put  a  damper  on  his  high 
spirits  and  turbulent  festivity. 

Oddly  enough  it  was  the  gravest  dignitary  of  the  party 
who,  seconded  by  Rabourdin,  succeeded  in  warming  the  air. 
The  Abbe  Gondrin,  a  man  of  refined  and  cultivated  mind, 
had,  like  all  pure  and  well-regulated  souls,  a  fund  of  gentle 
cheerfulness  which  he  could  make  contagious,  and  some 
degree  of  animation  was  beginning  to  be  perceptible  when 
Minard  came  in. 

After  making  his  apologies  on  the  ground  of  some  business 
at  the  Mairie  that  had  to  be  settled  before  he  could  get  away, 
he  shot  a  significant  look  at  his  wife,  which  seemed  rather  to 
suggest  that  some  private  affair  had  detained  him.  La  Pey- 
rade and  Thuillier,  having  received  an  order  for  a  box  for  the 
famous  fairy  drama  in  which  Olympe  Cardinal  was  to  appear 
that  evening — Le  Telegraphs  d' Amour — were  not  altogether 


404  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

convinced  of  Julien  Minard's  illness.  They,  on  their  part, 
exchanged  meaning  looks  as  they  observed  the  elder  Miuards' 
mutual  intelligence,  and  they  seemed  to  be  wondering  whether 
the  young  gentleman's  secret  were  out,  and  if  the  task  of 
assuring  himself  of  his  son's  misconduct  were  not  the  business 
that  had  detained  Monsieur  le  Maire  so  late. 

Being  fairly  practised  in  the  art  of  picking  up  the  thread 
of  the  conversation  where  he  found  it,  and  feeling,  no  doubt, 
that  he  must  conceal  his  anxieties  under  the  semblance  of 
perfect  freedom  of  mind, — 

"Well,  gentlemen,"  said  Minard,  as  soon  as  he  had  hastily 
swallowed  a  few  mouthf uls,  "have  you  heard  the  great  news  ?" 

"What  is  that  ?"  asked  one  and  another  with  eager  interest. 

"An  extraordinary  discovery  was  communicated  to  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  at  their  meeting  to-day;  there  is  another 
star  in  the  sky." 

"You  don't  say  so,"  said  Colleville.  "Then  it  will  take  the 
place  of  the  star  that  Beranger  missed  from  its  place  when  he 
lamented  Chateaubriand's  departure,  to  the  air  of  a  song 
from  Octavie: 

"Chateaubriand,  why  leave  your  native  shore  ?" 

Colleville  sang  the  quotation,  and  this  so  exasperated  Flavie 
that  if  it  were  the  custom  for  a  wife  to  sit  next  her  husband 
at  table,  the  retired  musician  would  not  have  been  let  off  with 
the  stern  and  imperative :  "Colleville  !"  by  which  he  was  called 
to  order  from  the  other  end. 

"The  thing  which  gives  this  grea,i  astronomical  event  a 
peculiar  interest  for  the  party  I  have  the  honor  of  address- 
ing," Minard  went  on,  "is  that  the  discoverer  is  a  resident 
in  the  twelfth  arrondissement,  where  many  of  you  lived,  or 
are  still  living.  And,  indeed,  every  detail  of  this  great 
scientific  achievement  is  remarkable.  The  Academy,  merely 
from  reading  the  paper  which  announces  it,  is  so  entirely 
convinced  of  the  existence  of  this  new  star  that  when  they 
rose,  a  deputation  proceeded  to  the  residence  of  this  modern 
Galileo  to  congratulate  him  in  the  name  of  their  Body;  and 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  405 

yet  the  star  is  invisible  to  the  eye,  even  through  a  telescope; 
it  is  by  pure  calculation  and  reasoning  that  its  existence  and 
its  place  in  the  heavens  are  proved  beyond  all  dispute. 
'There  must  be  an  unknown  star  in  that  spot;  I  cannot  see 
it,  but  I  am  certain.'  This  is  what  the  discoverer  said  at  the 
Academy  after  convincing  them  by  mathematics.  And  now, 
gentlemen,  who  do  you  think  is  the  Christopher  Columbus  of 
this  new  world  ?  A  purblind  old  man,  'who  can  but  just  see 
enough  to  guide  himself  in  the  streets." 

"How  splendid !     How  wonderful !"  they  all  exclaimed. 

"And  what  is  his  name  ?"  asked  several  persons. 

"Monsieur  Picot,  or,  if  you  prefer  it,  Pere  Picot,  for  that 
is  the  style  he  is  known  by  in  the  Rue  du  Val-de-Grace,  where 
he  lives.  He  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  an  old  professor  of 
mathematics,  who  has  turned  out  some  very  first-rate  pupils. 
Felix  Phellion,  indeed,  whom  we  all  know,  studied  under 
him ;  and  it  was  he  who  just  now  read  the  paper  before  the 
Academy  on  behalf  of  his  old  master." 

On  hearing  the  name  of  Felix,  and  remembering  the 
promise  in  the  sky,  of  which  he  had  spoken,  and  which  she 
had  believed  to  be  sheer  insanity,  Celeste  looked  at  Madame 
Thuillier,  and  her  godmother's  face  had  brightened  up, 
seeming  to  convey  to  her: 

"Courage,  my  child;  all  is  not  yet  lost." 

"My  dear  boy,"  said  Thuillier  to  la  Peyrade,  "Felix  is  to  be 
here  this  evening.  You  must  get  hold  of  him  and  persuade 
him  to  let  us  have  that  paper.  It  would  be  a  stroke  of  fortune 
for  the  J^cho  if  only  we  could  get  it  to  publish  first." 

"Yes,  indeed,"  said  Minard,  volunteering  a  reply.  "It 
would  be  catering  handsomely  for  the  curiosity  of  the  public, 
for  the  discovery  will  make  an  immense  sensation.  The 
deputation,  not  having  found  Monsieur  Picot  at  home,  went 
on  at  once  to  the  Minister  for  Public  Instruction;  the  Min- 
ister flew  immediately  to  the  Tuileries,  and  this  evening's 
Messager,  which  came  out  unusually  early  this  afternoon,  so 
that  ]  read  it  as  I  was  driving  here  in  my  carriage,  announces 
that  Monsieur  Picot  is  made  chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor, 


406  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

with  a  pension  of  eighteen  hundred  francs  out  of  the  fund 
for  the  encouragement  of  science  and  literature." 

"Well  done!"  cried  Thuillier,  "there,  at  any  rate,  is  a 
Cross  well  bestowed !" 

"But  eighteen  hundred  francs  a  year,"  said  Dutocq, 
"strikes  me  as  very  mean." 

"It  certainly  is,"  said  Thuillier,  "when  you  remember  that 
the  money  is  paid  out  of  the  taxes,  and  we  constantly  see  it 
wasted  on  a  nobody  recommended  by  the  Camarilla" 

"Oh,  eighteen  hundred  francs  is  something,  after  all,"  re- 
plied Minard,  "especially  for  a  savant.  Those  people  have 
hardly  any  wants,  and  are  accustomed  to  live  on  very  little." 

"I  rather  fancy,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "that  good  Monsieur 
Picot's  life  is  not  very  well  cared  for;  for  at  this  very  time, 
his  family,  who  first  tried  to  get  a  commission  in  lunacy,  are 
appealing  for  trustees  to  be  appointed.  He  is  being  robbed, 
they  assert,  by  a  housekeeper  who  lives  with  him.  By  the 
way,  Thuillier,  you  know  the  woman ;  it  was  she  who  came  to 
the  office,  the  other  day,  and  who  had  been  led  to  believe  that 
our  notary,  Dupuis,  in  whose  hands  she  had  some  savings, 
had  gone  off  with  the  money." 

"Yes,  yes,  of  course,"  said  Thuillier  in  a  significant  tone. 
"Yes,  I  know  the  woman." 

"It  is  a  queer  thing,"  said  Brigitte,  seizing  the  opportunity 
for  emphasizing  the  argument  which  she  had  derived  a  few 
days  since  from  the  absence  of  mind  of  Marmus,  the  Acade- 
mician, "all  these  learned  men,  outside  their  own  science,  are 
no  good  at  all,  and  in  their  own  home  have  to  be  minded  like 
children." 

"That,"  said  the  Abbe  Gondrin,  "shows  how  entirely  they 
are  absorbed  by  their  studies,  and  at  the  same  time  reveals  an 
artless  nature  which  really  has  a  touching  side  to  it." 

"When  they  are  not  as  wilful  as  donkeys,"  said  Brigitte 
tartly.  "All  I  can  tell  you,  Monsieur  FAbbe,  is  that  if  I  had 
ever  thought  of  marrying,  a  learned  man  would  not  have 
served  my  turn.  In  the  first  place,  what  is  it  they  work  at,  I 
ask  you  ?  Stupid  nonsense,  for  the  most  part.  For  here  you  are 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  407 

all  lost  in  admiration  at  the  discovery  of  a  star;  but  what  the 
better  will  any  one  of  us  be  for  that  ?  As  to  more  stars,  I  can- 
not see  but  what  there  are  plenty  already." 

"Bravo,  Brigitte!"  cried  Colleville,  forgetting  himself 
again.  "Eight  you  are,  my  girl;  and,  like  you,  I  think  that 
a  man  who  discovered  a  new  dish  would  deserve  better  of 
mankind." 

"Keally,  Colleville,"  said  Flavie,  "I  must  say  your  eccentric 
remarks  are  in  the  very  worst  taste." 

"Dear  mademoiselle,"  said  the  Abbe  to  Brigitte,  "you 
might  indeed  be  right  if  we  were  constituted  solely  of  matter, 
and  if  there  were  not  bound  up  with  our  body  a  soul,  whose 
instincts  and  cravings  need  to  be  satisfied.  For  my  part,  I 
think  that  the  sense  of  the  infinitude  which  dwells  within  us, 
and  to  which  each  one  strives  to  respond  in  his  own  way,  is 
admirably  suited  to  apprehend  the  labors  of  astronomy,  which 
reveal  to  us  new  worlds  scattered  throughout  space  by  the 
hand  of  the  Creator. 

"In  you  that  instinct  of  the  infinite  finds  another  outlet. 
It  looks  nearer  home;  and  your  passion  for  the  happiness  of 
those  about  you,  your  ardent  and  devoted  affection  for  your 
admirable  brother,  are  no  less  manifestations  of  eager  aspira- 
tions which  are  not  earth-born,  and  which,  while  seeking  their 
end,  never  pause  to  ask:  'Of  what  use  is  this  or  that;  what 
good  will  it  do  us?'  However,  I  may  tell  you  that  the  stars 
are  not  so  utterly  useless  as  you  seem  to  suppose ;  but  for  them 
mariners  would  sometimes  be  sorely  puzzled  how  to  steer,  and 
could  not  go  to  distant  lands  to  fetch  the  vanilla,  with  which 
you  have  flavored  this  delicious  cream  that  I  am  now  eating. 
So,  Monsieur  Colleville  will  perceive  that  there  is  a  closer 
connection  than  he  fancies  between  the  stars  and  good  dishes. 
None  are  to  be  disdained — neither  astronomers  nor  good 
housewives " 

The  abbe  was  interrupted  by  the  noise  of  a  violent  alterca- 
tion in  the  anteroom. 

"I  tell  you,  I  will  go  in !"  cried  a  voice. 

"No,  monsieur,  you  shall  not  go  in,"  answered  the  voice  of 


408  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

the  man-servant.  'They  are  at  dinner,  sir,  I  tell  you,  and 
you  cannot  force  your  way  into  a  private  house  in  that  style." 

Thuillier  turned  pale;  since  the  seizure  of  his  pamphlet 
he  scented  the  police  in  every  unexpected  visit. 

Among  other  rules  impressed  on  Brigitte  by  Madame  de 
Godollo,  one  which  had  needed  most  constant  repetition,  was 
that  she  should  never  leave  the  table  over  which  she  was  pre- 
siding as  the  mistress  of  the  house  till  she  gave  the  signal  for 
a  general  move.  But  the  circumstances  being  her  excuse, — 

"I  will  go  to  see  what  is  the  matter,"  she  said  quickly  to 
Thuillier,  seeing  how  uneasy  he  seemed.  "What  is  it?" 
she  asked  the  servant,  as  soon  as  she  reached  the  scene  of  the 
struggle. 

"A  gentleman  who  says  he  will  come  in;  that  no  one  is  still 
at  dinner  at  eight  o'clock." 

"But  who  are  you,  monsieur?"  said  she  to  an  old  man, 
strangely  dressed,  with  a  green  shade  ovw  his  eyes. 

"Madame,  I  am  neither  a  beggar  nor  a  vagabond/'  replied 
the  old  man  in  a  loud  voice.  "My  name  is  Picot.  I  am  a 
professor  of  mathematics " 

"Of  the  Eue  du  Val-de-Grace  ?"  Brigitte  put  in. 

"Yes,  madame,  No.  9,  next  the  fruit  shop." 

"But  come  in,  monsieur,  come  in;  we  are  only  too  proud 
to  see  you,"  cried  Thuillier,  who,  hearing  his  visitor's  name, 
had  rushed  out  to  welcome  him. 

"He  has  dropped  like  his  own  star  from  the  sky,"  said 
Colleville. 

"Well,  you  rascal/'  said  the  old  man,  turning  to  where  the 
servant  had  been  standing,  though  he  had  disappeared  on  find- 
ing that  all  was  amicably  settled,  "I  told  you  I  would  go  in !'' 

Pere  Picot  was  a  tall  man,  with  a  severe,  angular  face, 
stamped  with  a  truculent  and  surly  expression,  in  spite  of 
the  mitigating  effect  of  a  fair  wig,  dressed  in  a  thick  roll, 
and  the  subduing  shade  over  his  eyes;  and  his  large  features 
were  overcast  with  sickly  pallor  from  unremitting  study.  He 
had  given  proof  of  his  irascible  temper  before  entering  the 
dining-room,  where  everybody  rose  to  receive  him. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  409 

His  dress  consisted  of  a  voluminous  garment,  something 
between  an  overcoat  and  a  dressing-gown,  under  which  an 
enormous  iron-gray  cloth  waistcoat,  double-breasted,  with 
two  rows  of  buttons  from  below  his  waist  up  to  his  throat, 
formed  a  sort  of  breastplate ;  his  trousers,  though  it  was  now 
near  the  end  of  October,  were  of  black  lasting,  and  the  duller 
tone  of  an  ill-concealed  ''darn,  in  contrast  to  two  shining 
patches,  the  result  of  friction  about  the  knees,  bore  witness  to 
long  service;  but  by  daylight  the  most  striking  detail  of  the 
old  man's  costume,  were  his  Patagonian  feet  covered  by  shoes 
of  felt,  which,  yielding  to  the  mountainous  excrescences  of 
enormous  bunions,  irresistibly  suggested  the  humps  of  a 
dromedary,  or  an  advanced  case  of  elephantiasis. 

As  soon  as  he  was  seated  in  the  chair  eagerly  placed  for 
him,  and  when  everybody  else  had  resumed  their  places,  in 
the  midst  of  silence  born  of  curiosity : 

"Where  is  he  ?"  asked  the  old  man  in  his  voice  of  thunder, 
"where  is  the  villain,  the  scoundrel?  Let  him  come  forward, 
let  him  speak !" 

"Who  is  the  object  of  your  wrath?"  said  Thuillier  in  a 
conciliatory  tone,  that  was  at  the  same  time  slightly  patron- 
izing. 

"A  rascal  whom  I  did  not  find  at  home,  monsieur,  and  who 
is,  I  was  told,  in  this  house.  I  am,  I  believe,  at  Monsieur 
Thuillier's,  member  of  the  Town  Council,  Place  de  la  Made- 
leine, on  the  first  floor  above  the  entresol?" 

"Quite  so,  monsieur,"  replied  Thuillier,  "and  I  may  add 
that  all  here  are  your  respectful  admirers." 

"And  you  will  allow  me,  I  hope,"  said  Minard,  "as  the 
mayor  of  the  contiguous  district  to  that  in  which  you  reside, 
to  congratulate  myself  on  finding  myself  in  the  presence  of 
Monsieur  Picot, — he,  no  doubt,  who  has  just  immortalized 
his  name  by  the  discovery  of  a  star?" 

"Yes,  monsieur,"  answered  the  professor,  raising  yet  higher 
the  pitch  of  his  stentorian  voice,  "  I  am  Picot — Nepomucene, 
— and  the  man  you  mean ;  but  I  have  discovered  no  star,  I  do 
not  meddle  with  such  fads;  my  eyes  are  weak,  and  it  is  a 


410  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

ridiculous  hoax  saddled  on  me  by  the  insolent  rascal  I  have 
come  here  to  seek.  He  is  in  hiding,  the  coward,  and  dares  not 
breathe  a  word  in  my  presence." 

"But  who  is  the  man  you  are  so  angry  with?"  several 
voices  asked  at  once. 

"An  unnatural  disciple,"  said  the  terrible  old  mathema- 
tician, "a  scoundrel — a  clever  fellow  all  the  same — the  wretch 
Felix  Phellion." 

The  name  was  heard  with  such  amazement  as  may  be  im- 
agined. Colleville  and  la  Peyrade  thought  the  notion  so 
funny  that  they  shouted  with  laughter. 

"And  you  dare  laugh,  you  villain !"  cried  the  irate  old  man, 
starting  to  his  feet;  "just  come  and  laugh  where  I  can  get 
at  you." 

And  brandishing  a  heavy  bamboo  cane  with  a  china  knob, 
that  he  used  to  guide  his  steps,  he  very  nearly  overthrew  a 
branched  candlestick  on  to  Madame  Minard's  head. 

"You  are  mistaken,  monsieur,"  said  Brigitte,  seizing  his 
arm  in  time,  "Monsieur  Felix  Phellion  is  not  here.  It  is  pos- 
sible that  he  may  come  by  and  by  to  a  little  party  we  are 
giving,  but  he  has  not  arrived  yet." 

"You  do  not  begin  your  evening  parties  early,"  said  the  old 
man.  "It  is  past  eight  o'clock.  However,  since  you  expect 
Monsieur  Felix  to  come  presently,  I  will  ask  you  to  allow  me 
to  wait  for  him.  You  were  at  dinner,  I  think;  do  not  dis- 
turb yourselves." 

And  he  more  calmly  sat  down  again. 

"Since  you  are  so  kind,  monsieur,"  said  Brigitte,  "we  will 
go  on — or  rather  finish,  for  we  are  at  dessert.  May  I  offer 
you  anything?  A  glass  of  champagne  and  a  biscuit?" 

"With  pleasure,  •  madame,"  said  the  old  man.  "No  one 
ever  refuses  champagne,  and  I  often  take  a  snack  between 
my  meals;  but  you  dine  very  late." 

Eoom  was  made  at  the  table  between  Colleville  and  Made- 
moiselle Minard,  and  the  musician  undertook  to  keep  his 
neighbor's  glass  replenished,  while  a  dish  of  dainty  cakes  was 
placed  before  him. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  411 

Then  said  la  Peyrade  in  wheedling  tones, — 

"But  we  are  all  surprised,  monsieur,  at  your  having  any 
cause  for  complaint  of  Monsieur  Felix  Phellion,  the  mildest 
and  most  inoffensive  of  young  men.  What,  exactly,  has  he 
done  to  raise  your  indignation  to  such  a  pitch?" 

The  professor,  whose  mouth  was  full  of  pastry,  which  he 
was  consuming  at  a  rate  that  alarmed  Brigitte,  signed  that 
he  would  answer  immediately,  and  after  mistaking  his  glass, 
and  swallowing  the  contents  of  Colleville's : — 

"What  has  he  done  ?"  said  he.  "The  wretch  !  he  has  played 
me  such  tricks  as  he  ought  to  hang  for — and  this  is  not  the 
first.  He  knows  that  I  loathe  the  stars,  and  with  reason,  to 
my  cost.  In  1807,  being  attached  to  the  Astronomical  Sur- 
vey,* I  was  one  of  the  scientific  expedition  sent  to  Spain 
under  my  friend  and  colleague,  Jean-Baptiste  Biot,  to  pro- 
long the  line  of  the  meridian  from  Barcelona  to  the  Balearic 
Isles.  I  was  in  the  act  of  observing  a  star — the  very  star, 
perhaps,  that  my  rascally  pupil  has  just  discovered — when 
suddenly,  war  having  been  declared  between  France  and 
Spain,  the  peasants,  seeing  me  perched  with  a  telescope  at 
the  top  of  Mount  Galazzo,  took  it  into  their  heads  that  I  was 
signaling  to  the  enemy.  An  infuriated  mob  broke  my  instru- 
ments and  talked  of  cutting  my  throat.  I  should  have  been 
done  for  but  for  a  ship's  captain  who  took  me  prisoner,  and 
lodged  me  in  the  citadel  of  Belver,  where  I  spent  three  years 
in  cruel  captivity. 

"Since  then,  as  you  may  suppose,  I  have  washed  my  hands 
of  the  stellar  system.  It  was  I,  nevertheless,  who  was  the  first 
to  detect  the  famous  comet  of  1811;  but  I  should  never  have 
said  a  word  about  it  if  it  had  not  been  for  Monsieur  Flau- 
guergues,  who  was  so  silly  as  to  publish  the  fact.  Now  Phel- 
lion, like  all  my  pupils,  knows  how  I  hate  the  stars,  and  he 
knew  that  the  dirtiest  trick  he  could  play  me  was  to  saddle 
one  on  me,  and  I  can  tell  you  the  deputation  who  came  to  go 
through  the  farce  of  congratulating  me  was  very  lucky  not  to 
find  me  at  home,  for  the  respected  Academicians,  in  spite  of 

*  Bureau  des  longitudes. 
VOL.  14—52 


412  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

their  Academy,  would  have  spent  a  very  uncomfortable  half- 
hour." 

The  old  mathematician's  queer  monomania  struck  the  com- 
pany as  exceedingly  droll.  Only  la  Peyrade,  who  was  begin- 
ning to  understand  the  part  played  by  Felix,  was  annoyed 
that  the  explanation  should  have  been  insisted  on. 

"Still,  Monsieur  Picot,"  said  Minard,  "if  Felix  has  com- 
mitted no  other  crime  than  giving  you  the  credit  of  his  own 
discovery,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  was  some  compensation 
for  his  .misbehavior — the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  a 
pension,  and  the  fame  that  will  accrue  to  you." 

"The  Cross  and  the  pension  I  will  take,"  said  the  old  man, 
emptying  his  glass,  which  he  then  set  down  on  the  table  with 
such  violence  as  to  break  the  stem,  to  Brigitte's  great  horror. 
"The  Government  has  owed  them  to  me  these  twenty  years; 
not  for  discovering  stars, — I  always  scorned  the  article, — but 
for  my  famous  treatise  on  Differential  Logarithms,  which 
Kepler  chose  to  call  monologarithms,  and  which  forms  a 
sequel  to  Napier's  Tables;  for  my  Postulatum  of  Euclid, 
which  I  was  the  first  to  solve;  and  above  all,  for  my  Theory  of 
Perpetual  Motion,  four  octavo  volumes,  with  plates:  Paris, 
1825.  As  you  perceive,  monsieur,  to  offer  me  fame  is  pouring 
water  into  the  sea.  I  so  little  needed  Monsieur  Phellion's 
services  to  secure  me  a  scientific  position  that  I  turned 
him  out  of  my  house  in  disgrace,  a  long  time  ago." 

"Then  this  is  not  the  first  star  he  has  dared  to  foist  on 
you?"  asked  Colleville  flippantly. 

"He  has  done  worse  than  that,"  cried  the  old  man ;  "he  has 
ruined  my  reputation  and  tarnished  my  fame.  My  Theory  of 
Perpetual  Motion,  which  it  cost  me  a  perfect  fortune  to  print, 
when  it  ought  to  have  been  done  at  the  King's  printing-press, 
might  have  made  me  rich  and  immortalized  my  name.  Well, 
that  miserable  Felix  hindered  it  all.  Every  now  and  then, 
pretending  to  be  acquainted  with  my  publisher:  'Your  book 
is  selling  very  well,  Pere  Picot/  the  young  imposter  would 
say:  'here  are  five  hundred  francs/  or  fifty  crowns — 
sometimes  even  a  thousand  francs — 'which  the  publisher  gave 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  413 

me  to  pay  to  you.'  This  game  went  on  for  years,  and  the 
publisher,  who  was  mean  enough  to  join  in  the  conspiracy, 
would  say  to  me,  as  I  went  past  his  shop:  'Aye,  aye,  we  are 
not  doing  badly;  things  are  humming;  we  shall  get  through 
the  first  edition.'  And  I,  suspecting  nothing,  would  pocket 
the  money  and  say  to  myself:  'My  book  is  liked;  by  degrees 
the  idea  will  make  its  way,  and  I  may  expect  any  day  to  see 
some  great  capitalist  come  and  propose  to  apply  my  sys- 
tem  ' ' 

"Of  absorbing  liquids?''  asked  Colleville,  who  was  con- 
stantly occupied  in  filling  the  old  lunatic's  glass. 

"No,  monsieur,  of  perpetual  motion,  four  octavo  volumes, 
with  plates:  Paris,  1825.  But  the  days  slipped  by  and  no- 
body ever  came;  so,  fancying  that  my  publisher  was  not  as 
energetic  as  might  be  wished,  I  wanted  to  make  terms  for  the 
second  edition  with  another  publisher.  Then  it  was,  mon- 
sieur, that  the  plot  was  discovered,  and  I  had  to  turn  the  viper 
out  of  doors.  In  six  years  just  nine  copies  had  been  sold.  I, 
lulled  in  false  security,  had  done  nothing  to  push  my  book, 
which  was  said  to  have  'gone  off'  without  assistance,  and  thus, 
the  victim  of  the  blackest  jealousy  and  malice,  I  was  unjustly 
robbed  of  the  reward  of  my  labors." 

"But  surely,"  said  Minard,  speaking  the  thoughts  of  every- 
body present,  "might  we  not  rather  regard  it  as  an  equally 
ingenious  and  delicate  manner " 

"Of  doing  me  a  charity,  you  mean?"  interrupted  the  old 
man,  in  a  roar  that  made  Mademoiselle  Minard  jump  in  her 
chair;  "of  humiliating  me,  disgracing  me — me,  his  old  mas- 
ter! And  do  I  need  the  doles  of  charity?  I,  Picot — Nepo- 
mucene, — whose  wife  brought  me  a  fortune  of  a  hundred 
thousand  francs,  have  I  ever  begged  of  anybody  ?  But  in  these 
days  nothing  commands  respect;  an  old  fellow,  as  they  call  us, 
is  pumped  as  to  his  beliefs,  and  cheated  of  his  good  faith,  that 
some  one  may  be  able  to  say :  'You  see  these  doting  old  fools 
are  no  good  at  all;  we,  the  younger  generation,  the  modern 
men,  young  France,  must  step  in  and  bring  'em  up  by  hand.' 
You,  a  beardless  boy,  you — support  me?  Why,  we  doting 


414  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

fools  have  more  learning  in  our  little  finger  than  you  have  in 
your  whole  body,  and  you  will  never  be  a  match  for  us,  miser- 
able plotters  that  you  are  !  However,  I  am  sure  to  be  avenged. 
That  young  Phellion  is  bound  to  come  to  a  bad  end.  What  he 
did  to-day,  reading  a  report  in  my  name  before  a  full  meeting 
of  the  Academ}',  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  forgery,  and 
the  law  sends  forgers  to  the  galleys." 

"True  enough,"  said  Colleville,  "it  is  the  forgery  of  a  star 
that  is  common  property." 

Brigitte,  who  was  quaking  for  her  glasses,  and  whose  nerves 
were  quite  upset  by  the  old  man's  capacity  for  cakes  and  wine, 
rose  as  a  signal  for  the  adjournment  to  the  drawing-room. 
She  had  several  times  heard  the  bell  ring,  announcing  that 
some  of  the  company  bidden  to  the  evening  party  had  already 
arrived.  First,  they  had  to  move  the  old  professor,  and 
Colleville  civilly  offered  him  his  arm. 

"No,  monsieur,"  said  Picot ;  "allow  me,  I  beg,  to  stay  where 
I  am.  I  am  not  dressed  for  an  evening  party,  and  a  bright 
light  fatigues  my  eyes.  Also,  I  have  no  fancy  for  being  stared 
at,  and  the  explanation  between  me  and  my  pupil  had  better 
take  place  in  a  tete-a-tete." 

"Well,  then,  leave  him  alone,"  said  Brigitte  to  Colleville. 
And  nobody  pressed  the  old  man,  who,  without  knowing  it, 
had  almost  stripped  himself  to  all  claims  to  reverence.  Before 
leaving  the  room,  however,  the  thrifty  mistress  saw  that 
nothing  breakable  was  left  within  his  reach ;  and  then,  as  a 
parting  civility,  she  asked  him  whether  she  should  send  him 
some  coffee. 

"I  take  it,  madame,  and  a  glass  of  brandy,"  replied  Picot. 

"Good  heavens!  he  takes  everything,"  said  Brigitte  to  the 
man-servant,  as  she  left  the  room,  and  she  warned  him  to  keep 
an  eye  on  the  old  maniac. 

As  Brigitte  went  into  the  drawing-room  she  perceived  that 
the  Abbe  Gondrin  was  the  centre  of  a  large  circle  of  almost 
every  one  in  the  room,  and  joining  the  group,  she  heard  him 
saying: — 

"I  thank  Heaven  for  having  granted  me  such  happiness. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  415 

I  have  never  felt  anything  more  deeply  than  the  scene  we 
have  just  gone  through,  and  even  the  somewhat  burlesque 
character  of  the  revelation,  which  was  on  the  whole  artless, 
too,  for  it  was  quite  involuntary,  contributed  to  glorify  the 
astonishing  act  of  generosity  it  betrayed.  Placed  as  I  am  by 
my  sacred  calling  in  the  way  of  seeing  many  charitable  actions, 
as  the  agent  or  witness  of  many  a  good  deed,  I  may  declare 
that  I  never  in  my  life  met  with  a  case  of  such  touching  and 
ingenious  generosity.  Let  not  your  left  hand  know  what  your 
right  hand  doeth,  is  a  precept  of  Christianity;  but  to  go  so 
far  as  to  sacrifice  fame  to  make  a  chariot  for  another  man, 
under  such  strange  circumstances,  with  every  risk  of  being 
told  he  lied,  of  being  misunderstood  and  repulsed — that  is 
worthy  of  the  very  apostle  of  benevolence !  How  gladly  would 
I  know  the  young  man  and  clasp  hands  with  him !" 

Celeste,  with  her  hand  through  her  godmother's  arm,  was 
standing  near  the  priest.  Her  ears  drank  in  his  words,  and  as 
he  was  talking  in  praise  of  Felix's  conduct,  she  clung  more 
closely  to  Madame  Thuillier's  arm,  saying  in  a  whisper: 

"You  hear,  godmamma,  you  hear." 

To  crush  the  impression  which  this  heartfelt  praise  could 
not  fail  to  make  on  Celeste,  Thuillier  spoke: 

"Unfortunately,  Monsieur  1'Abbe,"  said  he,  "the  young  man 
of  whom  you  are  telling  such  fine  tales  is  not  altogether  a 
stranger  to  you.  I  have,  before  now,  had  occasion  to  speak  of 
him  to  you,  regretting  that  it  was  impossible  to  carry  out 
certain  plans  we  had  thought  of  for  him,  by  reason  of  his  very 
compromising  attitude  with  regard  to  religious  matters." 

"Oh  !  Is  this  the  same  young  man  ?"  said  the  Abbe.  "You 
surprise  me  greatly,  and  I  must  confess  I  should  never  have 
thought  that  the  two  could  be  one." 

"Dear  me,  Monsieur  1'Abbe,"  said  la  Peyrade,  taking  up 
the  matter,  "you  will  see  him  here  in  a  few  minutes,  and  by 
leading  him  to  the  discussion  of  certain  questions,  you  will 
have  no  difficulty  in  sounding  the  depths  of  deterioration 
which  the  pride  of  learning  can  effect  in  the  most  nobly  tern' 
pered  souls." 


.416  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"I  shall  not  see  him,"  said  the  Abbe ;  "for  my  black  gown 
would  be  out  of  place  in  the  midst  of  the  fashionable  splen- 
dor that  is  gradually  filling  the  room.  But  as  I  know,  Mon- 
sieur de  la  Peyrade,  that  you  are  a  man  of  sincere  religious 
convictions,  and  no  doubt  take  as  great  an  interest  in  this 
young  man's  soul  as  I  do  myself,  I  will  say,  before  leaving, 
that  you  may  be  quite  easy.  Sooner  or  later  these  noble  spirits 
all  come  home  to  us,  and  though  we  may  have  long  to  wait 
for  the  return  of  the  wanderers  ere  we  see  them  brought  to 
God,  I  should  never  despair  of  His  infinite  mercy  towards 
them." 

Having  thus  spoken,  the  Abbe  proceeded  to  look  for  his 
hat,  intending  to  make  his  escape. 

Just  as  he  fancied  he  could  steal  away  unperceived,  he  was 
accosted  by  Minard. 

"Allow  me,  monsieur,"  said  the  Mayor,  "to  press  your 
hand,  and  thank  you  for  the  words  of  tolerance  that  have 
fallen  from  your  lips.  Ah !  If  all  priests  were  like  you,  how 
victorious  might  religion  be !  At  this  moment  I  am  in  do- 
mestic trouble,  and  must  decide  on  a  line  of  conduct  on  which 
I  should  be  very  glad  to  have  your  opinion,  and  the  guidance 
of  your  superior  wisdom." 

"Whenever  you  please,"  replied  the  Abbe.  "Kue  de  la 
Madeleine,  No.  8,  behind  the  Cite  Berryer.  After  early  mass, 
at  six  in  the  morning,  I  am  generally  at  home  all  the  fore- 
noon." 

As  soon  as  the  priest  had  left,  Minard  led  his  wife  aside. 

"It  is  all  true,"  said  he,  "the  anonymous  letter  did  not  mis- 
lead us.  Master  Julien  is,  in  fact,  keeping  an  actress  from 
Bobino's,  and  it  was  to  be  present  at  her  first  appearance  at 
the  Folies-Dramatiques  that  he  gave  it  out  that  he  was  ill 
this  evening.  The  porter's  wife,  of  the  house  where  the 
damsel  resides,  is  on  very  bad  terms  with  the  mother,  who  was 
a  fish-hawker,  they  say,  and  for  a  five-franc  piece  she  told 
me  the  whole  story,  chapter  and  verse.  When  I  go  in  this 
evening,  I  will  have  a  serious  explanation  with  that  young 
gentleman,  my  son. " 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  4tt 

"My  dear,"  said  Madame  Minard,  with  theatrical  empha- 
sis, "I  implore  you  come  to  no  hasty  resolutions." 

"•Gently,"  said  Minard,  "everybody  can  see  us.  As  to 
resolutions,  I  have  made  none;  I  have,  indeed,  just  asked  the 
Abbe  Gondrin  to  give  me  the  benefit  of  his  advice,  for  we 
may  scout  the  priests,  no  doubt,  so  long  as  all  goes  well,  but 

when  adversity  overtakes  us " 

;     "But,   indeed,  my  dear,  you  are  taking  the  matter  too 
seriously ;  young  men  will  be  young." 

"Yes,"  said  Minard,  "but  there  are  some  things  which  I 
can  never  overlook.  A  respectable  youth  in  the  clutches  of 
such  women !  It  means  dishonor  and  ruin  to  his  family. 
You,  Zelie,  cannot  know  what  these  actresses  are — Phryne, 
Lais,  and  of  the  most  dangerous  species.  If  a  man  is  of  the 
respectable  classes,  that  is  enough  to  give  them  a  particular 
pleasure  in  ruining  him.  They  declare  that  all  our  money 
earned  in  trade  is  simply  stolen,  that  we  make  it  by  adultera- 
tion and  trickery,  and  they  empty  our  pockets  to  make  us 
disgorge,  as  they  say.  How  unlucky  that  I  cannot  now  lay 
my  hand  on  Madame  de  Godollo,  such  a  clever  woman  of  the 
world !  She  would  have  been  the  very  person  to  advise  us." 

Suddenly  a  terrific  hubbub  brought  this  matrimonial  aside 
to  a  close.  Brigitte  flew  into  the  dining-room,  whence  there 
came  a  clatter  of  falling  furniture  and  crashing  glass,  and 
there  she  found  Colleville  trying  to  reconstruct  his  tie  and  ex- 
amining his  coat  to  assure  himself  that,  though  it  had  been 
shockingly  dragged  at  the  collar,  the  effects  of  violence  had 
not  gone  so  far  as  a  rent. 

"What  can  be  the  matter?"  asked  Brigitte. 

"That  old  lunatic,"  said  Colleville,  "flew  into  a  fury.  I 
came  to  drink  my  coffee  here  to  keep  him  company;  he 
chose  to  take  offence  at  a  little  joke  and  flew  into  such  a 
passion  that  he  seized  me  by  the  collar,  and  in  the  struggle 
he  threw  over  two  or  three  chairs,  and  a  tray  of  glasses  that 
Josephine  was  carrying,  as  she  could  not  get  out  of  the  way 
fast  enough." 

"It  is  all  because  you  nagged  him,"  said  Brigitte  crossly; 


418  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"why  couldn't  you  stay  in  the  drawing-room  instead  of 
coming  in  here  to  poke  fun,  as  you  call  it !  You  always 
think  you  are  in  the  orchestra  at  the  Opera  Comique."  • 

With  this  tart  speech,  Brigitte  advanced  with  a  resolute 
air,  seeing  that  she  must  positively  get  rid  of  this  old  savage 
who  threatened  her  house  with  fire  and  sword;  she  went  up 
to  Pere  Picot,  who  was  now  quietly  amusing  himself  with 
burning  brandy  in  a  saucer. 

"Monsieur,"  said  she,  at  the 'top  of  her  voice  as  if  she  were 
speaking  to  a  deaf  man — she  fancied  a  purblind  man  needed 
the  same  treatment, — "I  may  tell  you  something  that  won't 
best  please  you.  Monsieur  and  Madame  Phellion  are  now 
here,  and  they  tell  me  that  Monsieur  Felix  is  not  coming." 
And  adopting  the  explanation  that  had  served  Julien  Minard : 
"He  has  a  sore  throat,"  she  added,  "and  an  attack  of  hoarse- 
ness." 

"Which  he  got  by  reading  his  paper,"  cried  the  professor 
delighted.  "Serve  him  right !  Madame,  where  do  you  buy 
your  brandy?" 

"At  my  grocer's,"  said  Brigitte,  surprised  by  the  question. 

"Well,  madame,  it  is  my  duty  to  inform  you  that  in  a 
house  where  the  champagne  is  excellent,  reminding  me  of 
what  I  used  to  swig  at  the  table  of  the  Master  of  the  Uni- 
versity, the  late  Monsieur  de  Fontanes,  it  is  a  disgrace  to  pro- 
duce such  brandy  as  that.  I  tell  you,  with  the  frankness  on 
which  I  always  pride  myself,  it  is  just  good  enough  to 
bathe  your  horses'  feet  with.  If  it  had  not  occurred  to  me  to 
burn  it " 

"Why,  he  is  the  devil  in  person,"  thought  Brigitte ;  "there 
is  no  excuse  whatever  for  the  mischief  he  has  done,  and  now 
to  play  tricks  with  my  brandy !  Monsieur,"  said  she,  in 
the  same  loud  tone,  "as  Monsieur  Felix  will  not  be  here, 
don't  you  think  that  your  family  may  be  uneasy  at  your  long 
absence  ?" 

"Family,  madame!  I  do  not  own  such  a  thing  since  they 
tried  to  prove  me  a  lunatic;  however,  there  is  my  housekeeper, 
Madame  Lambert,  who  must,  indeed,  be  astonished  at  not 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  4U 

seeing  me  at  home  before  this,  and  I  am  quite  ready  and 
willing  to  return  to  her ;  for  the  later  I  am,  the  more  violently 
shall  I  be  scolded.  But  I  must  confess  that  in  this  out  of 
the  way  part  of  Paris  I  might  have  some  difficulty  in  finding 
my  way." 

"Well,  then,  you  must  take  a  coach." 

"A  coach  to  come,  and  a  coach  to  go  home  again!  My 
kind  relations  will  for  once  have  a  right  to  talk  of  my  ex- 
travagance." . 

"As  it  happens  I  have  an  important  message  to  send  to  your 
neighborhood,"  said  Brigitte,  who  saw  she  must  bear  the  ex- 
pense. "I  was  going  to  send  my  porter  in  a  cab — if  you 
would  take  advantage  of  the  lift?" 

"I  accept  your  offer,  madame,"  said  the  old  man  rising; 
"and  in  case  of  need  you  can  certify  that  you  have  known  me 
to  be  stingy  over  the  cost  of  a  hackney-cab." 

"Henri,"  said  Brigitte  to  the  man-servant,  "take  this  gen- 
tleman down  to  Monsieur  Pascal,  at  the  porter's  lodge;  and 
tell  him  that  before  doing  the  commission  I  gave  him  just 
now,  he  is  to  drop  him  at  his  own  door,  and  take  great  care 
of  him." 

"Great  care,  great  care!"  repeated  the  old  man,  refusing 
the  man's  arm.  "Do  you  take  me  for  a  parcel,  madame,  a 
piece  of  damaged  china  ?" 

Seeing  her  man  safe  at  the  door,  Brigitte  allowed  herself  to 
speak  her  mind. 

"What  I  said  was  for  your  good,  sir,"  said  she.  "And 
you  will  allow  me  to  remark  that  your  temper  is  none  of  the 
best." 

"Great  care !"  the  old  man  repeated.  "But  are  not  you 
aware,  madame,  that  these  are  the  sort  of  words  that  lead 
to  a  commission  in  lunacy  ?  However,  I  will  not  be  too  rude 
in  return  for  the  kind  hospitality  you  have  shown  me — all 
the  less  because  I  natter  myself  that  as  for  the  gentleman  who 
seemed  to  lack  respect  for  me,  I  taught  him  his  place." 

"Get  along,  do,  old  brute,"  said  Brigitte,  as  she  shut  the 
door  behind  him- 


420  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

And  before  returning  to  the  drawing-room,  she  was  obliged 
to  drink  a  whole  tumblerful  of  water ;  the  effort  she  had  made 
to  get  rid  of  this  obstreperous  guest  had,  as  she  said,  "given 
her  quite  a  turn/' 

On  the  following  morning,  the  elder  Minard  was  shown 
in  to  Phellion's  study.  The  great  citizen  and  his  son  Felix 
were  discussing  some  matter  which  seemed  to  be  of  absorbing 
interest.  . 

"My  dear  Felix,"  exclaimed  the  Mayor  of  the  eleventh 
arrondissement,  as  he  heartily  shook  hands  with  the  younger 
man,  "it  is  you  who  have  brought  me  here  this  morning.  I 
have  come  to  offer  you  my  congratulations." 

"Why,  what  has  happened?"  asked  the  father.  "Have  the 
Thuilliers  at  last— 

"The  Thuilliers!  What  have  they  to  do  with  it,"  inter- 
rupted Minard.  "But  do  you  mean  to  say  that  this  rogue 
has  concealed  even  from  you " 

"I  do  not  imagine,"  said  the  great  citizen,  "that  my  son  has 
ever  concealed  anything  from  me." 

"Then  you  knew  of  the  sublime  astronomical  discovery 
which  he  communicated  yesterday  to  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  ?" 

"Your  kindly  feeling  for  me,  Monsieur  le  Maire,"  said 
Felix  hastily,  "has  misled  you.  I  was  only  the  reader,  not  the 
writer,  of  the  paper." 

"Stuff  and  nonsense,"  said  Minard;  "only  the  reader! 
Everything  is  known." 

"But  look,"  said  Felix,  handing  the  Constitutionnel  to 
Minard.  "Here  is  the  newspaper;  it  not  only  states  that 
Monsieur  Picot  is  the  discoverer,  but  it  mentions  the  rewards 
bestowed  on  him  by  the  State  without  an  hour's  delay." 

"Felix  is  right,"  said  Phellion.  "The  paper  bears  him  out; 
and  I  am  of  opinion  that  on  this  occasion  the  Government  has 
behaved  very  creditably." 

"But,  my  dear  friend,  I  can  but  repeat  that  the  cat  is  out 
of  the  bag,  and  your  son  is  all  the  more  admirable.  A  man 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  421 

who  gives  his  old  teacher  the  credit  of  such  a  discovery  in 
order  to  secure  to  him  the  favors  of  the  State — I  know  of 
no  finer  action  in  all  antiquity." 

"Felix,"  cried  his  father  with  some  emotion,  "the  endless 
labors  to  which  you  have  lately  devoted  yourself — your  con- 
stant visits  to  the  Observatory " 

"No,  no,  father;  Monsieur  Minard  is  misinformed." 

"Misinformed !"  echoed  Minard,  "when  I  had  the  whole 
story  from  Monsieur  Picot  himself." 

This  proof,  stated  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave  no  shadow 
of  doubt,  convinced  Phellion  of  the  truth. 

"Felix,  my  son !"  he  exclaimed,  rising  to  embrace  his  son. ' 

But  he  was  obliged  to  sit  down  again;  his  legs  refused  to 
support  him,  he  turned  pale,  and  this  usually  solid  nature 
seemed  ready  to  succumb  under  the  shock  of  such  sudden 
happiness. 

"Good  God!"  cried  Felix,  "he  is  ill — pray  ring  the  bell, 
Monsieur  Minard." 

And  he  hastily  rushed  up  to  the  old  man,  whose  necktie 
and  collar  he  at  once  unfastened,  and  slapped  his  hands 
briskly.  But  the  weakness  was  over  in  a  moment;  Phel- 
lion was  soon  himself  again,  and  clasping  his  son  to  his  heart, 
he  held  him  in  a  long  embrace,  saying,  in  a  voice  broken  by 
the  tears  that  came  to  the  relief  of  this  acute  happiness: 

"Felix,  my  noble  son !     As  great  in  heart  as  in  mind." 

Minard  meanwhile  had  rung  the  bell  with  such  magisterial 
decision  that  all  the  house  was  roused. 

"It  is  nothing — nothing/'  said  Phellion,  as  he  dismissed  the 
servants. 

But  at  the  next  moment,  seeing  his  wife  come  in,  he  re- 
sumed his  usual  pomposity. 

"Madame  Phellion,"  said  he,  pointing  to  Felix,  "how  many 
years  is  it  since  you  brought  this  young  man  into  the  world  ?" 

Madame  Phellion,  puzzled  by  the  question,  hesitated  for  a 
moment  and  then  answered : 

"Twenty-live  years  next  January." 

"And  don't  you  think,"'  continued  her  husband,  "that  up 


422  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

to  the  present  time  God  has  granted  your  maternal  prayers 
by  bestowing  on  you  for  your  offspring  an  honest  man,  a 
dutiful  son,  gifted,  too,  with  no  mean  aptitude  for  mathe- 
matics— the  queen  of  sciences?" 

"Certainly,"  said  Madame  Phellion,  understanding  less  and 
less  what  her  husband  was  driving  at. 

"Well,  then,"  said  he,  "you  now  owe  to  Heaven  an  addi- 
tional act  of  thanksgiving,  for  God  has  made  you  the  mother 
of  a  man  of  genius;  the  studies  which  we  have  abused,  and 
which  led  us  to  fear  for  our  beloved  son's  reason,  have 
f  been  the  steep  and  rugged  path  by  which  he  lias  climbed  to 
'  glory." 

"Well,  well !"  exclaimed  Madame  Phellion.  "Do  you 
think  you  will  at  last  be  able  to  explain  yourself  ?" 

"Your  son,"  said  Minard,  a  little  more  cautious  now  in 
administering  the  joy  he  could  give,  for  fear  of  causing  a  fresh 
crisis  of  happiness,  "has  just  made  an  astronomical  discovery 
of  great  importance." 

"Really,  truly  ?"  said  Madame  Phellion,  turning  to  her  son, 
and  taking  his  hands  with  a  loving  look. 

"And  when  I  say  important,"  Minard  went  on,  "I  am 
only  trying  to  break  the  matter  gently  to  your  motherly 
feelings.  It  is  a  sublime,  a  bewildering  discovery.  He  is  not 
yet  five-and-twenty,  and  his  name  will  be  immortal." 

"And  this  is  the  man,"  said  Madame  Phellion,  hugging 
her  son  with  effusive  joy,  "to  whom  they  can  prefer  la  Pey- 
rade !" 

"They  do  not  prefer  him,  madame,"  said  Minard ;  "for  the 

Thuilliers  are  not  the  dupes  of  that  intriguing  rascal:  he 

forces   himself   on   them.     Thuillier   fancies   he   cannot   be 

Delected  without  his  help;  but  he  has  not  got  his  seat  yet,  and 

everything  is  to  be  sacrificed  to  gain  that." 

"But  is  it  not  atrocious,"  said  Madame  Phellion,  "to 
make  one's  ambitions  ride  rough-shod  over  one's  child's  happi- 
ness?" 

"Ah !"  said  Minard,  "Celeste  is  not  their  child ;  she  is 
joiily  an  adopted  daughter." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  423 

"So  far  as  Brigitte  is  concerned,  true,"  said  Madame  Phel- 
lion.  "But  as  to  'handsome'  Thuillier " 

"My  dear,"  said  Phellion,  "let  us  have  no  bitterness.  God 
has  just  given  us  a  great  happiness.  And  besides,  that 
marriage — about  which  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  Felix  does  not 
show  such  philosophy  as  I  could  wish — may  not  take  place 
after  all." 

Felix  shook  his  head  despondently. 

"Very  true,"  said  Minard,  "my  friend  is  right.  Last 
evening,  when  the  contract  was  to  be  signed,  there  was  a 
hitch.  You  were  none  of  you  there,  to  be  sure ;  your  absence 
was  remarked  on." 

"We  were  invited,"  said  Phellion,  "and  till  the  last  moment 
we  hesitated  as  to  whether  we  should  go.  But  as  you  un- 
derstand, we  should  have  been  in  a  false  position.  And  Felix 
was  quite  overdone  with  excitement  and  fatigue,  which  I  can 
now  quite  understand,  as  he  had  been  reading  his  paper  to 
the  Academy.  It  would  have  been  very  awkward  to  go  with- 
out him,  and  we,  therefore,  took  the  wise  man's  course  and 
stayed  at  home." 

Not  even  the  presence  of  the  man  whom  he  had  just  pro- 
claimed to  be  immortal  could  hinder  Minard  from  seizing  the 
opportunity  as  soon  as  it  offered  for  rushing  on  one  of  the 
delights  which  is  most  prized  by  the  middle  classes;  that, 
namely,  of  reporting  and  discussing  gossip. 

"Only  think,"  said  he,  "the  most  extraordinary  series  of 
incidents  occurred  last  night  at  the  Thuilliers',  %each  stranger 
than  the  last."  And  he  first  related  the  curious  episode  of 
Pere  Picot's  visit. 

Then  he  repeated  the  warm  approval  of  Felix's  conduct 
pronounced  by  the  Abbe  Gondrin,  and  the  young  priest's  wisli 
to  make  Phellion's  acquaintance. 

"I  will  go  and  call  on  him,"  said  Felix:  "do  you  know 
where  he  lives?" 

"No.  8  Rue  de  la  Madeleine,"  replied  Minard.  "I  have 
this  minute  left  him.  1  had  a  rather  delicate  case  to  discuss 
with  him,  and  his  advice  was  as  charitable  as  it  was  shrewd. 


424  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

— But  the  great  event  of  the  evening  was  that  a  large  and 
well-dressed  party  had  met  to  hear  the  marriage  contract  read, 
and  the  notanr,  after  keeping  us  waiting  for  more  than  an 
hour,  never  came  at  all." 

"So  that  the  papers  were  not  signed?"  said  Felix  anxiously. 

"Not  even  seen,  my  dear  boy.  All  on  a  sudden  the  news 
was  brought  that  the  notary  had  set  out  for  Brussels." 

"On  more  pressing  business,  no  doubt,"  said  Phellion 
innocently. 

"Most  pressing,  indeed,"  replied  Minard.  "A  little  bank- 
ruptcy for  five  hundred  thousand  francs  is  what  the  gentle- 
man bolted  from." 

"But  who  can  the  man  be  who,  as  a  public  official,  can 
fail  so  grossly  in  the  sacred  duties  of  his  calling?"  asked 
Phellion. 

"No  one  but  your  neighbor  in  the  Rue  Saint-Jacques,  the 
notary  Dupuis." 

"What !"  exclaimed  Madame  Phellion,  "such  a  pious  man, 
church-warden  of  the  parish  ?" 

"Indeed,  madame,"  said  Minard;  "it  is  those  very  men  who 
go  the  pace ;  it  has  been  known  before  now." 

"But,"  remarked  Phellion,  "such  news  falling  into  the 
middle  of  a  family  party  must  have  come  like  a  thunder- 
clap." 

"All  the  more  so,"  answered  Minard,  "because  it  was 
brought  in  the  strangest  and  most  unexpected  manner." 

"Tell  us  all, about  it,"  said  Madame  Phellion  quite  eagerly. 

"Well,  it  would  seem,"  Minard  went  on,  "that  this  pious 
swindler  had  in  his  hands  the  savings  of  a  great  many  do- 
mestic servants,  and  that  Master  la  Peyrade — for  all  those 
saints,  you  see,  form  a  clique — made  it  his  business  to  pick 
up  clients  for  him  from  among  that  class." 

"I  always  said  that  the  Provencal  was  a  very  bad  sort," 
interrupted  Madame  Phellion. 

"And  just  lately  he  had  sent  to  our  notary  the  savings  of 
an  old  housekeeper,  a  hypocrite  of  the  same  kidney,  a  nice 
little  sum  indeed  which  was  worth  taking  care  of — twenty-five 


THE  MIDDLE  GLASSES  425 

thousand  francs,  if  you  please.  This  good  woman,  by  name 
Madame  Lambert " 

"Madame  Lambert !"  exclaimed  Felix,  "why,  she  is  Mon- 
sieur Picot's  housekeeper:  a  close  cap,  a  pale,  thin  face,  no 
hair  visible,  and  never  looks  up  when  ste  speaks  ?" 

"The  very  woman,  a  canting  creature,"  said  Minard. 

"And  she  has  saved  twenty-five  thousand  francs!"  said 
Felix.  "I  do  not  wonder  that  Pere  Picot  was  always 
pinched." 

"And  that  he  had  to  look  sharply  after  the  sale  of  his 
book,"  said  Minard  slyly.  "At  any  rate,  as  you  may  sup- 
pose, when  this  woman  heard  of  the  notary's  flight,  she  was 
in  a  fine  pucker.  Off  she  trotted  at  once  to  la  Peyrade's 
house;  there  she  was  told  that  la  Peyrade  was  dining  at  the 
Thuilliers';  but  she  did  not  get  their  new  address  right,  so, 
after  running  about  the  whole  evening,  at  about  ten  o'clock, 
when  we  had  all  been  standing  in  that  drawing-room  for 
hours,  as  it  seemed,  looking  blankly  at  each  other,  and  not 
knowing  what  to  do  or  what  to  say,  for  neither  Brigitte  nor 
Thuillier  was  equal  to  redeeming  such  an  awkward  situation, 
and  we  had  neither  Madame  de  Godollo's  voice  nor  Madame 
Phellion's  delightful  talent  to  charm  us " 

"You  are  too  polite,  Monsieur  le  Maire,"  said  Madame 
Phellion,  smiling  primly. 

"In  short,  at  about  ten  o'clock,  this  woman  Lambert  found 
her  way  to  the  Town  Councillor's  apartment,  and  asked  to 
see  the  lawyer." 

"Quite  natural,"  said  Phellion ;  "as  the  agent  for  the  in- 
vestment the  woman  had  a  perfect  right  to  call  on  him  to 
account  for  it." 

"Well,  you  will  see  the  Tartuffe,"  Minard  went  on.  "He 
had  hardly  left  the  room  when  he  came  back  again  with  the 
news.  As  we  were  all  longing  to  be  released,  there  was  a 
general  exodus.  Then  what  did  our  man  do  ?  He  went  back  to 
Madame  Lambert,  whom  he  had  left  in  the  ante-room,  and  as 
the  worthy  dame  never  ceased  crying  out  that  she  was  ruined, 
that  she  was  done  for, — which  may  perhaps  have  been  spon- 


42G  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

taneous,  but  was  quite  as  likely  to  be  a  scene  got  up  with  la 
Peyrade, — in  the  presence  of  all  the  company  on  which  this 
servant  intruded  her  clamor:  'Be  quite  easy,  my  good  wo- 
man/ says  monsieur  the  editor  of  the  ficho  de  la  Eievre, 
'you  were  a  party  to*  the  investment,  so  that,  in  fact,  I  owe 
you  nothing ;  but  the  money  having  passed  through  my  hands, 
my  conscience  holds  me  responsible ;  if  the  assignees  in  bank- 
ruptcy do  not  pay  you  in  full,  I  will  pay.' " 

"Well,"  said  Phellion,  "it  was  my  opinion  from  the  first 
that  the  agent  was  responsible.  I  should  not  have  hesitated 
to  do  as  Monsieur  la  Peyrade  has  done,  and  I  do  not  think  he 
can  be  taxed  with  Jesuitry  for  that." 

"Yes,  you  would  have  done  it,"  said  Minard,  "and  so 
would  I.  But  we  should  not  have  done  it  to  the  sound  of 
trumpets;  and,  besides,  we  should  have  paid  out  of  our  own 
pockets,  like  gentlemen.  But  this  electioneering  broker — 
where  is  he  to  find  the  money  ?  Out  of  the  settlements  ?" 

At  this  moment  the  boy  came  in  and  handed  a  letter  to 
Felix  Phellion.  It  was  from  Pere  Picot,  written  at  his  dicta- 
tion by  Madame  Lambert ;  for  this  reason  the  original  spelling 
is  not  given  here. 

Madame  Lambert's  writing  was  such  as,  once  seen,  can 
never  be  forgotten.  Felix,  recognizing  it,  at  once  said:  "It 
is  from  the  old  professor,"  and  before  opening  it  he  added: 
"You  will  allow  me,  Monsieur  le  Maire?" 

"He  will  give  it  you  smartly,"  said  Minard.  "In  my  life  I 
never  saw  anything  so  comical  as  his  rage  last  evening." 

As  he  read  the  epistle,  Felix  smiled.  When  he  came  to  the 
end,  he  handed  it  to  his  father. 

"You  can  read  it  aloud,"  said  he. 

Then  in  his  solemn  tones  the  great  citizen  began : — 

"My  dear  Felix :  I  have  just  received  your  note.  It  came 
in  the  very  nick  of  time,  for  I  was  what  you  may  call  pretty 
mad  with  you.  You  say  that  in  committing  the  abuse  of 
confidence  of  which  you  have  been  guilty,  and  about  which 
I  intended  to  give  you  a  pretty  sharp  scolding,  you  meant  to 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  427 

deal  a  black-hander  to  my  family  by  showing  them  that  a 
man  who  could  make  the  elaborate  calculations  required  for 
the  discoveiy  you  have  made,  was  not  a  man  to  be  treated  as 
a  lunatic,  or  to  have  his  affairs  administered  by  others.  This 
argument  is  satisfactory,  and  is  so  far  a  reply  to  their  in- 
famous proceedings  that  I  commend  you  for  having  thought 
of  it.  But  you  have  made  me  pay  pretty  dear  for  your  argu- 
ment, by  making  me  the  philosopher  and  friend  of  a  star 
which  you  very  well  knew  I  would  never  have  had  anything 
to  do  with. 

"At  my  time  of  life  a  man  who  has  discovered  perpetual 
motion,  does  not  trouble  his  head  with  such  fantastic  rubbish. 
It  is  all  very  well  for  gabies  and  beginners  like  you;  and 
that  is  what  I  took  the  liberty  of  saying  this  morning  to  the 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  "who  received  me  indeed  with 
the  greatest  civility.  I  put  it  to  him  that,  having  mistaken 
his  man,  he  ought,  perhaps,  to  take  back  his  Cross  and  his 
premium,  though  I  have  certainly  earned  them  in  other  ways. 

"  'The  Government,'  answered  he,  'is  not  in  the  habit  of 
making  mistakes.  What  it  does  is  always  well  done,  and  a 
patent  signed  by  his  Majesty  cannot  be  annulled.  Very  good 
work  has  won  the  favors  bestowed  on  you  by  the  King;  it  is, 
indeed,  a  long-standing  debt  that  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  pay 
in  his  name.' 

"'But  how  about  Felix?'  said  I.  Tor  after  all,  for  a 
youngster,  this  discovery  is  none  so  bad.' 

"  'Monsieur  Felix  Phellion/  replied  he,  'will  in  the  ceurse 
of  the  day  receive  his  appointment  to  be  Chevalier  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor;  the  patent  will  be  signed  by  the  King  this 
morning.  And  I  may  add  that  there  happens  to  be  a  chair 
vacant  in  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  and  unless  you  claim 


"  'I  in  the  Academy  !'  cried  I,  with  the  frankness  you  know 
so  well,  'I  execrate  your  Academies.  They  are  wet  blankets 
—  gathering  of  idlers  —  shops  with  a  fine  sign  and  nothing  to 
sell  -  ' 

"'Well,  then,'  said  the  Minister,  smiling,  'I  fancy  that 
VOL  14—53 


Monsieur  Felix  has  every  chance  in  his  favor  at  the  next  elec- 
tion, to  say  nothing  of  Government  influence,  which  will  be 
on  his  side  so  far  as  its  legitimate  exercise  will  allow/ 

"So  this,  my  poor  boy,  is  all  I  could  do  to  reward  you  for 
your  good  intentions,  and  show  you  that  I  owe  you  no  grudge. 
I  fancy,  in  fact,  that  the  'family'  will  pull  rather  long  faces. 
Come  and  talk  it  all  over  to-day  at  four  o'clock ;  for  I  do  not 
dine  as  I  saw  a  party  dining  yesterday,  in  a  house  where,  by 
the  way,  I  heard  you  very  handsomely  spoken  of. 

"Madame  Lambert,  who  is  a  better  hand  with  the  pan 
than  with  the  pen,  will  do  her  best,  and  though  it  is  a  Friday 
— you  know  she  never  lets  me  off — she  promises  me  a  dinner 
for  an  archbishop,  though  Lenten  fare,  washed  down  with  a 
half -bottle  of  champagne,  aye,  and  a  second  if  need  be,  to 
hansel  our  red  ribbon. 

"Your  old  master  and  friend, 
"PicoT,  Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 

"P.S.  If  you  could  persuade  your  mother  to  entrust  to 
you  a  little  bottle  of  that  excellent  old  Cognac,  of  which 
you  once  gave  me  a  sample?  I  have  not  a  drop  left,  and  I 
tasted  some  last  night  just  fit  to  bathe  a  horse's  feet;  but 
I  did  not  mince  matters  with  the  fair  Hebe  who  gave  it 
me." 

"Certainly,  he  shall  have  some  more,"  said  Madame  Phel- 
lion,  "and  not  a  small  bottle,  but  a  large  one." 

"And  I  have  some,"  added  Minard,  "not  so  bad,  I  can 
tell  you,  of  which  I  could  send  him  a  few  bottles.  But  do  not 
tell  him  where  it  comes  from,  Monsieur  le  Chevalier, — you 
will  accept  me  as  your  sponsor,  I  hope, — for  it  is  impossible 
to  guess  how  that  extraordinary  man  will  take  a  thing." 

"Wife,"  said  Phellion  suddenly,  "give  me  a  white  tie  and 
my  black  coat." 

"Where  are  you  off  to?"  asked  Madame  Phellion.  "To 
the  Minister,  to  return  thanks  ?" 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  429 

"Bring  my  things,  I  say.  I  have  an  important  call  to 
make,  and  Monsieur  le  Maire  I  know  will  excuse  me." 

"Oh,  I  am  going  too,"  replied  Minard,  "for  I  have  some 
business  to  attend  to  concerning  my  son.  He  has  not  dis- 
covered a  star,  I  promise  you." 

Vainly  cross-questioned  by  his  wife  and  son,  Phellion 
dressed,  put  on  a  pair  of  white  gloves,  sent  for  a  hackney 
cab,  and,  a  quarter  of  an  hour  later,  was  announced  to  Bri- 
gitte,  whom  he  discovered  busy  putting  away  the  best  china 
and  plate  that  had  been  in  use  the  day  before. 

Ceasing  her  homely  occupation  to  receive  her  visitor: 

"Well,  Papa  Phellion,"  said  the  old  maid,  when  they  were 
seated,  "you  gave  us  the  slip  last  night.  However,  you  showed 
that  you  had  a  sharper  nose  than  the  rest.  Do  you  know 
what  a  trick  the  notary  played  us  ?" 

"I  know  all  about  it,"  said  Phellion,  "and  the  unexpected 
reprieve  in  the  execution  of  your  plans,  to  which  the  inci- 
dent has  given  rise,  is  the  text,  I  may  say,  of  an  important 
discussion  I  want  to  have  with  you.  Providence  occasionally 
seems  to  find  pleasure  in  thwarting  our  best-contrived 
schemes;  sometimes,  again,  by  the  obstacles  it  places  in  our 
way  it  seems  to  signify  to  us  that  we  have  taken  the.  wrong 
turning,  and  warns  us  to  think  better  of  it." 

"Providence!"  sai-d  Brigitte  the  strong-minded,  "Provi- 
dence! It  has  other  things  to  do  without  troubling  about 
us." 

"That  is  a  matter  of  opinion/'  said  Phellion.  "For  my 
part,  I  am  apt  to  see  its  hand  in  small  things  as  in  great; 
and  this  much  is  certain :  if,  last  evening,  Providence  had 
allowed  your  promises  to  Monsieur  de  la  Peyrade  to  be 
carried  into  effect,  you  would  not  at  this  moment  see  me 
here." 

"So  you  think,"  retorted  Brigitte,  "that  for  want  of  a 
notary  a  marriage  must  fall  through.  But  for  want  of  a 
monk  the  abbey  does  not  stand  idle,  the  proverb  says." 

"My  dear  lady,"  said  Phellion,  "you  will  do  me  the  justice 
to  admit  that  neither  I  nor  my  wife  ever  tried  to  influence 


430  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

your  decisions.  We  allowed  the  young  people  to  fall  in  love 
without  too  carefully  considering  to  what  the  attachment 
might  lead " 

"To  making  them  dissatisfied,"  said  Brigitte.  "That  is 
what  love  leads  to,  and  that  is  why  I  have  never  allowed  my- 
self to  indulge  in  it." 

"What  you  say  applies  very  truly  to  my  unhappy  son," 
answered  Phellion;  "for  in  spite  of  the  lofty  occupations 
by  which  he  has  tried  to  divert  his  thoughts,  he  is  even  now 
so  overcome  by  his  sorrow  that  only  this  morning,  notwith- 
standing the  splendid  success  he  has  just  achieved,  he  was 
talking  to  me  of  making  a  voyage  round  the  world,  an  ex- 
pedition which  would  absent  him  from  home  for  at  least  three 
years,  if,  indeed,  he  should  escape  the  perils  of  so  long  a 
journey." 

"Why,  really,"  said  Brigitte,  "that  is  not  such  a  bad  idea, 
perhaps ;  he  might  come  back  consoled,  and  discover  three  or 
four  more  stars." 

"One  is  enough  for  us,"  said  Phellion,  with  twice  his  usual 
solemnity.  "And  it  is  under  the  auspicies  of  this  discovery, 
which  has  lifted  his  name  to  so  high  a  place  in  the  world  of 
science,  that  I  am  so  fatuous,  mademoiselle,  as  to  tell  you 
point-blank  I  have  come  to  ask  the  hand  of  Mademoiselle 
Celeste  Colleville  for  my  son  Felix  Phellion,  who  loves  her, 
and  whom  she  loves." 

"But,  my  good  man,  you  are  too  late,"  said  Brigitte. 
"Consider,  we  are  diametrically  pledged  to  la  Peyrade." 

"It  is  never  too  late  to  do  right,  'they  say,  and  yesterday 
would  have  been  too  soon  for  me  to  dare  to  come  forward. 
My  son  would  not  have  then  said,  by  way  of  compensation 
for  their  disparity  of  wealth,  'If  Celeste,  by  your  liberality, 
has  a  fortune  with  which  mine  cannot  pretend  to  compare, 
I  have  the  honor  to  be  a  member  of  the  Royal  Order  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  and  ere  long,  to  all  appearance,  I  shall  be 
a  member  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  one  of  the  five 
departments  of  the  Institute.' ': 

"No  doubt,"  said  Brigitte,  "Felix  promises  to  be  a  very 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  431 

good  match;  but  we  are  pledged  to  la  Peyrade.  His  name 
is  put  up  with  Celeste's  at  the  Mairie ;  but  for  a  quite  extra- 
ordinary incident,  the  contract  would  have  been  signed;  he 
is  working  for  Thuillier's  election,  which  is  already  looking 
well ;  we  have  invested  money  in  his  interest  in  a  newspaper ; 
in  short,  even  if  we  wished  it,  we  could  not  possibly  release 
ourselves  from  our  promise." 

"And  so,"  said  Phellion,  "in  one  of  those  rare  cases  in 
which  reason  and  inclination  point  the  same  way,  you  think 
it  well  to  make  both  yield  to  the  question  of  interest? 
Celeste,  as  we  all  know,  has  no  particular  liking  for  Mon- 
sieur de  la  Peyrade.  Brought  up  with  Felix " 

"Brought  up  with  Felix!"  interrupted  Brigitte;  "she  had 
her  choice  once  between  Monsieur  de  la  Peyrade  and  your  son, 
so  that  is  all  the  violence  we  have  done  her ;  and  she  would 
have  nothing  to  say  to  Monsieur.  Felix,  whose  atheism  is  well 
known." 

"There  you  are  mistaken,  mademoiselle ;  my  son  is  not  an 
atheist,  and  Voltaire  himself  doubted  whether  there  could  be 
an  atheist.  No  later  than  yesterday,  in  this  very  house,  an 
ecclesiastic  as  noted  for  his  talents  as  for  his  virtues,  while 
speaking  of  Felix  in  the  handsomest  terms  of  praise,  expressed 
a  wish  to  make  his  acquaintance." 

"Yes,  to  convert  him !"  retorted  Brigitte.  "But  as  to  the 
marriage,  I  am  eorry  to  say  you  are  a  day  after  the  fair. 
Thuillier  will  never  give  up  his  la  Peyrade." 

"Madem6iselle,"  said  Phellion  rising,  "I  do  not  feel  in  the 
very  least  humiliated  by  the  useless  step  I  have  taken;  I  do 
not  even  ask  yon  to  keep  it  a  secret,  for  I  shall  be  the  first 
to  talk  of  it  to  all  our  friends  and  acquaintance." 

"Talk  away,  my  good  man,  to  whomsoever  you  will,"  re- 
plied Brigitte  bitterly.  "Next  thing,  I  suppose,  because  your 
son  has  discovered  a  star, — if  he  did  discover  it,  and  not  the 
old  fellow  who  has  got  all  the  rewards  from  Government, 
— he  must  marry  one  of  the  daughters  of  the  King  of  the 
French." 

"We   will    say   no   more,"    said    Phellion.    "But    I   might 


432  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

answer  that,  without  wishing  to  depreciate  the  Thuilliers, 
the  Orleans  family  are  perhaps  somewhat  their  superiors. 
However,  I  do  not  wish  to  bring  any  unpleasant  feeling  into 
the  conversation,  so  begging  you  to  accept  the  assurance  of 
my  humble  respect,  I  will  take  leave  to  withdraw." 

This  said,  he  made  a  majestic  exit,  leaving  Brigitte  in  a  fit 
of  ferocious  temper  under  the  sting  of  his  final  reflection,  shot 
in  extremis  like  a  Parthian  arrow.  She  was  all  the  more 
furious  because  already,  the  evening  before,  Madame  Thuil- 
lier,  after  the  company  had  left,  had  been  so  impossibly  dar- 
ing as  to  speak  a  few  words  in  favor  of  Felix.  The  poor  soul 
had,  of  course,  been  roughly  snubbed,  and  told  to  mind  her 
own  business;  but  this  effort  at  independence,  on  the  part 
of  her  sister-in-law,  had  provoked  the  old  maid,  and  Phellion, 
by  reopening  the  question,  could  not  fail  to  exasperate  her. 

On  Josephine  and  the  man-servant  fell  the  storm  result- 
ing from  this  scene.  During  Brigitte's  absence  everything 
had  been  done  wrong,  so  she  herself  "turned  to,"  and  at  the 
risk  of  breaking  her  neck  clambered  on  to  a  chair  to  reach 
the  topmost  shelves  of  the  cupboard  where  her  best  china  was 
carefully  kept  under  lock  and  key. 

This  da}7,  which  had  begun  so  badly  for  Brigitte,  was 
undoubtedly  one  of  the  busiest  and  stormiest  of  all  this 
history. 

To  relate  its  events  in  detail,  we  must  go  back  to  the 
hour  of  six  in  the  morning,  and  find  Madame  Thuillier  on 
her  way  to  the  Madeleine  to  hear  mass  which  the  Abbe 
Gondrin  always  celebrated  at  that  time,  and  then  to  take  the 
sacrament,  a  viaticum  with  which  no  pious  soul  fails  to  fortify 
itself  when  it  has  some  great  enterprise  in  view. 

Then,  at  eight  o'clock,  we  see  the  elder  Minard  calling  on 
the  young  priest,  as  he  had  been  told  he  might,  and  confid- 
ing to  the  learned  and  conciliatory  casuist  the  story  of  his 
paternal  woes. 

The  Abbe  Gondrin  mildly  blamed  him  for  training  his 
son  to  a  profession  in  which,  while  bearing  an  official  title 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  433 

which  seems  to  imply  a  life  of  hard  work,  idleness  tempts  a 
youth  to  every  folly;  advocates  without  briefs,  and  doctors 
without  patients  are,  when  impecunious,  a  nursery  ground 
for  the  ranks  of  revolution  and  mischief;  or,  when  they  are 
rich,  they  ape  the  youthful  aristocracy,  which,  bereft  of  all 
its  privileges  but  the  dolce  far  niente,  devotes  almost  all  the 
leisure  of  an  idle  and  useless  existence  to  training  horses  for 
the  turf  and  women  for  the  stage. 

In  this  particular  instance,  the  strong  proceedings  which 
the  mayor  of  the  eleventh  arrondissement  seemed  desirous  of 
taking  were  purely  chimerical.  There  is  no  Saint-Lazare 
now  for  the  accommodation  of  misbehaving  youth,  and 
Manon  Lescauts  are  no  longer  kidnapped  for  America.  The 
Abbe  was,  therefore,  of  opinion  that  the  father  should  make 
some  pecuniary  sacrifice:  the  siren  must  be  paid  off  and 
married;  thus  morality  would  triumph  in  two  ways  at  once. 
As  to  acting  as  go-betweens  for  this  arrangement,  the  young 
priest  was  by  no  means  eager;  he  was,  in  fact,  too  young  to 
meddle  in  such  affairs,  where  scandal  is  so  ready  to  steal  in 
side  by  side  with  the  credit  for  meaning  well.  As  the  girl 
had  a  mother,  Minard  might  send  for  the  woman  and  treat 
with  her. 

At  about  noon  the  Abbe  Gondrin  had  a  visit  from  Ma- 
dame Thuillier  and  Celeste.  The  poor  child  pined  for  some 
further  explanation  of  the  words  in  which,  last  evening,  in 
Brigitte's  drawing-room,  the  eloquent  speaker  had  answered 
for  the  salvation  of  Felix  Phellion.  For,  to  the  theological 
damsel,  it  had  seemed  strange,  indeed,  that  a  man  who  had 
never  "practised  religion"  could  be  admitted  to  mercy  by 
Divine  Justice — and,  in  fact,  the  anathema  is  explicit :  "Out- 
side the  church  there  is  no  salvation." 

"My  dear  child,"  said  the  Abbe  Gondrin,  "you  must  get 
a  better  understanding  of  this  apparently  inexorable  dictum. 
It  is  spoken  to  the  glorification  of  those  who  are  so  happy 
as  to  dwell  within  the  pale  of  our  holy  Church,  rather  than  as 
a  final  curse  on  such  as  are  so  unhappy  as  to  be  outside  of 
it.  God  sees  all  hearts  and  knows  His  chosen  few;  and  the 


434  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

treasures  of  His  loving  kindness  are  so  infinite  that  it  has  been 
given  to  none  to  gauge  their  depth  and  abundance.  Who  can 
dare  to  say  to  God  the  Omnipotent:  Thus  far  shalt  thou  be 
forgiving  and  generous?  Jesus  Christ  pardoned  the  woman 
taken  in  adultery,  and  even  on  the  Cross  He  promised 
Paradise  to  the  repentant  thief,  to  show  us  that  His  wisdom 
and  mercy  shall  be  supreme,  and  not  the  judgments  of  men. 
Such  an  one,  believing  himself  to  be  a  Christian,  may  be  an 
idolater  in  the  sight  of  God ;  and  such  another  is  regarded  as 
a  heathen,  who  is,  without  knowing  it,  a  true  Christian.  As 
I  said  last  evening  to  Monsieur  de  le  Peyrade,  a  pure  spirit  is 
always  won  over  in  the  end;  we  have  only  to  give  it  time; 
it  is  a  trust  which  brings  in  large  interest,  and,  besides,  charity 
enjoins  it." 

"Good  heavens!"  cried  Celeste,  "to  hear  this  too  late, 
when  I,  who  had  my  choice  beween  Monsieur  Felix  and  Mon- 
sieur de  la  Peyrade,  dared  not  follow  the  dictates  of  my  heart ! 
— Oh,  Monsieur  1'Abbe,  could  not  you  speak  to  my  mother? 
Every  one  listens  to  you." 

"Quite  impossible,  my  child ;  if  I  were  Madame  Colleville's 
director  I  might,  perhaps,  make  the  attempt ;  but  we  are  too 
constantly  accused  of  meddling  rashly  in  family  concerns. 
Believe  me,  my  intervention,  having  no  authority  and  no 
weight,  would  do  you  more  harm  than  good.  You  yourself, 
and  those  who  love  you," — and  he  glanced  at  Madame  Thuil- 
lier, — "must  consider  whether  the  arrangements,  rather  far 
advanced  it  must  be  owned,  cannot  be  modified  to  meet  your 
wishes." 

It  was  written  that  the  poor  girl  should  drain  to  the  dregs 
the  cup  she  had  brewed  in  her  intolerance.  As  the  priest 
ceased  speaking,  his  old  housekeeper  came  to  ask  if  he  could 
receive  Monsieur  F£lix  Phellion.  And  so,  like  the  Charter  of 
1830,  Madame  de  Godollo's  official  fib  was  coming  true. 

"You  can  go  out  this  way,"  said  the  Abbe,  hastily  leading 
the  ladies  to  a  back  passage. 

Life  has  such  strange  turns,  that  now  and  again  the  same 
evasion  may  serve  the  purpose  of  a  courtesan  or  a  saint. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  435 

"Monsieur  1'Abbe,"  said  Felix,  as  soon  as  he  and  the  priest 
were  alone  together,  "I  have  heard  of  the  large-hearted  way 
in  which  you  were  good  enough  to  speak  of  me  at  Monsieur 
Thuillier's,  and  I  should,  in  any  case,  have  hastened  here  to 
thank  you ;  but  another  matter  also  brings  me  to  call." 

The  Abbe  hurried  ever  the  formalities  to  ask  of  what 
service  he  might  be. 

"With  intentions  which  I  believe  to  be  charitable/'  replied 
the  young  professor,  "you  were  troubled  yesterday  with  some 
remarks  as  to  the  state  of  my  soul.  Those  who  are  so  in- 
timate with  it  know  more  than  I  do  about  my  inmost  self, 
for  within  these  last  few  days  I  have  been  aware  of  some  new 
and  inexplicable  promptings.  I  have  never  denied  God;  but, 
face  to  face  with  the  infinitude  whither  He  has  permitted  my 
mind  to  soar  in  search  of  one  of  His  creations,  I  feel  as 
though  I  had  gained  a  less  confused,  a  more  immediate  sense 
of  His  Being,  and  have  wondered  whether,  indeed,  His  om- 
niscience requires  of  me  nothing  more  than  an  honest  and 
upright  life.  Still,  objections  without  number  rise  up  in  my 
soul  to  the  form  of  worship  of  which  you  are  a  priest;  and 
though  I  am  fully  sensible  of  the  beauty  of  its  forms,  my  rea- 
son rebels  against  many  of  its  injunctions  and  rules.  My  in- 
difference and  delay,  in  seeking  relief  from  these  doubts,  have 
cost  me  very  dear — my  whole  life's  happiness,  perhaps.  But 
I  am  now  determined  to  sift  the  matter  to  the  bottom.  No  one 
better  than  you,  Monsieur  1'Abbe,  can  settle  my  doubts.  I 
come  in  all  confidence  to  submit  them  to  you,  to  beseech  you 
to  listen  to  me,  to  answer  me,  to  tell  me  in  what  books  I  may 
pursue  my  search  for  light,  and  at  what  hours  you  may  be  so 
kind  as  to  devote  yourself  to  conversing  with  me.  The  soul 
that  appeals  to  you  is  sorely  burdened.  Is  not  that  a  fitting 
preparation  for  receiving  the  good  seed  of  your  words  ?" 

The  Abbe  expressed  the  joy  with  which,  notwithstanding 
his  poor  ability,  he  would  endeavor  to  answer  the  young 
philosopher's  conscientious  scruples,  and  after  begging  Felix 
to  regard  him  as  a  friend,  he  advised  him  first  to  study  the 
Pensees  of  Pascal.  A  natural  affinity  in  their  talent  for 


436  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

geometry  ought,  the  priest  believed,  to  exist  between  Pascal's 
mind  and  his. 

While  this  little  scene  was  proceeding,  a  scene  which  de- 
rived a  certain  dignity  from  the  high  interests  at  stake,  and 
the  lofty  moral  and  intellectual  standpoint  of  the  two 
speakers,  more  easily  understood  than  reproduced — as  is  the 
case  with  everything  calm  and  reposeful, — bitter  discord,  the 
chronic  disease  of  middle-class  households  where  narrow- 
minded  and  concentrated  passions  constantly  open  a  door  to 
it,  was  raging  in  Thuillier  s  house. 

Brigitte,  standing  on  a  chair,  her  hair  in  disorder,  her 
face  and  hands  covered  with  dust,  and  wielding  a  feather 
brush,  was  sweeping  one  of  the  shelves  of  the  cupboard, 
where  she  was  replacing  her  library  of  plates,  dishes,  and 
sauce-boats,  when  Flavie  came  in. 

"Brigitte,"  said  she,  "as  soon  as  you  have  done  you  will  be 
wise  to  come  and  call  on  us,  or  I  can  send  Celeste  over 
to  you;  it  strikes  me  she  is  going  to  give  us  some  of  her 
nonsense." 

"How  is  that  ?"  said  Brigitte,  not  interrupting  her  dusting. 

"Well,  I  fancy  that  she  and  Madame  Thuillier  went  to- 
gether this  morning  to  the  Abbe  Gondrin,  for  up  she  comes 
and  gives  me  a  rigmarole  about  Felix  Phellion,  speaking  of 
him  as  if  he  were  a  god ;  and  from  that  to  throwing  over  la 
Peyrade,  as  you  may  suppose,  is  but  a  step." 

"Those  confounded  black-caps!"  exclaimed  Brigitte. 
"They  must  have  a  finger  in  every  pie.  Well,  .1  never  wanted 
him  invited ;  it  was  you  who  insisted  on  it." 

"It  was  only  common  decency,"  said  Flavie. 

"Much  I  care  for  the  proprieties!"  retorted  the  old  maid. 
"A  long-winded  speechifier,  who  only  put  his  foot  in  it.  Well, 
send  Celeste  to  me ;  1  will  talk  to  her,  I  promise  you " 

Just  then  the  servant  announced  the  managing  clerk  of 
the  notary,  who,  for  lack  of  Dupuis,  was  to  draw  up  the 
marriage  contract. 

Heedless  of  her  untidy  appearance,  Brigitte  said  he  was  to 
be  shown  in ;  however,  she  was  so  far  civil  as  not  to  talk  to 
him  from  the  elevation  at  which  she  was  perched. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  437 

"Monsieur  Thuillier,"  said  the  lawyer's  clerk,  "looked  in 
at  our  office  this  morning  to  explain  the  terms  of  the  set- 
tlement he  was  good  enough  to  place  in  my  chief's  hands. 
But  it  is  our  practice,  before  setting  out  the  clauses  of  a 
marriage  contract,  to  request  the  parties  providing  the  moneys 
to  vouch  personally  for  their  generous  intentions.  Monsieur 
Thuillier  announced  that  he  proposed  to  settle  on  the  bride 
the  reversion  of  the  house  he  inhabits — this  no  doubt " 

"Yes,"  said  Brigitte,  "that  is  his  intention.  I  settle  on 
her  three  thousand  francs  a  year  in  the  three  per  cents,  to  be 
absolutely  hers;  everything  is  settled  for  her  sole  use  and 
benefit." 

"Quite  correct,"  said  the  lawyer,  consulting  his  notes; 
"Mademoiselle  Brigitte  Thuillier,  three  thousand  francs  per 
annum.  Now,  there  is  Madame  Celeste  Thuillier,  wife  of 
Louis  Jerome  Thuillier,  who  likewise  on  her  part  settles  a 
sum  in  the  three  per  cents,  yielding  six  thousand  francs  a 
year,  in  immediate  possession,  and  six  thousand  more  in  re- 
version." 

"That,"  said  Brigitte,  "is  as  safe  as  if  the  notary  Had  seen 
it;  however,  if  it  is  your  way  of  doing  things,  you  can,  if 
you  wish  it,  be  shown  in  to  my  sister." 

And  she  desired  the  servant  to  conduct  the  gentleman  to 
Madame  Thuillier's  room. 

A  moment  after,  the  clerk  returning,  announced  that  there 
would  seem  to  be  some  mistake,  for  Madame  Thuillier  de- 
clared that  she  would  make  no  settlement  whatever  in  the 
marriage  contract. 

"That  is  pretty  stiff!"  cried  Brigitte.  "Come  with  me, 
monsieur." 

And  she  rushed  like  a  tornado  into  Madame  Thuillier's 
room.  The  poor  woman  was  pale  and  trembling. 

"What  is  this  you  have  been  saying? — that  you  will  give 
nothing  towards  Celeste's  fortune?" 

"Yes,"  said  Madame  Thuillier  in  frank  rebellion,  but  in 
a  quavering  voice ;  "I  intend  to  give  her  nothing." 

"But  these  intentions  of  yours,"  said  Brigitte,  purple  with 
rage,  "are  something  quite  new." 


438  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"They  are  my  intentions,"  was  all  the  mutineer  would  say. 

"At  any  rate,  you  will  tell  us  why?" 

"I  do  not  like  the  marriage." 

"Indeed !     And  since  when  ?" 

"It  is  useless,"  said  Madame  Thuillier,  "to  detain  this 
gentleman  while  we  discuss  it ;  our  explanations  will  have  no 
place  in  the  settlements." 

"You  may  well  be  ashamed  of  yourself,"  said  Brigitte, 
"for  you  are  not  showing  yourself  in  a  favorable  light.  It 
is  easier  to  erase  a  clause  in  the  contract  than  to  add  one,  I 
believe,  monsieur,"  she  said  to  the  clerk. 

He  bowed  assent. 

"Then  draw  it  up  as  at  first  designed ;  if  Madame  Thuillier 
insists,  we  can  strike  out  the  annulled  clause." 

The  lawyer  bowed  and  went  away. 

When  the  sisters-in-law  were  left  together,  Brigitte  broke 
out: 

"Have  you  lost  your  wits,  may  I  ask?"  said  she.  "What 
is  this  freak  of  temper  that  has  come  over  you?" 

"It  is  not  temper;  it  is  a  firm  determination." 

"For  which  you  have  paid  your  Abbe  Gondrin !  Will  you 
dare  tell  me  that  you  have  not  just  come  from  him,  with 
Celeste?" 

"Quite  true,  Celeste  and  I  went  this  morning  to  see  our 
director.  But  I  did  not  say  one  word  to  him  as  to  my  in- 
tentions." 

"Indeed !  and  so  it  was  in  that  little  empty  head  of  yours 
that  this  cracker  was  concocted?" 

"Yes.  As  I  told  you  yesterday,  I  consider  that  Celeste 
may  find  a  more  suitable  match,  and  I  am  resolved  not 
to  impoverish  myself  in  favor  of  a  marriage  I  do  not  ap- 
prove." 

"That  you  do  not  approve !  What  next  ?  Bless  me,  we 
are  to  ask  my  lady's  leave  and  opinion !" 

"I  know,"  said  Madame  Thuillier,  "that  I  have  always 
been  nobody  in  the  house.  And  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I 
long  since  made  up  my  mind  to  it ;  but  when  the  happiness  is 
at  stake  of  a  child  I  look  upon  as  my  own " 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  439 

"The  deuce  is  in  it.  You  never  were  clever  e>  ough  to 
have  cne ;  for  certainly  Thuillier ': 

"Sister,"  said  Madame  Thuillier  with  some  dignity.  "I 
took  the  communion  this  morning,  and  there  are  things  which 
I  cannot  really  hear  said." 

"That  is  the  way  with  all  you  precious  sacrament-eaters !" 
cried  Brigitte.  "Butter  will  not  melt  in  your  mouth,  and 
yet  you  turn  a  home  topsy-turvy !  And  do  you  suppose  the 
matter  will  end  just  so?  Thuillier  will  be  in  before  long, 
and  he  will  give  you  a  piece  of  his  mind." 

By  thus  appealing  to  the  marital  authority  in  support  of 
her  own,  Brigitte  betrayed  her  weakness  and  amazement  at 
the  deep  and  unexpected  blow  thus  dealt  at  her  immemorial 
rule.  Her  sister-in-law's  calm  tone,  every  moment  more  de- 
termined, altogether  upset  her;  she  fell  back  on  abuse. 

"A  sluggard !"  she  shrieked.  "A  lazy  thing,  incapable  of 
even  picking  up  her  pocket-handkerchief — and  she  wants  to 
be  mistress  of  the  house !" 

"I  so  little  want  to  be  mistress  here  that  last  night  I  al- 
lowed myself  to  be  silenced  after  merely  trying  to  speak  two 
words.  But  I  am  mistress  of  my  property,  and  as  I  believe 
that  Celeste  will  some  day  be  a  very  miserable  woman,  I  shall 
keep  it  to  use  at  the  right  time  and  opportunity." 

"Good  dog!"  said  Brigitte  sarcastically.  "Her  property! 
What  next  ?" 

"Certainly,  the  money  I  had  from  my  father  and  mother, 
and  brought  in  settlement  to  Thuillier." 

"And  who  was  it  that  turned  that  money  to  account,  and 
made  it  bring  you  in  twelve  thousand  francs  a  year  ?" 

"I  have  never  asked  you  to  account  for  a  penny  of  it,"  said 
Madame  Thuillier  mildly.  "If  it  had  all  been  lost  in  the 
affairs  you  chose  to  invest  in,  you  would  never  have  heard  me 
utter  one  word  of  complaint ;  but  it  has  turned  out  well,  and 
it  is  only  fair  that  I  should  get  the  benefit.  And,  after  all, 
I  am  not  saving  it  for  myself." 

"That  is  as  may  be.  Tf  these  are  the  airs  you  give  your- 
self, it  is  none  so  certain  that  we  shall  long  go  in  at  the  same 
door." 


440  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"And  do  you  imagine  that  Monsieur  Thuillier  will  turn 
me  out?  He  would  have  to  give  some  reasons,  and,  thank 
God !  as  a  wife  he  has  never  had  a  fault  to  find  with  me." 

"Viper!  Hypocrite!  Heartless  wretch!"  cried  Brigitte, 
having  exhausted  her  arguments. 

"Sister,"  said  Madame  Thuillier,  "you  are  in  my  room." 

"Get  out  of  it  then,  you  lazy  baggage !"  screamed  the  old 

maid,  gasping  with  rage.     "If  I  only  let  myself  go "  and 

her  gesture  was  at  once  an  insult  and  a  threat. 

Madame  Thuillier  rose  to  leave  the  room. 

"No,  you  don't!"  cried  Brigitte,  pushing  her  down  again 
into  her  chair ;  "and  till  Thuillier  has  said  what  is  to  be  done, 
you  stay  locked  in  here." 

When  Brigitte,  with  a  flaming  face,  reappeared  in  the  room 
where  she  had  left  Madame  Colleville,  she  found  her  brother, 
whose  arrival  she  had  predicted.  Thuillier  was  beaming. 

"My  dear,"  said  he  to  the  harridan,  not  observing  the  state 
she  was  in,  "everything  is  going  on  swimmingly;  the  con- 
spiracy of  silence  is  at  an  end.  Two  papers — the  National 
and  a  Carlist  sheet — have  reprinted  two  of  our  articles  this 
morning,  and  there  is  a  short  attack  in  one  of  the  ministerial 
papers." 

"Well,  things  are  not  going  on  swimmingly  here,"  retorted 
Brigitte ;  "and  if  they  go  on  like  this,  I  shall  simply  leave  the 
place." 

"Who  has  offended  you  ?"  asked  Thuillier. 

"Your  insolent  idiot  of  a  wife,  who  has  just  favored  me 
with  a  scene I  am  shaking  all  over  still." 

"Celeste !  A  scene?"  said  Thuillier.  "Why,  it  is  the  first 
time  in  her  life  then." 

"Everything  must  have  a  beginning,  and  if  you  do  not  take 
a  high  hand " 

"But  what  was  this  scene  about  ?" 

"Oh,  my  lady  objects  to  la  Peyrade  as  her  goddaughter's 
husband,  and  out  of  spite  at  not  being  able  to  hinder  the 
marriage,  she  declares  she  will  settle  nothing  on  her." 

"Come,  come,  compose  yourself,"  said  Thuillier  quite  coolly, 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  441 

the  recognition  of  the  tfcho  as  a  polemical  combatant  mak- 
ing him  a  second  Pangloss.  "I  will  settle  it  all." 

"You,  Flavie,"  said  Brigitte,  as  Thuillier  went  off  to  his 
wife's  room,  "will  you  have  the  goodness  to  go  home  and  tell 
Mademoiselle  Celeste — whom  I  will  not  see  just  now,  for, 
really,  if  she  provoked  me,  I  should  be  capable  of  slapping 
her — tell  her,  I  say,  that  I  do  not  like  conspiracies ;  that  she 
was  left  free  to  choose  Monsieur  Phellion  junior,  and  she 
would  have  nothing  to  say  to  him;  that  everything  is  settled 
in  accordance  with  that,  and  that  if  she  does  not  wish  to  find 
herself  reduced  to  the  fortune  you  can  give  her — a  pittance 
that  a  banker's  clerk  could  carry  easily  in  his  waistcoat 
pocket — 

"Really,  my  dear  Brigitte,"  Flavie  put  in,  turning  restive 
under  such  impertinence,  "you  need  not  taunt  us  so  severely 
with  our  poverty;  after  all,  we  have  never  asked  you  for  any- 
thing ;  we  pay  our  rent  regularly ;  and,  short  of  all  this,  Mon- 
siour  Felix  Phellion  would  gladly  take  Celeste  with  the 
fortune  that  a  banker's  clerk  might  carry  in  a  bag." 

And  she  emphasized  the  last  word. 

"Oho !  so  you,  too,  are  in  the  plot !"  cried  Brigitte.  "Well, 
go  and  fetch  your  Felix.  I  know,  my  fine  madame,  that  you 
have  never  much  fancied  this  match.  It  is  precious  dull  to 
be  no  more  than  your  son-in-law's  mother-in-law." 

But  Flavie  had  recovered  the  presence  of  mind  that  for  a 
moment  had  deserted  her.  She  only  replied  with  a  shrug. 

By  this  time  Thuillier  returned ;  his  beatific  expression  had 
disappeared. 

"My  dear  Brigitte,"  said  he,  "you  have  the  best  heart  in 
the  world ;  but  you  can  at  times  be  so  violent " 

"Heyday !"  cried  his  sister.  "Then  I  am  to  be  called  to 
account,  it  would  s,eem." 

"Of  course  I  have  nothing  serious  to  bring  against  you, 
and  I  have  rated  Celeste  well  for  her  presumption;  but  de- 
cency must  be  respected." 

"What  nonsense  are  you  talking  with  your  'decency'? 
What,  pray,  is  the  'decency'  in  which  I  have  failed  ?" 


442  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Well,  my  dear,  to  lift  your  hand  against  your  sister." 

"I  lift  my  hand  against  that  simpleton?  Well,  that  is  a 
good  one." 

"And,  besides,"  Thuillier  went  on,  "a  woman  of  Celeste's 
age  is  not  to  be  put  in  prison." 

"Your  wife — and  I  put  her  in  prison?" 

"You  cannot  deny  it,  for  I  found  her  door  double-locked 
outside." 

"By  heaven !  because,  in  my  anger  at  the  abuse  she 
rained  on  me,  I  turned  the  key,  I  suppose,  without  knowing 
it." 

"Come,  come,"  said  Thuillier,  "this  is  not  the  way  for  re- 
spectable people  like  us  to  behave." 

"Indeed !  So  now  I  am  in  the  wrong,  I  suppose  ?  Very 
well,  my  boy.  You  will  live  to  remember  this  day,  and  we 
shall  see  how  your  house  is  managed  when  I  have  nothing 
to  do  with  it." ' 

"You  will  always  have  something  to  do  with  it,"  said 
Thuillier.  "Housekeeping  is  the  breath  of  life  to  you,  and 
you  will  be  the  first  to  suffer." 

"That's  what  we  shall  see,"  retorted  Brigitte.  "After 
twenty  years  of  slavery  to  be  treated  like  the  scum  of  the 
earth !" ' 

And  flinging  herself  out  of  the  room,  slamming  the  door 
violently  behind  her,  the  old  maid  departed. 

Thuillier  was  not  in  the  least  disturbed  by  this  exit. 

"Were  you  present,  Flavie,  when  this  scene  took  place  ?" 

"No ;  they  were  in  Celeste's  room.  So  she  was  rather  rough 
with  her?" 

"Just  as  I  said,  lifted  her  hand  to  hit  her  and  then  locked 
her  in  like  a  child.  Celeste  may  be  sleepy  and  stupid,  still 
there  are  limits  that  must  not  be  overstepped." 

"Our  worthy  Brigitte  is  not  always  easy  to  get  on  with," 
said  Flavie.  "We  had  a  little  skirmish,  too,  she  and  I." 

"Ah,  well,"  said  Thuillier,  "it  will  all  settle  down  again. 
As  I  was  saying,  my  dear  Flavie,  we  have  had  the  greatest 
success  this  morning.  The  National  copies  two  whole  para- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  443 

graphs  of  an  article  of  which,  as  it  happens,  I  wrote  several 
sentences ; 

And  here  again  Thuillier  was  interrupted  in  the  story  of 
his  political  and  literary  good  luck. 

"Monsieur,"  said  Josephine  the  cook,  coming  into  the 
room,  "could  you  tell  me  where  the  key  of  the  large  trunk 
is?" 

"What  for?"  asked  Thuillier. 

"For  mademoiselle ;  she  wants  it  in  her  room." 

"What  does  she  want  it  for?" 

"Mademoiselle  is  going  away,  I  suppose,  sir.  She  has  taken 
all  her  clothes  out  of  the  drawers,  and  she  is  folding  up  her 
gowns  to  pack  them." 

"Some  fresh  folly !"  said  Thuillier.  "Go,  Flavie,  and  see 
what  mad  trick  she  is  planning." 

"Not  if  I  know  it,"  said  Madame  Colleville.  "You  had 
better  go  yourself;  in  her  present  frame  of  mind  she  is  quite 
capable  of  beating  me." 

"It  was  my  gaby  of  a  wife,"  cried  Thuillier,  "who  started 
this  wild  nonsense  about  the  settlements.  She  really  must 
have  been  very  provoking  to  drive  Brigitte  to  such  extremi- 
ties." 

"You  have  not  told  me  where  the  key  is,  sir,"  said 
Josephine  again. 

"I  know  nothing  about  it,"  said  Thuillier  angrily.  "Look 
for  it,  or  tell  her  it  is  lost." 

"I  should  think  so,  indeed,"  said  Josephine.  "Catch  me 
telling  her  that." 

At  this  moment  the  door-bell  rang. 

"I  daresay  that  is  la  Peyrade,"  said  Thuillier  with  %  me 
satisfaction.  And,  in  fact,  the  Provengal  was  admitted. 

"It  was  high  time  you  should  be  here,  I  can  tell  you,  my 
dear  fellow,"  said  Thuillier;  "for  the  house  is  in  a  state  of 
revolution,  and  all  on  your  account.  You,  with  your  golden 
tongue,  must  try  to  restore  order  and  peace." 

He  explained  to  the  lawyer  the  cause  and  circumstance,  of 
the  civil  war  that  had  broken  out. 
VOL.  14^64 


444  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Under  existing  circumstances/'  said  Theodose  to  Madame 
Colleville,  "I  may,  I  suppose,  without  impropriety  be  al- 
lowed a  few  minutes'  private  conversation  with  Mademoiselle 
Celeste?" 

Here  again  la  Peyrade  showed  his  usual  acumen;  he  saw 
at  once  that,  to  effect  the  pacification  he  was  asked  to  nego- 
tiate, Celeste  was  at  the  heart  of  the  situation. 

"I  will  send  for  her,"  said  Flavie,  "and  we  will  leave  you 
alone  together." 

"My  dear  Thuillier,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "I  will  beg  you  quite 
quietly  and  very  briefly  to  tell  Mademoiselle  Celeste  that 
you  require  her  to  express  her  consent,  so  as  to  make  her 
think  that  she  was  sent  for  for  that  purpose.  After  that 
you  may  leave  us,  and  I  will  manage  the  rest." 

So  the  servant  was  sent  down  to  Madame  Colleville's  room 
in  the  entresol,  to  tell  Celeste  that  her  godfather  wished  to 
speak  to  her. 

The  sort  of  pantry,  where  the  scenes  here  related  had  be- 
gun in  the  midst  of  Brigitte's  household  cares,  was  not  suit- 
able for  the  interview  requested  by  Theodose,  so  while  wait- 
ing for  Celeste  they  adjourned  to  the  drawing-room. 

As  soon  as  she  came  in,  Thuillier  began,  in  agreement  with 
the  programme  as  arranged. 

"My  dear  child,"  said  he,  "your  mother  has  been  telling  me 
things  which  much  surprise  me.  Is  it  the  fact  that  though 
your  contract  was  to  have  been  signed  last  evening,  you  have 
not  yet  made  up  your  mind  to  the  marriage  we  have  arranged 
for  you?" 

"Indeed,  godfather,"  said  Celeste,  startled  by  this  sudden 
cross-examination,  "I  do  not  think  I  said  that  to  mamma." 

"But  were  you  not  just  now  speaking  of  Monsieur  Felix 
Phellion  in  terms  of  extravagant  praise  ?"  said  Flavie. 

"I  said  no  more  than  everybody  is  saying." 

"Come,"  said  Thuillier,  in  an  authoritative  tone,  "we  will 
take  no  equivocation.  Do  you  or  do  you  not  refuse  to  marry 
Monsieur  de  la  Peyrade  ?" 

"Dear  fellow,"  said  the  Provengal,  intervening,  "you  have 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  445 

a  rough  and  crude  way  of  putting  such  questions,  which 
especially  before  me  seems  not  quite  appropriate  to  the  oc- 
casion. As  I  am  the  party  principally  interested,  will  you 
allow  me  to  have  a  few  words  with  Mademoiselle  Celeste — 
an  explanation  which  may  perhaps  be  necessary?  Madame 
Colleville  will  not  refuse  me  this  favor;  in  the  position  in 
which  I  stand  my  request,  I  think,  cannot  alarm  her  motherly 
caution." 

"I  would  agree  at  once  to  your  wishes,"  said  Flavie;  "but 
that  all  this  ceremony  seems  to  suggest  a  doubt  as  to  what  is 
irrevocably  settled." 

"Nay,  my  dear  madame,  it  is  my  earnest  wish  that  Made- 
moiselle Celeste  should  remain  till  the  last  moment  per- 
fectly free  to  change  her  mind.  So  I  will  beg  you  to  decree 
my  request,  as  we  say." 

"So  be  it,"  said  Madame  Colleville.  "You  think  yourself 
very  clever;  but  if  you  allow  that  child  to  get  the  better  of 
you,  so  much  the  worse  for  you.  Are  you  coming,  Thuillier, 
since  we  are  in  the  way  ?" 

As  soon  as  the  two  young  people  were  left  to  themselves, 
la  Peyrade  placed  an  easy-chair  for  Celeste,  and  sat  down 
himself,  and  then  he  said: — 

"You  will,  I  venture  to  believe,  mademoiselle,  do  me  the 
justice  to  allow  that  I  have  not  hitherto  wearied  you  with 
too  much  expression  of  feeling.  I  have  known  alike  the 
impulse  of  your  heart  and  the  repugnance  of  your  conscience. 
I  hoped  in  time,  by  keeping  in  the  background,  to  creep  in 
between  the  two  opposing  currents;  but  at  the  stage  we  have 
now  reached,  I  do  not  think  I  am  indiscreet  or  over-hasty  in 
begging  you  to  tell  me  definitely  what  is  your  final  decision  ?" 

"Indeed,  monsieur,"  said  Celeste,  "since  you  speak  so 
kindly  and  frankly,  I  will  tell  you  honestly  what  you  know 
already,  that  having  been  brought  up  in  intimacy  with  Mon- 
sieur Felix  Phellion,  and  knowing  him  so  much  longer  than 
I  have  known  you,  the  idea  of  marriage,  always  alarming 
to  a  girl,  seemed  to  me  less  terrifying  with  him  than  with 
any  other  man." 


446  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Well,  but  at  one  time,"  observed  Theodose,  "you  were 
allowed  a  choice " 

"Very  true,  but  at  that  time  there  were  religious  diffi- 
culties." 

"And  those  are  now  removed  ?" 

"To  a  great  extent,"  said  Celeste.  "I  am  accustomed  to 
yield  my  opinions  to  those  who  are  more  enlightened  and 
better  informed  than  I  am,  and  you  yourself,  monsieur,  heard 
what  Monsieur  1'Abbe  Gondrin  said  yesterday  evening." 

"God  forbid,"  said  the  Provencal,  "that  I  should  dare  in- 
validate the  decision  of  so  eminent  an  authority.  At  the 
same  time  I  may  point  out  to  you  that  among  the  clergy 
themselves  there  are  various  shades  of  opinion :  some  are 
thought  too  severe,  others  too  indulgent.  The  Abbe  Gondrin 
is  more  noted  as  a  preacher  than  as  a  casuist." 

"But  Monsieur  Felix  seems  ready  to  justify  our  good 
priest's  hopes,"  said  Celeste  eagerly ;  "for  I  know  that  he  was 
calling  on  him  this  morning." 

"Then  he  certainly  must  have  been  to  see  Father  Anselm," 
said  la  Peyrade,  with  some  irony.  "But  even  granting  that, 
on  the  religious  side  of  the  question,  Monsieur  Felix  should 
ere  long  be  prepared  to  satisfy  you  fully,  have  you  considered, 
mademoiselle,  the  important  change  that  is  about  to  take  place 
in  his  life?" 

"Certainly,  I  have,  and  it  really  does  not  seem  to  me  a 
reason  for  liking  him  the  less." 

"No;  but  it  is  a  reason  for  his  liking  himself  the  more. 
I  am  afraid  lest,  instead  of  the  modesty  and  humility  which 
are  among  the  great  charms  of  his  character,  he  should  as- 
sume a  self-sufficiency  and  confidence  which,  while  giving 
rise  to  personal  assertiveness,  might  choke  or  dry  up  the 
spring  of  tender  feeling.  And  besides,  mademoiselle,  you 
cannot  doubt  that  a  man  who  has  discovered  one  world  will 
crave  to  find  another.  Would  you  wish  the  whole  firmament 
to  be  your  rival  ?" 

"You  plead  your  case  with  much  wit,"  said  Celeste,  smiling, 
"and  I  can  fancy  you,  as  a  pleader,  quite  as  troublesome  a 
husband  as  Monsieur  Phellion  the  astronomer." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  447 

"Mademoiselle,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "to  speak  seriously,  I  am 
sure  that  you  have  your  heart  in  the  right  place,  and  are 
capable  of  the  most  delicate  feeling.  Well,  then,  do  you 
know  what  is  happening  to  Monsieur  Phellion?  He  has 
lost  nothing  by  his  devotion  to  his  old  master ;  his  pious  fraud 
is  known  to  all;  his  discovery  is  rightly  attributed  to  him, 
and  if  I  may  believe  Monsieur  Minard,  whom  I  met  but  just 
now,  he  is  about  to  be  made  Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor,  and,  ere  long,  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences. 
Now,  if  I  were  a  woman,  I  should,  I  own,  be  distressed  if,  at 
the  very  moment  when  I  was  about  to  take  a  man  into  favor, 
such  an  avalanche  of  good  things  were  to  come  down  on  him. 
I  should  be  afraid  lest  the  world  should  accuse  me  of 
worshiping  the  rising  sun." 

"Oh,  monsieur,"  exclaimed  Celeste  warmly,  "you  cannot 
imagine  me  capable  of  anything  so  base !" 

"I  cannot ;  no,"  said  the  Provengal,  "I  have  just  expressed 
the  contrary  opinion.  But  the  world  is  so  rash,  so  unjust, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  so  perverse  in  its  judgments." 

Seeing  that  he  had  insinuated  some  anxiety  into  the  girl's 
mind,  for  she  made  no  reply,  la  Peyrade  went  on. 

"Now,  to  turn  to  a  far  more  serious  aspect  of  your  posi- 
tion, a  matter  which  is  not  merely  personal,  and  a  question, 
so  to  speak,  between  you  and  yourself,  do  you  know  at  this 
moment,  in  this  very  house,  without  intending  it,  you  have 
been  the  cause  of  the  most  terrible  and  lamentable  scenes  ?" 

"I,  monsieur?"  said  Celeste  in  surprise,  mingled  with 
horror. 

"Yes;  your  godmother's  excessive  affection  for  you  has 
transformed  her  into  quite  another  woman.  For  the  first 
time  in  her  life  she  haa  a  will  of  her  own.  With  that  obstinate 
determination,  which  is  to  be  accounted  for  only  by  long  re- 
pression of  will,  she  has  announced  that  she  will  not  add  any- 
thing whatever  to  the  sums  to  be  settled  on  you,  and  I  need 
not  tell  you  against  whom  this  unexpected  thriftiness  is 
directed." 

"But  T  boi1;  you  to  believe  that  I  knew  nothing  whatever 
of  my  godmother's  intentions." 


448  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"I  am  sure  of  it  ;  and  it  would  be  but  a  trifling  misfortune 
were  it  not  that  Mademoiselle  Brigitte  chose  to  take  this  de- 
cision of  Madame  Thuillier's  as  a  personal  offence,  having 
always  till  now  found  her  yielding  and  submissive  to  her 
dictation.  An  angry,  nay,  a  violent,  explanation  ensued. 
Thuillier,  between  the  hammer  and  the  anvil,  could  do  noth- 
ing; on  the  contrary,  he  quite  involuntarily  embittered  mat- 
ters, and  they  have  come  to  such  a  point  that  if  you  could 
venture  to  go  to  Mademoiselle  Thuillier's  without  exposing 
yourself  to  a  storm  of  fury,  you  would  find  her  packing  up  to 
leave  the  house."  i 

"Monsieur  !  what  are  you  saying  ?"  cried  Celeste  in  dis- 
may. 

"The  exact  truth,  which  you  may  verify  by  asking  the 
servants,  for  I  feel  that  my  statements  are  scarcely  credible." 

"But  it  is  impossible  !"  cried  the  poor  girl,  her  agitation  in- 
creasing at  every  word  spoken  by  the  wily  Provengal.  "I  can- 
not be  the  occasion  of  such  disasters." 

"That  is  to  say,  that  you  never  meant  to  be  ;  for  the  mis- 
chief is  done,  and  Heaven  only  grant  that  it  may  not  be  ir- 
remediable." 

"Good  God  !  but  what  am  I  to  do  ?"  cried  Celeste,  wring- 
ing her  hands. 

"Sacrifice  yourself,  mademoiselle,  is  what  I  should  reply 
without  hesitation;  but  that  in  the  present  circumstances  the 
part  of  the  victim,  at  once  deplorable  and  enviable,  is  allotted 
to  me." 

"Indeed,  monsieur,"  said  Celeste,  "you  quite  misunderstand 
the  objections  I  have  felt,  but  scarcely  expressed.  I  had  a 
preference,  but  I  have  never  regarded  myself  as  a  victim  ;  and 
whatever  is  necessary  to  restore  peace  in  the  household  I  have 
upset.  I  am  ready  to  do  without  repugnance,  nay,  very  will- 


"That,"  said  la  Peyrade,  with  hypocritical  humility,  "is  far 
beyond  what  I  dare  to  hope  for.  Still,  to  achieve  the  result 
we  both  desire,  something  more  than  that  is  needful,  at  any 
rate,  on  the  surface.  Madame  Thuillier  has  not  asserted 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  449 

her  independence  merely  to  resign  it  again  at  once  on  the 
announcement  of  your  submission.  This,  from  my  lips,  is 
preposterously  absurd,  but  the  position  demands  it ;  your  god- 
mother must  be  led  to  believe  in  a  strange  want  of  taste  on 
your  part,  by  your  assuming  an  eagerness  in  favor  of  my 
success,  which,  however  improbable,  shall  be  sufficiently  "well 
acted  to  deceive  her." 

"Very  well,"  said  Celeste,  "I  can  affect  to  be  light-hearted 
and  happy.  My  godmother,  monsieur,  is  to  me  a  second 
mother — and  what  can  one  not  do  for  a  mother  ?" 

The  situation  was  so  pathetic,  and  Celeste  so  innocently 
betrayed  how  great  was  the  sacrifice  which  she  was,  however, 
prepared  to  carry  out,  that  la  Peyrade,  if  he  had  had  a  heart 
at  all,  must  have  been  disgusted  with  his  own  conduct.  But 
to  him  Celeste  was  but  a  stepping-stone ;  and  if  only  the  ladder 
will  bear  and  raise  a  man,  who  ever  thought  of  expecting  it 
to  show  enthusiasm  ?  It  was  settled  then  that  Celeste  should 
go  to  her  godmother,  and  should  assure  her  of  her  mistake  in 
supposing  that  la  Peyrade  had  ever  been  the  object  of  the  girl's 
aversion.  When  once  Madame  Thuillier's  opposition  was  re- 
moved, all  would  be  plain  sailing:  the  lawyer  undertook  to 
make  peace  between  the  sisters-in-law;  and,  as  may  be  sup- 
posed, he  was  not  wanting  in  words  to  promise  the  guileless 
girl  a  life  in  the  future  when,  by  unfailing  love  and  devotion, 
he  would  spare  her  all  regrets  for  the  necessity  under  which 
she  had  accepted  him. 

And  when  Celeste  spoke  to  her  godmother,  she  found  less 
difficulty  in  convincing  her  than  she  had  expected.  To  ven- 
ture so  far  in  rebellion  the  poor  woman  had  made  an  almost 
superhuman  effort  of  will  to  overcome  her  every  instinct  and 
natural  impulse.  At  the  moment  when  she  heard  her  beloved 
goddaughter's  false  confidences,  reaction  had  set  in,  and  she 
probably  would  have  been  incapable  of  holding  out  in  the 
resistance  she  had  begun,  for  lack  of  strength.  So  she  was 
easily  deluded  by  the  farce  to  be  played  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Provencal. 

The  storm  once  lulled  on  that  side,  la  Peyrade  had  no 


460  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

difficulty  in  explaining  to  Brigitte  that  she  had  gone  rather 
too  far  in  her  determination  to  repress  the  revolt  against 
her  authority;  and  that  authority  being  no  longer  disputed, 
Brigitte  forgave  her  sister-in-law  for  having  so  narrowly  es- 
caped a  slapping;  so  with  a  few  kind  words  and  a  kiss  or 
two",  the  squabble  was  made  up,  Celeste  paying  the  indemnity 
of  the  war. 

After  dinner,  a  family  dinner,  for  it  was  impossible  to 
repeat  the  abortive  party  of  the  evening  before,  the  notary — 
on  whom  they  were  to  ca"ll  next  day — came  to  wait  on  Made- 
'moiselle  Thuillier.  This  important  functionary  had  come 
to  submit  the  clauses  of  the  contract  to  the  interested  parties 
before  making  a  fair  copy.  Nor  was  there  anything  strange 
in  this  proceeding  as  an  attention  to  so  important  a  personage 
as  Thuillier,  since  the  notary  naturally  would  omit  nothing 
that  might  secure  him  as  a  permanent  client. 

La  Peyrade  was  much  too  clever  to  make  any  comment 
whatever  on  the  document  that  was  read  in  his  presence. 
From  certain  changes  suggested  by  Brigitte,  which  gave  the 
Provencal  a  very  high  opinion  of  the  old  maid's  capacity  for 
business,  he  easily  understood  that  the  clauses  in  restriction 
of  his  powers  were  rather  tighter  than  was  altogether  polite ; 
but  he  was  determined  to  raise  no  difficulties.  He  well  knew 
that  a  marriage  contract  is  never  so  close  a  net  that  a 
clever  and  determined  man  cannot  slip  through  it  some- 
where. The  signing  was  to  take  place  in  the  notary's  office 
on  the  following  day,  at  two  o'clock,  in  the  presence  of  the 
family  only. 

During  part  of  the  evening,  taking  advantage  of  the  sem- 
blance of  kindness  which  he  had  enjoined  on  Celeste,  and 
which  she  did  her  best  to  affect,  la  Peyrade  played  the  poor 
child,  as  it  were,  compelling  her,  by  his  ardent  assumption 
of  gratitude,  to  reply  with  a  warmth  that  was  far,  indeed, 
from  the  true  feeling  of  a  heart  wholly  filled  by  the  image  of 
Felix  Phellion. 

Flavie,  as  she  saw  the  Provengal  thus  laying  himself  out 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  451 

to  be  fascinating,  remembered  how,  not  so  long  ago,  he  had 
done  the  same  to  entangle  her.  "The  wretch!"  said  she  to 
herself ;  but  she  was  forced  to  put  a  good  face  on  her  martyr- 
dom, and  presently  a  great  service,  apparently  done  by  la 
Peyrade  to  the  Thuillier  family,  set  the  last  seal  on  his  in- 
fluence and  importance. 

Minard  was  announced. 

"My  dear  friends/'  said  he,  "I  have  come  to  give  you  a  little 
piece  of  information — a  revelation  that  will  certainly  be  a 
surprise  to  you,  and  a  lesson  to  us  all  when  we  are  tempted 
to  admit  strangers  into  our  homes." 

"What  is  that  ?"  said  Brigitte  inquisitively. 

"That  Hungarian  you  were  so  bewitched  by,  that  Madame 
Torna,  Comtesse  de  Godollo " 

"Well?"  said  the  old  maid. 

"Well,"  said  Minard,  "she  was  just  a  good-for-nothing, 
and  for  two  months  you  petted  and  pampered  the  most  im- 
pudent courtesan." 

"Who  crammed  you  with  that  nonsense  ?"  said  Brigitte,  de- 
termined not  to  admit  too  readily  that  she  could  have  been 
so  duped. 

"No  one  has  crammed  me !"  retorted  the  Mayor.  "I  know 
the  facts  myself  de  visu." 

"Bah !  Then  you  keep  company  with  these  ladies  ?"  said 
Brigitte,  on  the  offensive.  "A  pretty  story — if  only  Zelie 
could  know  it." 

"It  is  not  he  who  keeps  such  company,"  said  Thuillier 
knowingly ;  "it  is  my  gentleman,  his  son ;  we  have  heard  about 
him." 

"Well,  that  is  the  truth,"  said  Minard,  thoroughly  annoyed 
by  the  way  his  communication  was  received.  "And  since 
that  impudent  rascal  has  gone  so  far  as  to  introduce  his 
trumpery  actress  to  get  you  to  write  her  up  in  your  paper, 
I  cannot  conceal  it.  Master  Julien  has  chosen  to  keep  an 
actress  from  some  low  theatre,  arid  it  was  in  the  society  of 
that  creature  that  I  met  your  friend,  Madame  de  Godollo.  I 
have  spoken  plainly  enough,  it  seems  to  me,  and  doubt  is  no 
longer  possible." 


452  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"It  may  be  quite  plain  to  you,"  replied  Brigitte ;  "but  un- 
less you  are  one  of  those  worthy  parents  whom  their  sons 
introduce  to  their  mistresses,  I  should  be  glad  to  know  how 
you,  of  all  men,  found  yourself  in  the  company  of  Monsieur 
Julien's  fair?" 

"Indeed !"  cried  Minard  furious.  "Then  you  suppose  that 
I  am  the  man  to  encourage  my  son  in  his  profligacy?" 

"I  suppose  nothing,"  retorted  Brigitte ;  "you  yourself  said 
'I  found  myself  in  the  company ' ': 

"I  said  nothing  of  the  kind,"  interrupted  Minard.  "I  said 
that  I  had  seen  Madame  de  Godollo — whose  real  name  is 
Madame  Komorn,  and  who  is  no  more  a  countess  than  you 
are,  or  than  Madame  Colleville — in  the  company  of  the  worth- 
less creature  on  whom  my  son  wastes  his  money  and  his  time. 
Now,  do  you  wish  me  to  explain  the  how  and  the  why  of  the 
meeting  ?" 

"Why,  certainly,"  said  Brigitte,  in  an  incredulous  tone, 
"the  explanation  is  not  unnecessary." 

"Well,  to  show  you  how  little  I  shut  my  eyes  to  my  son's 
misconduct,  being  warned  by  an  anonymous  letter,  as  soon  as 
I  heard  of  his  debaucheries  I  took  steps  to  assure  myself  of 
the  truth  by  the  evidence  of  my  own  eyes ;  for  I  know  how  far 
an  anonymous  letter  is  to  be  relied  on." 

"By  the  way,"  said  Brigitte,  by  way  of  parenthesis,  and  ad- 
dressing la  Peyrade,  "it  is  odd  we  should  never  have  had  any 
about  you." 

"If  you  do  not  mean  to  listen,"  said  Minard,  nettled  at  the 
interruption,  "it  is  quite  useless  to  ask  me  for  details." 

"Yes,  yes,  we  are  listening,"  said  Brigitte.  "You  wanted 
to  see  with  your  own  eyes." 

"Yes,"  replied  Minard,  "and  on  the  day  of  your  dinner, 
when  I  came  in  so  late,  I  had  been  to  the  Folies-Drama- 
tiques,  the  scene  of  Julien's  dissipations,  where  this  hussy 
was  to  make  her  appearance.  I  wanted  to  make  sure  whether 
the  young  scoundrel,  who,  saying  he  was  ill,  left  the  house 
as  soon  as  we  were  out  of  it,  was  in  his  place  to  applaud  her. 
It  is  a  dreadful  thing  to  say,  but  such,  in  fact,  are  the  false- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  453 

hoods  to  which  such  a  lunatic  will  stoop  when  he  is  bewitched 
by  an  actress." 

"And  was  he  there?"  asked  Brigitte,  in  a  tone  of  small 
sympathy  with  the  Mayor's  woes. 

"No,  mademoiselle,  he  was  not.  I  did  not  see  him  any- 
where in  the  house;  but  in  a  little  stir  which  took  place  on 
the  stage  as  the  curtain  rose,  I  saw  the  boy,  the  disgrace  of 
my  old  age,  talking  in  the  airiest  way  to  a  fireman,  and  so  far 
forward  from  the  side  scenes  that  one  of  the  vulgar  audience 
in  the  pit  called  out  to  him :  'Take  your  nut  out  of  the  way, 
youngster!'  You  may  imagine  the  joy  to  a  father's  heart  at 
hearing  this  pleasing  admonition." 

"You  see,"  said  Brigitte,  "you  have  spoiled  your  dear 
Julien." 

"Far  from  spoiling  him,"  said  Minard;  "but  for  his 
mother's  entreaties  I  was  inclined  to  handle  him  pretty 
smartly.  However,  having  heard,  last  evening,  such  words  of 
wisdom  and  tolerance  from  the  Abbe  Gondrin,  it  occurred  to 
me  that  I  would  go  and  ask  his  advice,  and  by  his  counsel 
I  decided  that " 

"As  if  priests  understood  anything  about  such  matters!" 
exclaimed  Brigitte  scornfully. 

"The  proof  that  they  do  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  plan  sug- 
gested by  Monsieur  1'Abbe  was  perfectly  successful.  I  went 
to  this  dangerous  woman's  mother,  I  told  her  that  I  was  pre- 
pared to  make  some  sacrifice  to  put  an  end  to  a  connection 
which  was,  no  doubt,  as  great  a  grief  to  her  as  to  me ;  that  I 
would  go  so  far  as  to  pay  her  daughter  an  allowance  of  fifteen 
hundred  francs  a  year,  or  a  lump  sum  of  thirty  thousand 
francs  as  a  marriage  portion;  and  I  took  care  to  add  that 
there  was  nothing  more  to  be  got  out  of  my  son,  as  I  was 
about  to  cut  off  supplies.  'The  very  thing!'  replied  the  wo- 
man. 'There  is  a  copying  clerk  to  the  Justice  of  the  Peace 
for  the  twelfth  arrondissement  who  has  had  his  eye  on 
Olympe,  and  who  is  only  too  ready  to  bite.'  " 

"Did  she  mention  the  copying  clerk's  name?"  said  la  Pey- 
rade. 


454  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"I  do  not  think  so,"  answered  Minard.  "At  any  rate,  I 
have  forgotten  it.  I  settled  everything  on  the  nail  with  the 
mother,  who  seemed  a  very  good  sort  of  woman." 

"But  in  all  this,"  remarked  Brigitte,  "I  see  no  sign  of 
Madame  de  Godollo." 

"Have  patience,"  replied  Minard.  "  'The  only  thing  I  am 
afraid  of,'  said  the  old  mother,  'is  that  she  may  be  ill  advised 
by  a  Polish  woman,  a  Madame  Cramone,  who  has  got  hold 
of  my  girl  and  does  what  she  likes  with  her;  but  perhaps  if 
you  would  see  her, — and  hinted  at  some  little  present  for  her- 
self,— she  might  play  our  game  for  us.  She  is  here,  as  it 
happens;  shall  I  call  her  in?  I  will  tell  her,  naming  no 
names,  sir,  that  a  gentleman  wants  to  speak  to  her.'  I  agreed ; 
the  lady  was  brought  in;  imagine  my  astonishment  when  I 
found  myself  face  to  face  with  your  Madame  de  Godollo,  who, 
the  instant  she  saw  me,  turned  tail  and  was  off  laughing  like 
a  crazy  thing." 

"And  are  you  quite  sure  it  was  she?"  said  Brigitte.  "If 
you  only  just  saw  her " 

The  wily  Provencal  was  not  the  man  to  miss  the  oppor- 
tunity thus  offered  of  retaliating  on  the  Hungarian's  practical 
joke. 

"Monsieur  le  Maire  was  not  mistaken,"  said  he  decisively. 

"What !  So  you  know  her  too  ?"  said  Mademoiselle  Thuil- 
lier.  "And  you  allowed  us  to  harbor  such  vermin !" 

"Quite  the  contrary,"  answered  la  Peyrade.  "It  was  I 
who,  without  any  fuss  or  saying  a  word  to  anybody,  rid  your 
house  of  her.  You  may  remember  how  suddenly  she  vanished. 
It  was  I  who,  having  discovered  what  she  was,  gave  her  two 
days  to  clear  out  in,  threatening  that,  if  she  hesitated,  I 
should  tell  you  the  whole  truth." 

"My  dear  fellow,"  said  Thuillier,  pressing  the  lawyer's 
hand,  "you  acted  with  equal  prudence  and  determination. 
This  is  yet  another  debt  we  owe  you." 

"You  see,  mademoiselle,"  said  la  Peyrade  to  Celeste,  "how 
strange  a  patroness  a  certain  person  of  your  acquaintance 
had." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  455 

"Thank  God !"  said  Madame  Thuillier,  "Monsieur  Felix  is 
above  all  these  vile  things." 

"Well,  well,  Papa  Minard,"  said  Brigitte,  "mum's  the  word 
about  it  all.  Our  lips  shall  remain  sealed  as  to  Monsieur 
Julien's  tricks.  Will  you  take  a  cup  of  tea?" 

"With  pleasure,"  replied  Minard. 

"Celeste,"  said  the  old  maid,  "ring  for  Henri  to  put  on  the 
big  kettle." 

Though  they  were  not  to  go  to  the  notary's  office  before  two, 
on  the  following  day,  by  eight  in  the  morning  Brigitte  was 
already  "on  the  rampage,"  as  her  brother  called  it:  the  frac- 
tious, worrying,  morning  bustle  which  la  Fontaine  describes 
in  his  fable  of  the  old  woman  and  her  two  maids. 

Brigitte  declared  that  no  one  would  be  ready  in  time  if 
she  did  not  begin  early.  She  would  not  let  Thuillier  go  to  the 
newspaper  office,  saying  that  if  he  went  out,  she  should  see  no 
more  of  him ;  she  nagged  at  Josephine  to  have  breakfast  ready 
before  the  usual  time ;  and  in  spite  of  what  had  occurred  the 
day  before,  she  could  hardly  keep  herself  from  bullying  Ma- 
dame Thuillier,  who  did  not  act  so  fully  as  she  could  have 
wished  on  Brigitte's  favorite  saying:  "Better  too  soon  than 
too  late." 

Then  she  went  down  to  make  the  same  commotion  among 
the  Collevilles ;  she  set  her  veto  on  a  far  too  showy  dress  that 
Flavie  proposed  to  wear,  and  gave  express  orders  to  Celeste 
as  to  the  gown  and  bonnet  she  was  to  appear  in.  As  to  Colle- 
ville,  who,  as  he  represented,  was  bound  to  go  to  his  office, 
she  made  him  put  on  his  frock  coat  before  going  out,  and  set 
his  watch  by  hers,  warning  him  that  anyhow  if  he  were  late 
they  would  not  wait  for  him. 

And  so,  funnily  enough,  it  came  to  pass  that  it  was  Brigitte 
who,  after  goading  everybody  about  her,  was  very  near  being 
unready  herself  at  the  appointed  hour.  Under  pretence  of 
helping  everybody,  besides  her  usual  occupations,  which  no 
earthly  consideration  would  have  induced  her  to  relax,  she 
had  an  eye  and  a  finger  in  so  many  places  at  once  that  at  last 
she  was  fairly  overdone. 


456  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

The  unpunctuality  of  which  she  was  so  nearly  guilty  was 
ascribed  by  her  to  a  hairdresser,  for  whom  she  had  sent  on 
this  great  occasion  "to  part  her  hair  straight."  The  artist 
having  chosen  to  dress  her  head  in  the  fashion,  had  been 
obliged  to  do  his  work  all  over  again  to  restore  his  patient 
to  her  ordinary  appearance,  which  consisted,  in  fact,  in  not 
having  her  hair  dressed  at  all,  but  always  looking  like  a  cat 
pulled  through  a  hedge  backward,  to  use  a  vulgar  phrase. 

By  about  half-past  one  la  Peyrade,  Thuillier,  Colleville, 
Madame  Thuillier,  and  Celeste  were  all  ready  in  the  drawing- 
room.  Flavie  joined  them  almost  immediately ;  she  came  in 
clasping  her  bracelets  to  avoid  a  squabble,  and  was  relieved  to 
find  that  Brigitte  was  not  before  her.  As  to  Brigitte,  furious 
already  at  feeling  herself  late,  she  had  another  cause  for  vexa- 
tion. The  importance  of  the  occasion  had  seemed  to  her  to 
demand  stays,  an  elegancy  in  which  she  did  not  usually  in- 
dulge. And  the  unhappy  maid  who  was  at  this  moment  lacing 
her,  and  trying  to  discover  exactly  how  tight  she  wanted  them 
to  be  drawn,  alone  knew  all  the  storm  and  stress  of  "stays- 
days." 

"I  would  just  as  soon  be  set  to  put  the  obelisk  into  stays," 
said  the  girl,  "and  I  believe  it  would  turn  out  a  better  figure; 
at  any  rate  it  would  not  use  such  language." 

While  they  were  laughing  among  themselves  without  a 
sound,  at  the  flagrant  breach  of  order  in  which  "Queen  Eliza- 
beth" was  caught,  the  concierge  came  in,  and  gave  to  Thuillier 
a  sealed  letter  that  had  just  been  placed  in  his  hands  with 
this  address : 

"Monsieur  Thuillier,  proprietor  of  the  llfcho  de  la  Bievre. 
To  be  delivered  immediately." 

The  addressee  hastily  opened  the  packet  and  found  within 
a  copy  of  a  ministerial  paper  which  had  already  shown  some 
discourtesy  and  hostility,  refusing  the  exchange  which  is 
commonly  effected  with  much  good-will  among,  the  offices, 
paper  for  paper. 

Thuillier,  greatly  puzzled  by  the  delivery  of  this  missive  at 
his  residence  and  not  at  the  offices  of  the  Echo,  hastilv  un- 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  457 

folded  the  sheet  and  read  the  following  paragraph  with  such 
feelings  as  may  be  imagined.  It  was  marked  for  notice  with 
a  red  pencil. 

"An  obscure  newspaper  was  about  to  die  decently  in  the 
dark,  when  a  man  of  newly  fledged  ambitions  took  it  into  his 
head  to  galvanize  it.  He  aims  at  making  it  a  stepping-stone 
to  climb  from  municipal  office  to  the  coveted  position  of  a 
member  of  the  Chamber.  This  intrigue  has  happily  come 
to  light,  and  must  prove  abortive.  Electors  will  not  allow 
themselves  to  be  misled  by  the  insidious  hints  in  this  sheet  of 
news,  and  when  the  time  is  ripe,  if  ridicule  should  not  have 
*«uted  this  imprudent  candidate,  we  will  take  it  upon  our- 
selves to  show  him  that  for  a  man  to  attain  to  the  honor  of 
representing  his  country,  it  is  not  enough  to  be  able  to  pur- 
chase an  outcast  paper,  and  to  keep  a  Svhite-washer'  to  put  the 
fearful  jargon  of  his  articles  and  pamphlets  into  readable 
French.  We  say  no  more  to-day ;  but  our  readers  may  rely  on 
being  kept  informed  as  to  the  progress  of  this  electoral  farce, 
if  the  chief  actor  is  brave  enough  to  go  through  with  it." 

Twice  did  Thuillier  read  this  declaration  of  war,  which 
was  far  from  leaving  him  unmoved,  and  then,  taking  la  Pey- 
rade  aside: 

"Look  here,"  said  he,  "this  looks  serious." 

The  Provengal  read  the  passage. 

"Well,"  said  he. 

"What— well?"  said  Thuillier. 

"What  do  you  find  so  serious  in  this?" 

"What  that  is  serious?  Why,  the  article  is  exceedingly 
offensive  to  me,  I  should  say." 

"And  it  does  not  strike  you  that  here  you  have  again  some 
virtuous  Cerizet  who,  out  of  revenge,  is  trying  to  trip  you  up  ?" 

"Cerizet,  or  any  other  man — whoever  wrote  this,  is  an  in- 
solent ruffian,"  cried  Thuillier  hotly;  "and  the  matter  will 
not  stop  here." 

"If  you  take  my  advice,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "you  will  make 


458  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

no  rejoinder.  You  are  not  named  nor  identified,  though  of 
course  it  is  difficult  not  to  suppose  yourself  attacked.  We 
must  let  the  enemy  declare  himself  more  openly;  when  the 
moment  is  ripe  we  will  hit  him  over  the  knuckles." 

"Not  at  all/'  said  Thuillier,  "it  is  impossible  to  remain 
passive  under  such  an  insult." 

"The  devil !"  exclaimed  the  lawyer,  "how  thin-skinned  you 
are.  But  remember,  my  dear  fellow,  you  are  a  journalist, 
and  going  to  stand  an  election;  you  must  be  a  little  more 
pachydermatous." 

"I,  my  friend,  make  it  a  rule  to  let  no  one  tread  on  my  toes. 
Besides,  the  writer  promises  to  sin  again,  so  we  must  put  a 
stop  to  such  impertinence." 

"Well,  try  it,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "It  is  true  that  in  jour- 
nalism, as  in  an  election,  a  raging  temper  has  its  advantages. 
It  commands  respect,  and  stops  many  attacks." 

"Certainly,"  said  Thuillier,  "principiis  obsta.  Not  to-day, 
as  we  have  not  time,  but  no  later  than  to-morrow  I  carry  that 
article  into  court." 

"Into  court !"  cried  la  Peyrade.  "You  mean  to  get  the  law 
to  interfere?  But  there  is  not  a  case  in  it.  Neither  your 
name  nor  the  paper  is  mentioned ;  and,  besides,  there  is  some- 
thing so  pitiful  in  a  lawsuit.  It  is  like  children  who  have 
squabbled,  and  run  to  complain  to  mamma  or  their  tutor.  If 
you  had  told  me  that  you  meant  to  put  Fleury  forward  in  the 
matter,  that  I  could  understand,  though  the  quarrel  is  per- 
sonal to  yourself,  -and  it  is  difficult  to  see  in  it  such  an  offence 
to  the  social  status  of  the  paper,  as  it  is  the  responsible 
manager's  business  to  ask  an  account  of." 

"I  dare  say,"  answered  Thuillier.  "And  so  you  imagine 
that  I  mean  to  commit  myself  with  some  Cerizet,  or  such  an- 
other swashbuckler  of  the  Government  ?  I,  my  dear  sir,  pride 
myself  on  my  civic  courage,  which  does  not  yield  to  prejudice, 
and  instead  of  taking  justice  with  its  own  hands,  has  recourse 
to  the  means  of  defence  afforded  by  the  law.  Besides,  the 
supreme  court  takes  such  a  tone,  nowadays,  about  dueling  that 
I  have  no  fancy  to  expose  myself  to  banishment  or  a  year  or 
two  of  imprisonmeDt." 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  450 

"Well,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "we  can  discuss  all  that  later. 
Here  comes  your  sister,  and  she  would  think  all  was  lost,  if  we 
mentioned  this  little  difficulty  in  her  presence." 

As  Brigitte  came  in,  Colleville  exclaimed : 

"Full  up !"  and  began  to  sing  the  burden  of  the  Parisienne. 

"Goodness,  Colleville !  How  vulgar  you  are,"  said  the  late- 
comer, hastily  casting  a  stone  into  her  neighbor's  ground  to 
avoid  one  being  thrown  into  hers. 

"Well,  then,  are  we  ready?"  she  added,  settling  her  cape 
in  front  of  the  glass.  "What  time  is  it  ?  We  must  not  be  too 
early,  like  country  folks." 

"Ten  minutes  to  two,"  said  Colleville,  "my  watch  goes  like 
the  Tuileries  clock." 

"Then  we  are  just  right,"  said  Brigitte.  "It  will  not  take 
us  longer  to  get  to  the  Eue  Caumartin.  Josephine,"  she 
shouted,  opening  the  drawing-room  door,  "we  shall  dine  at  six, 
so  note  the  time  for  putting  the  turkey  down,  and  mind  it  is 
not  burnt  as  it  was  the  other  day.  Hey !  What  is  that  ?"  she 
hastily  exclaimed,  shutting  the  door  she  was  holding  open. 
"A  visitor — bother !  I  only  hope  Henri  will  have  the  sense  to 
say  that  no  one  is  at  home." 

Not  at  all.  Henri  came  to  say  that  an  old  gentleman  with 
a  ribbon  in  his  buttonhole,  and  "quite  the  gentleman,"  begged 
to  be  admitted  on  urgent  business. 

"Couldn't  you  say  that  we  were  all  out  ?" 

"I  should  have  done  so,  mademoiselle,  if  you  had  not 
opened  the  drawing-room  door  at  the  very  moment,  so  that 
the  gentleman  could  see  all  the  family  assembled." 

"Oh !"  said  Brigitte,  "you  are  never  wrong." 

"And  what  am  I  to  tell  him  ?"  asked  the  man. 

"Tell  him,"  said  Thuillier,  "that  I  am  very  sorry  that  I 
cannot  see  him,  but  that  we  are  expected  at  the  notary's  to 
sign  a  marriage  contract,  and  if  he  will  return  in  a  couple 
of  hours " 

"I  told  him  all  that,"  replied  Henri,  "and  he  said  that  the 
contract  was  the  very  business  that  brought  him  here,  and  that 

his  call  was  of  more  importance  to  you  than  to  him." 
YOL.   14— BK 


460  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Well,  well,  see  him  and  get  rid  of  him  in  no  time,"  said 
Brigitte.  "It  will  be  shorter  than  the  explanations  given  by 
Henri,  who  is  such  an  orator." 

If  la  Peyrade's  opinion  had  been  asked,  he  perhaps  would 
have  come  to  a  different  conclusion ;  for  he  had  already  had 
more  than  one  specimen  of  the  attempts  made  by  some  occult 
power  to  put  a  spoke  in  the  wheels  of  his  marriage,  and  this 
visit  seemed  to  him  of  ill  omen. 

"Show  him  into  my  study,"  said  Thuillier,  acting  on  his 
sister's  advice;  then  opening  a  door  from  the  drawing-room 
into  that  where  he  meant  to  receive  this  importunate  caller, 
he  went  in  first. 

Instantly  Brigitte  had  her  eye  to  the  keyhole. 

"There,  now!"  cried  she,  "if  that  idiot  Thuillier  has  not 
made  him  sit  down,  and  at  the  further  end  of  the  room,  too, 
so  that  it  is  impossible  to  hear  what  they  are  saying." 

La  Peyrade  meanwhile  was  pacing  the  room,  his  agitation 
concealed  under  an  affectation  of  extreme  indifference;  he 
even  went  up  to  the  group  of  women  and  made  a  few  pretty 
speeches  to  Celeste,  which  she  received  with  the  smiling  satis- 
faction that  lay  in  the  spirit  of  her  part.  As  for  Colleville, 
he  was  killing  time  by  composing  an  anagram  out  of  the  six 
words  Le  journal  I'ticho  de  la  Bievre;  and  by  shuffling  the 
letters  presently  produced  this,  not  very  promising  for  the 
prospects  of  the  paper,  0  d'flcho  jarni!  la  bevue  reell  (0  the 
Echo,  quite  a  blunder)  ;  but  an  e  was  wanting  for  the  last 
word,  so  the  work  was  not  quite  perfect. 

"What  a  lot  of  snuff  he  takes !"  cried  Brigitte,  still  keeping 
an  eye  on  the  adjoining  room.  "His  gold  box  beats  Minard's ; 
I  never  saw  one  such  a  size.  But  I  fancy  it  is  only  silver  gilt," 
she  added  by  way  of  comment.  "And  he  talks  and  talks,  and 
Thuillier  sits  listening  like  a  dummy.  I  don't  care,  I  will 
go  in  and  say  that  ladies  are  not  to  be  kept  waiting  in  this 
fashion." 

She  had  her  hand  on  the  latch  when  she  heard  Thuillier's 
visitor  speaking  much  louder,  and  she  again  applied  her  eye 
to  the  keyhole. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  461 

"He  is  up  at  last,"  she  said  with  satisfaction. 

But  presently,  perceiving  that  she  was  mistaken,  and  that  it 
was  only  to  speak  with  greater  emphasis  that  the  little  old 
man  had  risen  to  his  feet  and  was  walking  up  and  down  th« 
room — 

"On  my  honor,  I  will  really  go  in,"  she  said,  "and  tell 
Thuillier  that  we  will  start  now,  and  he  can  follow  when  they 
have  done  talking." 

So  speaking,  the  old  maid  gave  two  short  and  imperative 
little  taps,  and  marched  boldly  into  her  brother's  study. 

Peyrade  now  had  the  bad  taste,  excusable  only  by  interest 
and  curiosity,  to  look  through  the  keyhole  at  what  was  going 
on  within.  He  at  once,  as  he  thought,  recognized  the  little 
old  man  as  he  whom  he  had  once  seen  under  the  title  of  "the 
Commander"  at  Madame  de  Godollo's;  and  then  he  observed 
that  Thuillier  was  addressing  his  sister  with  such  impatience 
and  airs  of  authority  as  were  very  unlike  his  usual  habits  of 
deference  and  submission. 

"Thuillier  finds  the  creature's  conversation  very  interesting, 
it  would  seem/'  remarked  Brigitte ;  "for  he  ordered  me  out  in 
the  rudest  way,  though  the  little  old  man  himself  said  with 
great  politeness  that  he  had  nearly  done.  'And  wait  for  me, 
whatever  you  do/  said  Jerome.  Bless  me,  since  he  has  taken 
up  with  his  paper  there  is  no  knowing  him.  He  gives  himself 
such  airs  of  leading  the  whole  world  with  a  wand — 

"I  am  very  much  afraid,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "lest  he  is  being 
mystified  by  some  adventurer;  I  am  almost  sure  that  I  saw 
that  little  old  man  with  Madame  Komorn  on  th  >  day  when  I 
went  to  advise  her  to  clear  out.  He  must  be  some  one  of  the 
same  stamp." 

"You  might  have  told  me  so,"  said  Brigitte.  "I  would  have 
asked  him  for  news  of  the  Countess,  so  as  to  let  him  see  that 
we  know  something  about  his  Hungarian  woman." 

At  this  moment  they  heard  chairs  moved;  Brigitte  flew  to 
the  keyhole. 

"Yes,"  said  she,  "he  is  going.  Jerome  is  showing  him  out, 
bowing  and  scraping." 


462  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

As  Thuillier  did  not  immediately  reappear,  Colleville  had 
time  to  go  to  the  window,  and  as  he  saw  the  old  gentleman 
step  into  the  vehicle  of  which  the  reader  has  already  heard — • 

"The  devil !"  he  exclaimed,  "what  a  fine  livery  !  If  he  is  an 
adventurer,  it  is  in  the  first  style." 

Presently  Thuillier  came  in.  His  face  was  anxious  and  he 
spoke  very  gravely. 

"My  dear  la  Peyrade,"  said  he,  "you  never  told  us  that  you 
had  seriously  thought  of  another  offer  of  marriage?" 

"Why,  yes,  I  did.  I  told  you  that  a  very  rich  heiress  had 
been  proposed  to  me,  but  that  my  heart  was  here ;  that  I  had 
not  chosen  to  take  the  matter  up,  and  that  consequently  noth- 
ing definite  had  come  of  it." 

"Well.  I  think  you  are  wrong  to  make  so  light  of  the  pro- 
posal." 

"What,  you,  in  the  presence  of  these  ladies,  can  blame  me 
for  being  faithful  to  my  first  affections,  and  to  our  long- 
standing engagements." 

"My  dear  boy,  the  interview  I  have  just  had  has  enlightened 
me  considerably;  and  when  you  know  all  that  I  know,  and 
many  other  details  which  will  be  told  to  you  alone,  I  am  sure 
you  will  agree  with  me.  One  thing  is  quite  certain :  we  do  not 
go  to  the  notary  to-day.  As  for  you,  the  best  thing  you  can 
do  is  to  be  off  at  once  to  call  on  Monsieur  du  Portail." 

"That  name  again!  It  haunts  me  like  remorse,"  cried  la 
Peyrade. 

"Yes ;  go  there  at  once.  He  expects  you,  and  it  is  an  indis- 
pensable preliminary  to  any  further  steps.  When  you  have 
seen  that  worthy  gentleman,  if  you  still  persist  in  your  suit 
for  Celeste's  hand,  we  may  encourage  your  purpose;  till  then 
nothing  can  be  done." 

"But,  my  poor  boy,"  said  Brigitte,  "you  have  allowed  your- 
self to  be  bamboozled  by  a  rascal;  the  man  belongs  to  the 
Godollo  set." 

"Madame  de  Godollo,"  replied  Thuillier,  "is  not  in  the 
least  what  you  think  her,  and  the  best  thing  to  do  in  this 
house  is  never  to  say  a  word  about  her,  good  or  evil.  As  to  la 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  463 

Peyrade,  as  this  is  not  the  first  invitation  he  has  received,  I 
cannot  really  conceive  why  he  hesitates  to  go  to  this  Monsieur 
du  Portail " 

"Deuce  take  it !"  cried  Brigitte ;  "but  the  little  old  man  has 
altogether  bewitched  you." 

"I  can  tell  you  that  the  little  old  man  is  all  he  appears  on 
the  surface.  He  has  seven  Orders  and  a  magnificent  carriage, 
and  told  me  things  that  filled  me  with  amazement." 
/  "Then  he  is  perhaps  a  fortune-teller,  in  Madame  Fon- 
taine's line,  the  woman  who  upset  me  so  one  day  when  I  went 
with  Madame  Minard  to  consult  her,  expecting  to  have  a  good 
laugh  at  the  old  witch." 

"Well,  if  he  is  not  a  wizard,"  replied  Thuillier,  "he  has  at 
least  a  very  long  arm,  and  I  believe  you  will  get  no  good  out 
of  neglecting  his  advice.  Why,  he  only  just  caught  sight  of 
you,  Brigitte,  and  he  told  me  your  character  at  once:  he  said 
you  were  a  masterly  woman,  born  to  command." 

"As  a  matter  of  fact,"  said  Brigitte,  licking  her  lips  over 
this  compliment,  as  if  she  had  been  tasting  cream,  "the  little 
old  man  looks  quite  the  gentleman.  Listen,  my  dear  boy," 
she  went  on  to  la  Peyrade.  "Since  such  a  very  big  pot  insists 
on  it,  go  at  any  rate  to  see  this  du  Portail.  That,  it  seems  to 
me,  need  pledge  you  to  nothing." 

"Of  course,"  said  Colleville.  "If  it  were  I,  I  would  pay 
thirty  calls  on  all  the  du  Portails,  or  du  Portaux-  on  earth,  if 
I  were  advised  to  do  so." 

As  the  scene  was  beginning  to  be  very  like  that  in  the  Bar- 
Here,  in  which  every  one  desires  Basile  to  go  to  bed,  till  he 
feels  quite  in  a  fever,  la  Peyrade  took  up  his  hat  in  a  pet,  and 
went  where  destiny  called  him — Quo  sua  fata  vocabant. 

On  arriving  at  the  Eue  Honore-Chevalier,  la  Peyrade  had 
a  qualm;  the  dilapidated  appearance  of  the  house  where  he 
was  to  call  made  him  fancy  that  he  must  have  forgotten  the 
number.  He  did  not  think  that  any  man  of  such  importance 
as  might  be  ascribed  to  this  Monsieur  du  Portail,  who  was 
such  an  incubus  on  his  life,  could  reside  in  such  a  spot.  It 


464  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

was  with  much  hesitancy  that  he  addressed  himself  to  the 
porter,  Monsieur  Perrache.  But  when  he  had  mounted  to  the 
rooms  indicated  to  him,  and  found  himself  in  the  ante-room, 
the  good  style  of  old  Bruno,  the  man-servant,  and  the  very 
comfortable  appearance  of  all  the  accessories,  seemed  quite 
suitable  to  his  expectations.  He  was  shown  at  once  into  the 
old  gentleman's  study,  and  his  surprise  was  great  when  he 
found  himself  face  to  face  with  the  so-called  commandeur, 
Madame  de  Godollo's  ally,  and,  as  will  have  been  understood, 
the  very  man  whom  he  had  caught  a  glimpse  of  but  just  now, 
calling  on  Thuillier. 

"At  last,"  said  du  Portail,  rising  to  place  a  chair.  "So  you 
have  come,  recalcitrant  youth.  You  have  taken  a  vast  amount 
of  pulling." 

"And  may  I  ask,  monsieur,"  said  la  Peyrade  haughtily, 
without  taking  the  seat  that  was  offered  him,  "what  interest 
you  can  possibly  have  in  meddling  in  my  concerns?  I  do  not 
know  you,  and  I  may  add  that  the  place  where  I  once  hap- 
pened to  see  you  did  not  lead  me  to  indulge  in  any  excessive 
desire  to  make  your  acquaintance." 

"Where,  then,  did  you  see  me  ?"  asked  du  Portail. 

"In  the  rooms  of  a  demirep,  who  called  herself  Madame  la 
Comtesse  de  Godollo." 

"On  whom  you,  too,  were  presumably  calling,"  said  the  old 
man,  "and  with  less  disinterested  aims  than  mine." 

"I  did  not  come  here  to  bandy  repartee,"  replied  Theodose. 
"I  have  a  right,  monsieur,  to  some  explanation  as  to  your 
proceedings  in  general  towards  me.  I  would  venture,  then, 
to  beg  that  you  will  not  postpone  them  by  your  witty  remarks, 
to  which  I  am  not  at  all  in  the  humor  to  listen  submissively." 

"Well,  well,  my  dear  boy,  sit  down,"  said  du  Portail.  "I 
am  not  in  the  humor  to  dislocate  my  neck  by  speaking  up  to 
your  height." 

The  intimation  was  but  reasonable,  and  was  made  in  a 
tone  that  seemed  to  convey  that  lordly  airs  would  not  scare 
the  old  gentleman.  So  la  Peyrade  made  up  his  mind  to  yield 
to  his  host's  desire,  though  he  took  care  to  obey  with  the  worst 
grace  he  could  display. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  465 

"Monsieur  Cerizet,"  du  Portail  began,  "a  man  of  very  good 
position  in  the  world,  and  who  has  the  honor  of  counting  you 
among  his  friends " 

"I  no  longer  see  the  man,"  said  la  Peyrade  vehemently, 
fully  understanding  the  old  man's  malicious  insinuation. 

'•'At  any  rate,"  du  Portail  went  on,  "at  a  time  when  you  did 
occasionally  meet — for  instance,  when  you  paid  for  his  dinner 
at  the  Rocker  de  Cancale — I  desired  that  virtuous  Monsieur 
Cerizet  to  sound  you  as  to  a  marriage " 

"Which  I  declined,"  interrupted  Theodose,  "and  which  I 
now  refuse  more  decisively  than  ever." 

"That  is  just  the  question,"  said  the  gentleman.  "Now  I, 
on  the  contrary,  believe  that  you  will  accept  it;  and  it  is  to 
talk  the  matter  over  that  I  have  so  long  wished  to  see  you." 

"But  who  is  this  crazy  woman  you  are  flinging  at  my  head," 
said  la  Peyrade,  "and  what  is  she  io  you  ?  She  is,  I  imagine, 
neither  your  daughter  nor  any  relation  of  yours,  for  you 
would  surely  be  less  barefaced  in  your  husband-hunting  on 
her  behalf." 

"The  lady,"  said  du  Portail,  "is  the  daughter  of  one  of 
my  friends.  She  lost  her  father  more  than  ten  years  since, 
and  from  that  time  has  always  lived  with  me.  I  have  given 
her  all  the  care  demanded  by  her  sad  condition ;  her  fortune, 
which  I  have  greatly  increased,  added  to  my  own,  which  I 
intend  she  should  inherit,  makes  her  immensely  wealthy.  I 
know  that  you  have  no  aversion  for  handsome  settlements, 
since  you  seek  them  in  the  lowest  ranks — in  such  a  house  as 
the  Tlmilliers',  for  instance,  or,  to  use  your  own  word,  in  that 
of  a  demirep  whom  you  scarcely  knew;  I  consequently  sup- 
posed that  you  might  be  willing  to  accept  them  from  me,  since 
the  young  lady's  malady  is  pronounced  quite  curable,  while  no 
one  can  ever  cure  Monsieur  Thuillier  of  being  a  fool  or  his 
sister  of  being  a  harridan — any  more  than  you  can  cure  Ma- 
dame Komorn  of  being  a  flighty  woman  of  very  mediocre 
virtue." 

"It  may  nevertheless  please  me  to  marry  the  goddaughter 
Of  a  fool  and  a  vixen,  if  she  is  my  own  choice ;  nay,  if  passion 


466  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

should  carry  me  away,  I  might  become  the  husband  of  a  dis- 
reputable coquette.  But  no  one,  neither  you,  sir,  nor  cleverer 
and  more  powerful  men  than  you,  could  make  me  accept 
the  Queen  of  Sheba  if  she  were  forced  upon  me." 

"And  for  that  reason  I  appeal  to  your  good  sense  and  in- 
telligence ;  but  to  speak  to  a  man  one  must  get  sight  of  him. 
Come,  consider  what  your  position  is,  and  do  not  be  alarmed 
if,  like  a  surgeon  anxious  to  cure  his  patient,  I  ruthlessly  lay 
my  hand  on  the  wounds  of  a  life  that  has  hitherto  been  so 
laborious  and  storm-tossed.  The  first  point  to  note  is  that 
Celeste  Colleville  is  quite  lost  to  you." 

"Why  ?"  said  la  Peyrade. 

"Because  I  have  just  left  Thuillier  quite  terrified  by  a 
picture  of  all  the  disasters  he  has  already  incurred,  and  will 
yet  incur,  if  he  persists  in  his  determination  to  make  his  god- 
daughter marry  you.  He  knows  now  that  it  was  I  who  paral- 
yzed the  action  of  the  Comtesse  du  Bruel  in  the  matter  of  the 
Cross ;  that  it  was  I  who  had  his  pamphlet  seized ;  that  it  was 
I  who  sent  the  Hungarian  to  his  house  to  trick  you  all  so 
effectually ;  that  it  was  by  my  care  that  the  ministerial  jour- 
nals have  opened  a  fire  which  will  be  hotter  every  day,  to  say 
nothing  of  other  machinery  to  be  set  in  motion  to  hinder  his 
election,  if  need  should  arise.  So  you  see,  my  dear  sir,  not 
only  have  you  ceased  to  have  the  crowning  merit  in  Thuillier's 
eyes  of  being  his  most  influential  voter ;  you  are  actually  the 
stumbling-stone  in  the  way  of  his  ambition.  That  is  enough 
to  show  you  that  the  outworks  by  which  you  impressed  and 
governed  the  family,  who,  in  fact,  never  really  wanted  you, 
are  now  wholly  reduced  and  dismantled." 

"But  who  are  you/*  said  la  Peyrade,  "that  you  can  flatter 
yourself  that  you  have  done  all  this?" 

"I  will  not  retort  that  you  are  too  curious,  because  I  shall 
presently  answer  that  question ;  but  we  will  go  on,  if  you 
please,  with  our  autopsy  of  your  past  existence — a  now  dead 
existence,  for  which  I  am  preparing  a  glorious  resurrection. 
You  are  eight  and  twenty;  you  have  barely  started  on  the 
career  in  which  I  forbid  you  taking  one  step  onward.  In  a 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  46? 

few  days  from  now  the  Board  of  the  Pleaders'  Association  will 
meet,  and  will  censure,  in  a  more  or  less  final  verdict,  your 
conduct  as  to  the  freehold  you  so  foolishly  secured  for  Thuil- 
lier.  Now  do  not  deceive  yourself:  even  if  you  underwent 
nothing  worse  than  a  severe  reprimand, — and  that  is  the  least 
that  can  befall  you, — a  lawyer  is  not  like  the  hackney  coach- 
man whom  the  disapproval  of  the  Court  could  not  hinder  from 
driving  his  cab;  if  you  are  but  blamed,  your  name  may  as 
well  be  struck  from  the  roll." 

"And  it  is  to  your  benevolent  interference,  I  suppose,  that 
I  owe  this  precious  result  ?"  said  la  Peyrade. 

"I  am  proud  to  think  so,"  said  du  Portail ;  "for  to  tow  you 
back  into  harbor,  the  first  thing  was  to  cut  away  your  tackle. 
Otherwise  you  would  always  be  wanting  to  set  your  own  sails 
among  that  ruck  of  the  middle  classes." 

Seeing  that  his  adversary  could  certainly  play  a  strong 
game,  the  wily  Provengal  thought  it  wise  to  moderate  his  tone, 
and  said  with  much  more  reserve  of  manner: 

"You  will,  at  any  rate,  allow  me,  monsieur,  to  postpone  my 
gratitude  till  further  developments." 

"Here  you  stand,  then,"  said  du  Portail,  "at  eight  and 
twenty,  without  a  sou,  without  a  profession,  with  antecedents 
that  may  be  called  mediocre,  and  some  old  acquaintance  such 
as  Dutocq  and  Cerizet  'the  Brave' ;  owing  ten  thousand  francs 
to  Mademoiselle  Thuillier,  which,  as  a  mere  point  of  con- 
science, you  are  bound  to  repay,  even  if  you  had  not  pledged 
yourself  to  do  so  out  of  vanity;  twenty-five  thousand  more 
to  Madame  Lambert,  which  you  would  be  only  too  glad,  no 
doubt,  to  replace  in  her  hands;  and  to  crown  all,  this  mar- 
riage, your  last  hope,  your  plank  of  deliverance,  has  become 
impossible.  Between  you  and  me,  now,  if  I  have  any  reason- 
tible  offer  to  make,  do  not  you  think  you  may  be  open  to  my 
suggestions?" 

"There  will  be  time  enough  to  assert  the  contrary,"  replied 
la  Peyrade,  "and  I  can  come  to  no  determination  so  long  as 
your  plans  in  my  behalf  remain  unknown  to  me." 

"I  sounded  you  through  others  as  to  a  marriage,"  said  du 


468  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Portail.  "That  marriage  is  indissolubly  connected  in  my 
mind  with  another  scheme  of  life  which  comes  to  you  in  the 
guise  of  a  sort  of  hereditary  vocation.  Do  you  know  what  the 
uncle  you  came  to  seek  in  1829  was  doing  in  Paris?  Among 
you,  I  know,  he  was  supposed  to  be  a  millionaire ;  as  a  fact, 
dying  suddenly  before  you  reached  him,  he  did  not  leave 
money  enough  to  pay  for  his  burial.  A  pauper's  bier  and  the 
common  grave — these  alone  were  his." 

"Then  you  knew  him  ?"  asked  Theodose. 

"He  was  my  dearest  and  oldest  friend." 

"But  then,"  exclaimed  la  Peyrade  eagerly,  "a  sum  of  a 
hundred  louis  which  reached  me  from  an  unknown  source,  in 
the  early  days  of  my  stay  in  Paris " 

"Was  sent  by  me,"  said  the  other.  "Overwhelmed  at  the 
time  by  a  mass  of  business  which  you  shall  presently  under- 
stand, I  was  unfortunately  prevented  from  acting  on  the 
kindly  interest  I  felt  in  you,  out  of  regard  for  your  uncle's 
memory.  This  will  account  for  my  having  left  you  to  ripen, 
like  medlars,  on  straw,  to  that  rottenness  of  poverty  which 
involved  you  in  the  meshes  of  a  Dutocq  and  a  Cerizet." 

"I  am  not  the  less  obliged  to  you,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "and 
if  I  had  known  that  you  were  the  generous  protector  who  re- 
mained undiscoverable,  believe  me  that,  without  awaiting 
your  commands,  I  should  have  been  the  first  to  seize  an  oppor- 
tunity of  knowing  and  thanking  you." 

"Enough  of  compliments,"  said  du  Portail.  "To  come 
to  the  more  serious  matter  of  our  conference:  what  would 
you  say  if  I  told  you  that  this  uncle,  whose  protection  and 
support  you  came  to  seek  in  Paris,  was  one  of  the  agents  of 
that  occult  power  which  is  the  subject  of  so  many  absurd 
fables  and  so  much  silly  prejudice  ?" 

"I  do  not  follow  you,"  said  la  Peyrade  with  anxious  curi- 
osity. "Might  I  beg  you  to  explain  your  meaning?" 

"Well,  for  instance,"  du  Portail  went  on,  "supposing  your 
uncle  were  alive  and  could  say  to  you :  *You  want  money  and 
influence,  my  fine  nephew;  you  are  eager  to  rise  above  the 
herd,  to  mingle  in  the  great  movements  of  your  time;  you 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  469 

wish  to  find  employment  for  your  active  and  keen  wits,  for  a 
mind  full  of  resource,  and  a  decided  bent  for  intrigue;  in 
short,  you  would  like  to  employ,  in  a  sphere  of  wealth  and 
fashion,  the  powers  of  will  and  ingenuity  which  you  have 
until  now  frittered  in  barren  and  thankless  efforts  to  utilize 
the  driest  and  toughest  thing  in  this  world — a  man  of  the 
middle  class.  Well,  then,  bend  your  head,  my  worthy  nephew, 
follow  me  in  at  the  little  door  I  will  open  to  you,  into  a  large 
house  of  no  great  repute  indeed,  but  better  than  its  reputation. 
As  soon  as  you  have  crossed  the  threshold,  you  may  stand 
up  to  the  full  height  of  your  genius,  if  there  is  a  spark  of 
genius  in  you.  Statesmen  and  kings  will  tell  you  their  most 
secret  thoughts ;  you  will  be  their  unknown  colleague,  and  in 
this  path  none  of  the  joys  that  money  and  important  functions 
can  give  a  man  will  be  beyond  your  ambition  and  reach/  " 

"But  you  will  allow  me  to  remark,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "with- 
out pretending  that  I  yet  fully  understand  you,  that  my  uncle 
died  in  such  misery  that  he  was  buried  at  the  cost  of  public 
charity " 

"Your  uncle,"  du  Portail  put  in,  "was  a  man  of  the  rarest 
talent;  but  there  was  a  certain  levity  in  his  character  which 
had  a  fatal  effect  on  his  fortunes.  He  was  a  spendthrift, 
eager  for  pleasure,  and  took  no  care  for  the  future ;  he  craved, 
too,  for  that  happiness,  meant  only  for  commoner  souls, 
which  is  the  greatest  burden,  the  greatest  snare  to  those  who 
have  any  exceptionally  high  calling — I  mean  a  family  and 
home.  He  had  a  daughter  on  whom  he  doted,  and  through 
her  his  terrible  enemies  found  a  breach  which  enabled  them 
to  plot  the  terrible  catastrophe  that  ended  his  life.  Your 
uncle — you  see  I  enter  into  your  argument — your  uncle  died 
of  rapid  poison." 

"And  that  you  think  an  encouragement  to  tread  in  the  dark 
ways  where  you  would  have  me  follow  him,"  said  la  Peyrade. 

"But  if  I  myself,  my  dear  sir,  should  lead  the  way  ?" 

"You,  monsieur!"  exclaimed  la  Peyrade  in  amazement. 

"Yes,  I — your  uncle's  pupil  and  afterwards  his  protector 
and  providence.  I,  whose  influence  has  grown  almost  daily 


470  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

for  the  last  half -century.  I,  who  am  rich,  who  have  seen  suc- 
cessive governments,  tumbling  over  each  other's  heels  like 
rows  of  cards,  come,  each  in  its  turn,  to  seek  from  me  security 
and  a  promise  of  endurance.  I,  who  am  the  manager  of  a  vast 
theatre  of  marionettes,  including  Columbines  of  the  pattern 
of  Madame  de  Godollo;  I,  who,  if  it  were  necessary  for  the 
success  of  one  of  my  comedies  or  dramas,  might  appear  before 
you  to-morrow  wearing  the  ribbon  of  the  first  rank  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  of  the  Order  of  the  Garter,  or  of  the  Golden 
Fleece !  And  would  you  like  to  know  why  neither  you  nor  I 
shall  die  by  poison?  Why  I,  happier  than  contemporary 
kings,  can  transmit  my  sceptre  to  a  successor  of  my  own 
choosing?  It  is  because  I — like  you,  my  young  friend,  not- 
withstanding your  southern  complexion — have  been  cool  and 
deeply  calculating;  because  I  never  lost  my  time  in  trifling 
on  the  threshold;  because  my  ardor,  when  circumstances  re- 
quired me  to  make  a  show  of  it,  never  lay  deeper  than  the 
surface.  It  is  more  than  likely  that  you  have  heard  of  me; 
well,  for  your  benefit  I  will  open  a  gap  in  my  cloud.  Look  at 
me,  mark  me  well :  I  have  no  cloven  feet,  no  sign  of  a  tail ;  on 
the  contrary,  I  seem  to  be  the  most  inoffensive  of  old  gentle- 
men living  on  their  means  in  all  the  quarter  near  Saint- 
Sulpice,  where,  for  five  and  twenty  years,  I  have,  I  may  say, 
enjoyed  the  esteem  of  all ;  I  am  known  as  du  Portail ;  but  to 
you,  by  your  leave,  I  shall  be  known  as  Corentin." 

"Corentin !"  cried  la  Peyrade,  almost  with  dismay. 

"Yes,  monsieur,  and  as  you  see,  merely  by  revealing  this 
secret,  I  lay  my  hand  on  your  shoulder  and  enrol  you — Coren- 
tin, 'the  greatest  man  in  the  police  of  modern  times,'  as  was 
said  of  me  by  the  author  of  an  article  in  the  Biographie  des 
Hommes  vivants,  though,  to  do  him  justice,  he  knows  not  a 
word  about  my  life/' 

"I  will  certainly  keep  your  secret,  monsieur,"  said  la  Pey- 
rade ;  "but  the  part  you  are  so  kind  as  to  offer  me — 

"Terrifies  you,  or,  to  say  the  least,  startles  you,"  the  old 
man  hastily  put  in.  "Before  you  even  know  exactly  what  it  is, 
the  mere  word  scares  you !  The  secret  po-o-o-lice !  Prejudice 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  471 

has  set  a  mark  on  its  brow,  and  you  could  not  bear  to  be  free 
from  that  prejudice?" 

"Of  course,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "it  is  a  valuable  institution ; 
but  I  do  not  think  that  all  that  is  said  about  it  is  calumny. 
If  it  were  an  honorable  profession,  why  should  those  who 
pursue  it  conceal  themselves  ?" 

"Because  all  that  endangers  society,  and  which  it  is  their 
duty  to  counteract,  is  plotted  and  prepared  in  the  dark,"  said 
Corentin.  "Do  thieves  and  conspirators  stick  a  notice  on  their 
hat, — 'I  am  Guillot,  the  shepherd  of  this  flock,' — or  ought  we, 
when  we  want  to  apprehend  them,  to  send  the  crier  before 
us  with  a  bell,  as  the  health  officer  does  who  goes  round  every 
morning  to  see  that  the  lodge-porters  sweep  in  front  of  each 
door?" 

"Monsieur,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "when  a  feeling  is  so  general, 
it  is  not  a  prejudice  but  an  opinion;  and  that  opinion  must 
be  the  rule  of  every  man  who  has  any  pretensions  to  his  own 
respect  or  that  of  others." 

"And  if  you  could  rob  this  bankrupt  notary,"  cried  Coren- 
tin, "if  you  stripped  a  corpse  to  enrich  the  Thuilliers,  you 
could  still  esteem  yourself  and  hope  for  the  esteem  of  your 
order;  nay,  who  knows  that  there  may  not  have  been  even 
darker  deeds  than  this  in  your  life !  I  am  an  honester  man 
than  you,  for  outside  my  duties  I  cannot  accuse  myself  of  a 
single  doubtful  action;  when  I  have  a  good  deed  placed  in 
my  way  I  have  always  done  it.  Do  you  suppose  that  for  the 
past  eleven  years  the  care  of  this  crazy  girl  has  been  a  con- 
stantly delightful  task?  But  she  was  the  daughter  of  your 
uncle,  of  my  oldest  friend ;  and  when,  as  I  feel  my  days  de- 
clining, I  appeal  to  you,  with  my  hands  full  of  hard  coin,  to 
relieve  me  of  this  charge — 

"What !"  exclaimed  la  Peyrade,  "the  crazy  girl  is  my  uncle 
la  Peyrade's  daughter?" 

"Yes,  monsieur,  the  woman  I  want  you  to  marry  is  the 
daughter  of  Peyrade, — for  he  had  popularized  his  name, — or, 
if  you  prefer  it,  of  Pere  Canquoelle,  a  name  he  assumed  for 
business  purposes  from  the  little  estate  of  les  Canquoelles, 


472  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

where  your  father  and  his  eleven  children  lived  in  starvation. 
In  spite  of  your  uncle's  strict  secrecy  about  his  family,  do  I 
not  know  it  as  if  it  were  my  own  ?  Have  I  not  acquired  all 
the  information  I  could  get  before  selecting  you  for  your 
cousin's  husband  ?  You  turn  up  your  nose  at  the  police ;  but, 
as  the  common  folks  say,  you  owe  the  best  of  your  nose  to  the 
police.  Your  uncle  belonged  to  it,  and  thanks  to  his  functions 
he  was  Louis  XVIII.'s  confidant,  I  might  almost  say  his 
friend,  for  the  King  delighted  in  his  conversation.  Your 
cousin  was  born  in  that  purple.  You,  by  your  character  and 
mind,  by  the  stupid  fix  into  which  you  have  got  yourself,  in- 
evitably gravitate  towards  the  solution  I  suggest  to  you;  and 
understand,  monsieur,  that  it  is  to  take  my  place,  and  step 
into  Corentin's  shoes.  And  then  you  fancy  that  I  have  no  hold 
over  you;  that  for  the  sake  of  some  silly  notions  of  middle- 
class  conceit  you  can  give  me  the  slip !" 

La  Peyrade  was  apparently  less  determined  in  his  refusal 
than  might  have,  been  supposed,  for  the  great  functionary's 
warmth,  and  the  sort  of  annexation  claimed  over  his  person, 
brought  a  smile  to  his  face. 

Corentin,  meanwhile,  had  risen,  and  striding  up  and  down 
the  room  where  the  scene  took  place,  he  went  on  as  if  speaking 
to  himself: — 

"The  police !  Why,  you  might  say  of  the  police  what  Don 
Basilio  says  to  Bartolo  of  calumny:  'The  police,  sir!  the 
police !  you  do  not  know  what  you  are  scorning !'  After  all," 
he  went  on,  "who  is  it  that  scorns  it?  Idiots,  who  know  no 
better  than  to  .insult  the  thing  that  is  their  safeguard.  For  if 
you  suppress  the  police,  you  suppress  civilization.  Does  it 
ask  for  the  good  opinion  of  such  men  as  they !  It  seeks  to  im- 
press them  with  one  feeling  alone,  that  of  fear,  the  great  lever 
by  which  men  are  moved — that  foul  race  whose  horrible  in- 
stincts we  can  scarcely  control  by  the  help  of  God  and  the 
devil,  the  executioner  and  the  constable!" 

Then,  pausing  in  front  of  la  Peyrade,  and  looking  at  him 
with  a  contemptuous  smile — 

"And  you,  too,"  the  panegyrist  went  on,  "are  you  one  of 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  473 

those  simpletons  who  look  upon  the  police  as  a  mere  mob  of 
spies  and  informers,  who  have  never  suspected  that  they  are 
the  subtlest  politicians,  diplomatists  of  the  first  water,  Kiche- 
lieus  without  the  cardinal's  robes  ?  And  Mercury,  my  dear  sir, 
what  of  Mercury,  the  keenest  witted  of  all  the  gods  of  the 
heathen  ?  Was  not  he  the  very  incarnation  of  the  police  ?  He 
was,  to  be  sure,  the  god  of  thieves  as  well.  So  we  are  better 
than  he,  in  so  far  as  we  do  not  double  the  parts." 

"And  yet,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "Vautrin,  the  famous  chief  of 
the  detective  force 

"Oh,  of  course,  in  the  lowest  depths  there  is  always  some 
mud,"  replied  Corentin,  resuming  his  march.  "But  at  the 
same  time,  make  no  mistake,  Vautrin  is  a  man  of  genius; 
only  his  passions,  like  your  uncle's,  have  led  him  astray.  But 
go  a  little  higher — for  the  kernel  of  the  whole  question  lies  in 
finding  the  rung  of  the  ladder  on  which  you  have  the  wit  to 
settle.  Is  Monsieur  the  Prefect  of  Police,  an  honored  min- 
ister, respected  and  made  much  of,  a  mere  spy?  Well,  mon- 
sieur, I  am  the  Prefect  of  the  secret  police  of  diplomacy  and 
state  politics;  and  you  hesitate  to  accept  the  throne  which  I, 
Charles  V.,  in  my  old  age  think  of  abdicating  ? 

"To  appear  small  and  do  immense  work,  to  live  in  a  den, 
a  comfortable  den  like  this,  and  command  the  light;  to  have 
an  invisible  army  at  command,  always  ready,  always  devoted, 
always  obedient;  to  know  the  under  side  of  everything,  and 
never  to  be  the  dupe  of  any  wire-pulling,  because  I  hold  the 
end  of  every  wire  in  my  hand ;  to  see  through  every  wall,  know 
every  secret,  and  every  heart  and  every  conscience — this, 
monsieur,  is  the  life  you  are  afraid  of !  You,  who  were  not 
afraid  to  plunge  into  the  foul,  dark  bog  of  the  Thuilliers' 
house;  you,  a  thoroughbred,  have  allowed  yourself  to  be  har- 
nessed to  a  hackney  cab,  to  the  ignoble  tasks  of  electioneering, 
and  of  the  paper  run  by  a  rich  parvenu !" 

"A  man  must  do  what  comes  to  his  hand,"  said  la  Peyrade. 

"But  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,"  Corentin  went  on,  following 
out  his  own  line  of  thought,  "the  language  has  done  us  jus- 
tice; fairer  and  more  grateful  than  the  opinions  of  men,  it 


474  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

takes  the  idea  developed  into  the  Police  to  be  synonymous 
with  civilization  and  the  antipodes  of  a  savage  existence,  when 
it  speaks  of  a  Polity.  And  I  can  solemnly  assure  you  that  we 
care  little  enough  for  the  prejudice  that  tries  to  injure  us. 
None  better  than  we  know  what  men  are,  and  to  know  men  is 
to  scorn  their  contempt  as  well  as  their  esteem." 

"There  is,  no  doubt,  much  truth  in  the  arguments  you  so 
eagerly  put  forward,"  said  la  Peyrade. 

"Much  truth !"  cried  Corentin,  sitting  down  again.  "It  is 
the  truth,  nothing  but  the  truth,  but  not  indeed  the  whole 
truth.  However,  my  dear  sir,  enough  of  this  for  to-day.  Will 
you  second  me  in  my  plan,  and  marry  your  cousin  with  a 
fortune  which  cannot  be  less  than  five  hundred  thousand 
francs :  that  is  my  offer  ?  I  do  not  ask  you  to  answer  me  now. 
I  should  have  no  confidence  in  a  decision  that  had  not  been 
maturely  considered.  I  shall  be  at  home  here  all  to-morrow 
morning,  and  can  but  hope  that  my  conviction  may  have  con- 
vinced you." 

Then,  dismissing  his  visitor  with  a  curt,  dry  nod,  he  added : 

"I  do  not  say  good-bye,  but  only  du  revoir,  Monsieur  de  la 
Peyrade." 

Thereupon  Corentin  went  to  a  side  table  where  stood  all 
things  needful  for  preparing  a  glass  of  eau-sucree,  which  he 
had  indeed  well  earned;  and  without  once  glancing  at  the 
Provengal,  who  left  the  room  a  little  dazed,  he  seemed  to  de- 
vote himself  exclusively  to  this  prosaic  mixture. 

Was  it  really  needful  that  a  call  from  Madame  Lambert, 
on  the  very  next  day,  should  add  its  weight  to  la  Peyrade's 
decision?  The  woman  had  become  a  mere  importunate  dun. 
As  the  tempter  had  remarked  the  day  before,  there  was  in  his 
character,  in  his  mind,  in  his  aspirations,  and  in  the  follies  of 
his  past  life  a  striking  concurrence,  leading  him  to  a  sort  of 
invisible  slope  down  to  the  curious  solution  of  every  difficulty 
which  had  suddenly  opened  before  him.  Fatality,  if  the  word 
may  be  allowed,  had  been  lavish  of  entanglements  to  which 
he  was  certain  to  succumb.  It  was  now  the  31st  of  October, 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  475 

the  legal  vacation  was  drawing  to  an  end;  the  Courts  would 
reopen  on  the  2d  of  November,  and  at  the  moment  when 
Madame  Lambert  withdrew,  he  received  an  order  to  appear 
on  that  day  before  the  chief  authority  of  his  Association. 

To  Madame  Lambert,  who  urgently  pressed  for  payment 
under  the  pretence  that  she  was  leaving  Monsieur  Picot's  ser- 
vice and  about  to  return  to  her  own  part  of  the  country,  he 
could  but  say  that  if  she  would  call  again  in  two  days,  at  the 
same  hour,  the  money  would  be  ready  for  her. 

To  the  command  to  appear  before  his  peers,  he  replied  that 
he  did  not  recognize  the  right  of  the  Board  to  examine  him  as 
to  a  circumstance  of  his  private  life.  This  was  answering 
for  the  sake  of  answering,  and  would  inevitably  lead  to  the 
exclusion  of  his  name  from  the  list  of  pleaders  before  his 
Majesty's  Bench.  Still,  it  had  an  assumption  of  dignity  and 
protest  which  saved  his  self-esteem. 

He  finally  wrote  a  note  to  Thuillier,  announcing  that  his 
visit  to  du  Portail  had  resulted  in  proving  the  absolute  ne- 
cessity for  his  accepting  the  other  match  proposed  to  him. 
He  released  Thuillier  from  his  word,  and  took  back  his  own, 
and  all  with  the  'driest  brevity,  without  any  expression  of  re- 
gret for  the  alliance  he  was  repudiating.  In  a  postscript  he 
added :  "We  must  talk  over  my  position  as  regards  the  paper/' 
thus  hinting  that  it  might  be  part  of  his  plans  to  withdraw 
from  that  also. 

He  took  care  to  keep  a  copy  of  this  letter,  and  an  hour  later, 
when,  in  Corentin's  study,  he  was  asked  to  what  conclusion 
his  reflections  had  brought  him,  in  reply  he  handed  to  the 
great  chief  of  the  police  the  renunciation  of  matrimony  that 
he  had  just  sent  off. 

"That  is  well,"  said  Corentin.  "But  you  may  perhaps  find 
it  necessary  to  keep  up  your  connection  with  the  newspaper 
for  some  little  while.  That  idiot's  ambition  to  be  elected  is 
inconvenient  to  the  Government,  and  we  will  discuss  a  little 
plan  for  tripping  up  our  municipal  councillor.  You,  in  your 

position  as  omnipotent  chief  editor,  will  perhaps  have  to  play 
VOL.    14—56 


476  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

him  some  trick,  and  I  do  not  fancy  that  your  conscience  will 
rebel  too  stoutly  against  the  task  ?" 

"Certainly  not/'  said  la  Peyrade,  "the  recollection  of  the 
humiliations  to  which  he  has  so  long  exposed  me  will,  on  the 
contrary,  give  a  keen  relish  to  any  form  of  revenge  on  that 
commonplace  tribe." 

"Be  cautious,"  said  Corentin,  "you  are  young  and  must  be- 
ware of  such  jaundiced  impulses.  In  our  stern  calling  we 
neither  love  nor  hate  anybody.  Men  are  to  us  mere  pawns — 
ivory  or  wooden  according  to  their  quality.  We  are  but  the 
sword  which  cuts  what  it  is  bidden  to  cut ;  but  which  has  no 
feeling  of  good  or  ill  will,  and  only  asks  to  be  kept  finely 
sharpened.  Now,  to  speak  of  your  cousin,  to  whom,  I  suppose, 
you  are  somewhat  curious  to  be  introduced." 

La  Peyrade  had  not  to  affect  eagerness;  it  was  very 
genuine. 

"Lydie  de  la  Peyrade,"  said  Corentin,  "is  now  near  thirty ; 
but  a  maiden  life,  added  to  a  mild  form  of  insanity  which 
has  preserved  her  from  all  the  passions,  ideas,  and  impressions 
which  tell  on  life,  has  embalmed  her,  as  it  were,  in  perpetual 
youth.  You  would  not  think  her  more  than  twenty;  she  is 
fair  and  slim ;  her  face  is  very  refined,  and  remarkable  for  its 
expression  of  a*ngelic  sweetness.  Bereft  of  her  wits  by  the 
terrible  catastrophe  that  killed  her  father,  her  monomania 
has  a  very  pathetic  feature ;  she  constantly  has  in  her  arms, 
or  lying  by  her  side,  a  bundle  of  clothes  which  she  rocks  and 
tends  with  care  like  a  sick  child ;  and  excepting  only  me,  and 
Bruno,  my  man-servant,  whom  she  knows,  all  other  men 
are  to  her  doctors  whom  she  consults  and  obeys  as  if  they  were 
oracles.  '  A  sort  of  crisis  which  occurred  some  time  ago  con- 
vinced Horace  Bianchon,  the  prince  of  medical  science,  that  if 
the  reality  of  motherhood  could  but  take  the  place  of  this  long 
dream,  her  reason  w^ould  be  completely  restored.  And  would 
it  not  be  a  pleasing  task  to  bring  light  again  to  the  spirit 
where  it  is  only  under  a  cloud?  And  does  it  not  strike  you 
that  the  bond  of  relationship  that  nature  has  created  between 
you,  points  you  out  especially  as  the  means  to  effect  that  cure, 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  477 

of  which,  as  I  repeat,  neither  Bianchon  nor  the  other  eminent 
men  with  whom  he  has  held  consultation  have  the  smallest 
doubt  ? 

"Now,  I  will  take  you  to  Lydie ;  but  be  careful  to  play  your 
part  as  a  medical  man ;  for  the  only  risk  of  rousing  her  from 
her  habitual  gentleness  arises  from  not  falling  in  with  her  one 
idea — her  fancy  for  taking  advice." 

After  passing  through  several  rooms,  la  Peyrade  and  his 
leader  were  just  going  into  that  where  Lydie  usually  sat  when 
she  did  not  want  more  space  for  walking  up  and  down  to 
soothe  her  imaginary  infant,  when  they  suddenly  paused  at 
hearing  a  few  chords  struck  in  masterly  style  on  a  piano  of  the 
finest  tone. 

"What  is  that?"  asked  la  Peyrade. 

"It  is  Lydie  playing,"  replied  Corentin,  with  what  might 
be  called  paternal  pride.  "She  is  an  admirable  musician,  and 
though  she  no  longer  writes  charming  compositions,  as  she 
used  to  do  in  the  time  before  her  wits  went  astray,  she  can 
still  often  compose,  as  she  plays,  airs  which  go  to  my  soul — 
the  soul  of  Corentin,"  said  the  old  man,  smiling.  "That,  I 
fancy,  is  high  praise  of  the  performer.  But  we  will  sit  down 
and  listen;  if  we  were  to  go  in,  the  music  would  come  to  an 
abrupt  end,  and  the  consultation  would  at  once  begin." 

La  Peyrade  was  amazed  as  he  heard  an  improvised  fantasia 
in  which  a  rare  combination  of  inspiration  and  science  opened 
to  his  impressionable  soul  a  source  of  emotion  as  deep  as  it  was 
unexpected.  Corentin  was  delighted  at  the  astonishment 
expressed  by  the  Provencal,  who  gave  vent  to  it  in  repeated 
exclamations ;  and  the  old  man,  eager  to  cry  up  his  property, 
did  the  same. 

"That  is  good  playing,  heh  ?"  said  he.  "Liszt  cannot  com- 
pare with  her." 

After  a  very  lively  scherzo,  the  player  began  with  a  prelude 
adagio. 

"Aha,  she  is  going  to  sing,"  said  Corentin,  recognizing  the 
air. 

"Then  she  sings,  too  ?" 


478  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Like  Pasta  and  Malibran.     Just  listen  to  that !" 

And  in  fact,  after  a  few  introductory  bars  in  arpeggios,  a 
thrilling  voice  was  heard  which  seemed  to  stir  the  Provencal 
to  the  very  depths  of  his  being. 

"How  sensitive  you  are  to  music/'  said  Corentin ;  "you  were 
made  for  each  other." 

La  Peyrade,  with  a  gesture,  exhorted  him  to  silence,  and  as 
the  song  went  on,  his  agitation  increasing  every  moment,  at , 
last  made  him  exclaim : 

"Good  heavens !    It  is  the  same  air,  the  same  voice !" 

Corentin  was  amazed. 

"Do  you  mean  to  say,"  he  asked,  "that  you  have  already 
seen  and  heard  Lydie  ?" 

"I  do  not  know — I  cannot  think  it "  replied  la  Peyrade 

in  a  broken  voice,  "and  in  any  case  it  is  long,  very  long  ago — 
and  yet,  that  song — that  voice — I  fancy ' 

"Come  in,"  said  Corentin. 

And  hastily  opening  the  door,  he  drew  in  the  Provengal. 

Lydie,  her  back  to  the  door,  and  hindered  by  the  sound  of 
the  piano  from  hearing  the  door  opened,  did  not  observe  their 
entrance. 

"Look,"  said  Corentin ;  "have  you  any  recollection  of  her  ?" 

La  Peyrade  went  forward  a  few  steps,  and  as  soon  as  he 
could  see  the  crazy  girl's  side  face: 

"It  is  she!"  he  cried,  wildly  clasping  his  hands  over  his 
head. 

"Silence !"  cried  Corentin. 

But  at  Theodore's  exclamation,  Lydie  looked  round,  and 
addressing  herself  to  Corentin : 

"How  unkind  and  annoying  you  are,"  said  she,  "to  disturb 
me  so.  You  know  I  cannot  bear  to  be  listened  to — oh  no !" 
she  added,  catching  sight  of  la  Peyrade  in  his  black  coat; 
"for  you  have  brought  me  the  doctor.  I  was  going  to  ask  you 
to  send  for  him.  The  child  has  never  ceased  crying  all  the 
morning.  I  have  tried  to  sing  her  to  sleep,  but  it  is  of  no 
use." 

And  she  hurried  off  to  a  corner  where  she  had  contrived 


THE  MIDDLE  GLASSES  479 

a  sort  of  crib  with  two  chairs  and  some  sofa  cushions,  and 
came  back  with  what  she  called  her  child. 

While  with  one  hand  she  held  her  precious  burden,  as  she 
came  up  to  la  Peyrade,  with  the  other — her  eyes  fixed  on  the 
creation  of  her  crazy  brain — she  was  arranging  the  cap  of 
what  she  called  her  darling  baby.  But  as  she  approached 
Theodose,  he,  trembling  and  white,  with  a  fixed  gaze  that  now 
jfully  recognized  Mademoiselle  de  la  Peyrade,  retired  step  by 
step  in  evident  terror,  and  did  not  pause  till  a  chair  behind 
him  stopped  his  progress  and  made  him  lose  his  balance,  re- 
ceiving him  as  he  dropped. 

So  clever  a  man  as  Corentin,  knowing  as  he  did  every  detail 
of  the  dreadful  tragedy  in  which  Lydie  had  lost  her  reason, 
had  already  guessed  and  understood  the  truth;  but  it  was 
his  intention  to  leave  the  broad  light  of  evidence  to  fall  on 
this  terrible  darkness.  "Look,  doctor,"  said  Lydie,  unwrap- 
ping the  bundle  and  sticking  the  pins  between  her  lips  as  she 
took  them  up  one  by  one,  "does  not  she  grow  visibly  thinner  ?" 

La  Peyrade  was  incapable  of  speech ;  his  face  hidden  in  his 
handkerchief,  he  was  breathing  in  short  gasps  which  would 
not  have  allowed  of  his  uttering  a  word. 

Then,  with  the  feverish  impatience  of  her  mental  disorder : 

"Look  at  her,  look  at  her !"  said  she,  vehemently  seizing  la 
Peyrade's  arm  and  forcing  him  to  reveal  his  features — "Good 
God !"  she  cried  as  she  saw  his  face. 

And  dropping  the  bundle,  she  started  back.  Her  eyes  grew 
haggard ;  she  passed  her  pale  hands  over  her  brow  and  through 
her  hair,  tossing  it  in  disorder,  and  seemed  to  be  making  a 
frantic  effort  to  revive  some  dormant  and  stubborn  memory  in 
her  mind. 

Then,  like  a  startled  filly  that  comes  close  to  examine  an 
object  that  has  terrified  it,  she  slowly  came  close  to  the  Pro- 
vengal,  and  bending  over  him  to  see  his  face  more  clearly, 
while  he  held  it  down  and  tried  to  hide  it  from  her,  in  the 
midst  of  perfect  silence  she  studied  his  features  for  some 
seconds.  Suddenly  she  uttered  a  fearful  shriek,  she  flew  for 
refuge  to  Corenthrs  arms,  and  clinging  to  him  with  frenzy 
she  cried  aloud : 


480  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Save  me,  save  me !  It  is  he — the  wretch — the  villain !  It 
was  he  who  did  it  all." 

And  with  extended  finger  she  seemed  to  nail  the  wretched 
object  of  her  aversion  to  the  spot. 

After  this  outburst  she  stammered  a  few  incoherent  words, 
her  eyes  closed.  Corentin  felt  the  muscles  relax,  which  a  mo- 
ment before  had  gripped  him  like  a  vise,  and  Lydie  sank  into 
his  arms  unconscious,  while  la  Peyrade,  completely  unnerved, 
never  even  thought  of  giving  his  assistance  in  supporting  her 
and  laying  her  on  the  sofa. 

"Do  not  stay  here,  monsieur,"  said  Corentin.  "Go  to  my 
study  and  I  will  presently  join  you  there." 

A  few  minutes  later,  having  left  Lydie  to  the  care  of  Katt 
and  Bruno,  and  despatched  Perrache  post-haste  for  Doctor 
Bianchon,  Corentin  came  to  la  Peyrade. 

"You  see,  monsieur,"  said  he,  very  gravely,  "that  while  fol- 
lowing up  the  scheme  of  the  marriage  with  a  sort  of  frenzy, 
I  was  fulfilling  the  will  of  God." 

"Monsieur,"  said  la  Peyrade  in  a  contrite  tone,  "I  ought, 
indeed,  to  confess  to  you " 

"It  is  unnecessary,"  interrupted  Corentin.  "There  is  noth- 
ing that  you  can  tell  me;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  I  who  have 
much  to  tell  you.  Old  Peyrade,  your  uncle,  in  the  hope  of 
making  a  fortune  for  his  daughter,  whom  he  idolized,  had 
meddled  in  a  private  case — a  thing  which  you  will  never  do 
if  you  take  my  advice,  a  difficult  thing  to  manage.  In  the 
course  of  his  proceedings  in  this  business,  he  met  the  man, 
Vautrin,  of  whom  you  were  speaking  yesterday,  and  who  had 
not  then  joined  our  ranks  as  he  has  done  since.  Your  uncle, 
clever  as  he  was,  was  no  match  in  the  field  against  that  man, 
who,  indeed,  rejected  no  means  in  the  sphere  of  his  action; 
neither  murder,  nor  poison,  nor  rape.  To  cripple  your  uncle's 
powers,  Lydie  was  not  indeed  carried  off,  but  tempted  away 
from  her  father's  house,  and  taken  to  what  seemed  to  be  a 
decent  place,  where  for  ten  days  she  was  kept  shut  up;  still 
she  was  in  no  great  alarm  as  to  her  detention  and  her  father's 
non-appearance ;  she  had  been  persuaded  to  believe  that  every* 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  481 

thing  was  done  by  his  orders,  and,  as  you  remember,  monsieur, 
she  could  sing." 

"Oh !"  groaned  la  Peyrade,  covering  his  face  with  his  hands. 

"Held  as  a  hostage,"  Corentin  went  on,  "the  unhappy  girl, 
in  the  event  of  her  father's  failing  to  do  what  was  required  of 
him  within  ten  days,  was  to  meet  a  terrible  fate.  A  narcotic 
and  a  man  were  to  play  the  part  of  the  executioner  with  the 
daughter  of  Sejanus." 

"Monsieur,  have  pity,  have  pity "  cried  Theodose. 

"I  told  you  yesterday,"  said  Corentin,  "that  you  had  on 
your  conscience  perhaps  other  things  still  worse  than  the 
Thuilliers'  house !  But  you  were  then  so  young  and  without 
experience;  you  had  brought  from  your  native  province  the 
vehement  brutality  and  fever  of  the  south,  which,  on  occasion, 
plunges  blindly  onward.  Also,  your  relationship  to  the  victim 
had  become  known,  and  to  the  artists  in  crime  who  were  plot- 
ing  the  ruin  of  this  new  Clarissa  Harlowe,  there  was  a  refine- 
ment of  barbarity  so  fascinating  in  using  you  as  their  instru- 
ment that  a  more  experienced  man  than  you  could  not  have 
hoped  to  escape  the  intrigues  of  which  you  were  the  object. 
Happily,  in  all  this  appalling  business,  Providence  hindered 
any  irreparable  mischief.  The  same  drug,  according  to  its 
application,  may  deal  death  or  restore  health." 

"But  shall  I  not  be  to  her  an  object  of  horror?  Will  the 
reparation  you  suggest  to  me  be  in  any  way  possible  ?" 

"The  doctor,  sir,"  said  Katt,  opening  the  door. 

"How  is  Mademoiselle  Lydie  ?"  asked  la  Peyrade  anxiously. 

"Quite  calm,"  replied  Katt.  "And  just  now,  when  to  per- 
suade her  to  go  to  bed,  which  she  did  not  want  to  do,  saying 
that  she  was  quite  well,  I  brought  her  the  bundle  of  clothes. 
'What  do  you  think  I  can  do  with  that,  my  poor  Katt?'  said 
she,  looking  quite  puzzled.  'If  you  want  me  to  play  with  a 
doll/  said  she,  'get  me  one  that  is  a  little  better  made  than 
that.' " 

"You  see,"  said  Corentin,  grasping  the  Provencal's  hand; 
"you  will  have  been  Achilles'  spear." 

And  he  left  the  room  with  Katt  to  speak  with  Bianchon. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

Theodose,  left  to  himself,  had  been  sitting  for  some  time 
lost  in  such  reflections  as  may  be  imagined,  when  the  study 
door  was  thrown  open  and  Bruno,  the  man-servant,  ad- 
mitted Cerizet. 

On  seeing  la  Peyrade : 

"Aha !"  cried  he,  "I  knew  that  sooner  or  later  it  would 
come  to  this,  and  you  would  call  on  du  Portail.  Well,  and 
how  is  the  marriage  getting  on  ?" 

"It  is  of  yours  that  we  are  expecting  news,"  replied  the 
Provencal. 

"So  you  have  heard  of  it?"  said  Cerizet.  "Well,  yes,  my 
dear  boy.  All  things  must  have  an  end  after  a  long  voyage 
on  the  stormy  seas.  You  know  who  the  bride  is?" 

"Yes,  a  young  actress,  Mademoiselle  Olympe  Cardinal,  a 
protegee  of  the  Minards,  who  are  to  give  her  thirty  thousand 
francs  on  her  marriage." 

"And  that  added  to  thirty  thousand  promised  me  by  du 
Portail  when  your  marriage  comes  off,  and  to  the  twenty-five 
thousand  which  I  got  out  of  your  other  marriage  which  did 
not  come  off,  makes  a  snug  little  round  sum  of  eighty-five  thou- 
sand francs.  With  that,  and  a  pretty  wife,  a  man  must  be 
misguided  indeecl  if  he  cannot  try  a  little  speculation  now 
and  again.  But  first  and  foremost  I  have  a  little  matter  to 
settle  with  you.  Du  Portail,  who  is  too  busy  to  see  me,  sent 
me  to  you  on  purpose  thab  we  should  hit  on  some  way  of  in- 
terfering with  Thuillier's  return  to  Parliament.  Have  you 
any  scheme  to  that  end  ?" 

"No,  and  I  may  frankly  confess  that  in  the  frame  of  mind 
resulting  from  the  conversation  I  have  just  had  with  Monsieur 
du  Portail,  I  do  not  feel  equal  to  any  great  effort  of  inven- 
tion." 

"Matters  stand  thus,"  Cerizet  went  on.  "The  Government 
has  another  candidate  in  view  who  has  not  yet  made  much 
show,  because  there  have  been  difficulties  in  the  way  of  minis- 
terial arrangements  with  him.  Meanwhile  Thuillier's  canvass 
has  made  some  progress;  Minard,  who  had  been  relied  on  to 
make  some  diversion,  has  stupidly  remained  in  his  corner; 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  483 

the  seizure  of  your  pamphlet  gave  your  dull  nominee  a  certain 
aroma  of  popularity.  In  short,  the  Ministry  are  very  much 
afraid  lest  he  should  succeed,  and  nothing  could  disgust  them 
more  than  his  election.  Pompous  idiots  like  Thuillier  are  a 
dreadful  nuisance  in  the  opposition;  like  jugs  without  han- 
dles, you  never  know  where  to  hold  them." 

"Monsieur  Cerizet,"  said  la  Peyrade,  assuming  a  patron- 
izing tone,  and  curious,  too,  to  know  how  far  his  man  was  ad- 
mitted to  Corentin's  confidence,  "you  seem  to  me  singularly 
well  informed  as  to  the  private  feelings  of  the  Government; 
pray,  have  you  found  your  way  to  a  certain  office  in  the  Rue  de 
Grenelle?" 

"No.  All  I  have  told  you — for  it  would  seem  that  we  no 
Longer  say  tu  to  each  other — I  heard  from  du  Portail,"  said 
Cerizet,  using  the  more  formal  vous. 

"Indeed,"  answered  la  Peyrade,  lowering  his  voice,  "and 
who  and  what  exactly  is  du  Portail,  since  you  have  been  on 
intimate  terms  with  him  for  some  time?"  (and  at  Cerizet's 
hint,  he  resumed  the  tu).  "So  clever  a  fellow  as  you  must 
have  got  to  the  bottom  of  a  man  who,  between  you  and  me, 
seems  to  have  something  very  mysterious  about  him." 

"My  dear  friend,"  replied  Cerizet,  "du  Portail  is  a  de- 
cidedly superior  man.  He  is  a  sharp  old  customer,  who  has, 
I  fancy,  been  employed  in  the  management  of  the  crown 
lands;  or,  he  may  have  been  governor  of  some  of  the  depart- 
ments that  were  absorbed  at  the  fall  of  the  empire — the  De- 
partment of  the  Dyle  or  the  Doire,  for  instance,  or  Sambre-et~ 
Meuse,  or  the  Deux-Nethes." 

"Aye,"  said  la  Peyrade. 

"Then,  I  imagine,"  continued  Cerizet,  "he  must  have  feath- 
ered his  nest,  and  having  a  natural  daughter,  he  very  ingeni- 
ously made  for  himself  a  little  philanthropical  stepping-stone, 
I  by  giving  out  that  she  is  the  child  of  a  friend  of  his  named 
Peyrade,  and  that  he  had  adopted  her.  And  then,  to  bear  out 
the  probability  of  the  tale,  your  name  of  la  Peyrade  suggested 
the  idea  of  your  marriage — since,  after  all,  she  must  marry 
somebody." 


484  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Well  and  good ;  but  how  do  you  account  for  his  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  wishes  of  the  Government,  and  his  interest 
in  the  election  ?" 

"Nothing  can  be  more  natural/'  replied  Cerizet.  "Du  Por- 
tail  is  a  man  who  loves  money  and  who  loves  meddling;  he 
has  done  some  little  service,  as  an  amateur,  to  Eastignac,  the 
great  electoral  wire-puller;  they  are,  I  think,  from  the  same 
part  of  the  country.  The  other,  in  return,  gives  him  informa- 
tion that  enables  him  to  gamble  in  stocks." 

"Was  it  he  who  told  you  all  this  ?"  asked  la  Peyrade. 

"What  do  you  take  me  for?"  replied  Cerizet.  "I  play  the 
simpleton  to  the  good  old  man,  from  whom,  as  you  see,  I  have 
extracted  a  promise  of  thirty  thousand  francs.  I  growl,  but 
I  make  Bruno  talk,  the  old  man-servant.  You  can  get  into 
the  family,  my  dear  fellow;  du  Portail  is  enormously  rich; 
he  will  get  you  made  Sous-Prefet;  and  from  that  to  be  a 
Prefet,  with  such  a  fortune  as  you  will  have,  is  but  a  step,  as 
you  understand." 

"I  am  much  obliged  for  your  information,"  said  la  Peyrade ; 
"at  any  rate  I  shall  know  which  foot  I  stand  on.  But  how  did 
you  first  know  him  ?" 

"Oh,  that  is  a  very  long  story.  By  my  intervention  he  re- 
covered a  large  quantity  of  diamonds  that  had  been  stolen 
from  him." 

At  this  moment  Corentin  returned. 

"All  is  going  on  well,"  said  he  to  la  Peyrade.  "Her  reason 
seems  to  be  gradually  returning.  Bianchon,  to  whom  I  was 
obliged  to  explain  everything,  wishes  to  talk  to  you.  So,  my 
dear  Monsieur  Cerizet,  we  must  put  off  our  little  consideration 
of  Thuillier's  affairs  till  this  evening." 

"Well,  here  he  is  at  last,"  said  Cerizet,  slapping  la  Peyrade 
on  the  shoulder. 

"Yes,"  said  Corentin,  "and  you  know  what  I  promised  you? 
You  may  rely  on  getting  it." 

Cerizet  went  off  in  high  spirits. 

On  the  day  following  this,  when  Corentin,  la  Peyrade,  and 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  485 

Cerizet  were  to  have  held  council,  with  a  vie#  to  establishing 
a  state  of  siege  about  Thuillier's  nomination — the  candidate 
himself  was  discussing  with  his  sister  the  letter  in  which 
Theodose  announced  his  resignation  of  all  claims  to  Celeste's 
hand,  being  more  especially  exercised  by  the  postscript,  which 
hinted  that  the  Provengal  might  also  retire  from  the  post  of 
editor-in-chief  of  the  newspaper.  At  that  moment  Henri 
came  in  to  inquire  whether  he  could  see  Monsieur  Cerizet. 

Thuillier's  first  impulse  was  to  get  rid  of  this  unexpected 
visitor.  However,  on  thinking  the  matter  over,  it  occurred  to 
him  that  in  the  dilemma  in  which  la  Peyrade  might  leave  him 
at  any  minute,  C6rizet  might  prove  a  valuable  assistant. 
Consequently  he  said  that  he  was  to  be  shown  in. 

At  the  same  time,  his  welcome  was  very  cool,  with  a  hint  of 
expectancy.  Cerizet,  on  his  part,  came  in  unabashed,  as  a 
man  who  has  calculated  the  consequences  of  the  step  he  has 
taken. 

"Well,  my  dear  sir,"  said  he  to  Thuillier,  "are  you  beginning 
to  see  daylight  with  regard  to  Monsieur  de  la  Peyrade  ?" 

"What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?"  asked  the  old  beau. 

"Well,"  said  Cerizet,  "the  man  who,  after  trying  a  thousand 
intrigues  to  marry  your  goddaughter,  suddenly  breaks  off  the 
engagement,  as  he  will  one  day  break  through  the  contract  he 
made  you  sign,  giving  him  the  lion's  share  in  the  editorship 
of  the  newspaper,  can  hardly,  as  it  seems  to  me,  be  the  object 
of  such  blind  confidence  on  your  part  as  he  has  been  hitherto." 

"Then  you  have  some  definite  information  as  to  la  Pey- 
rade's  intending  to  cease  working  with  me  on  the  newspaper  ?" 
asked  Thuillier  eagerly. 

"No,"  replied  the  usurer.  "On  the  terms  that  now  exist 
between  us,  as  you  may  suppose,  I  have  not  seen  him,  and  still 
less  am  I  in  his  confidence.  But,  to  draw  an  inference,  I  have 
only  to  start  from  the  man's  well-known  character;  and  you 
may  regard  it  as  certain  that  from  the  moment  when  he  be- 
lieves it  to  be  to  his  advantage  to  part  company,  he  will 
simply  cast  you  off  as  he  would  an  old  coat.  I  have  gone 
through  it  all  and  speak  from  experience." 


486  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Then  you  had  dealings  with  him  before  this  business 
of  the  newspaper?"  said  Thuillier. 

"I  should  think  so,,  indeed!"  answered  Cerizet.  "That 
business  over  the  house  that  he  got  you  mixed  up  in  was 
started  by  me  in  the  first  instance.  He  was  to  put  me  in 
communication  with  you,  and  get  me  the  first  lease  of 
the  house  for  subletting;  but  the  unlucky  story  of  the  raised 
bid  leaked  out,  and  he  took  advantage  of  it  to  swindle  me 
and  keep  all  the  profits  in  his  own  hands." 

"The  profits !"  remarked  Thuillier.  "I  do  not  see  that  they 
amounted  to  much,  and  with  the  exception  of  the  marriage, 
which  he  now  refuses " 

"What !"  cried  the  usurer.  "Ten  thousand  francs  that  he 
got  out  of  you  to  begin  with  on  the  excuse  of  that  Cross  which 
you  are  still  awaiting  for,  and  then  twenty-five  thousand  due 
to  Madame  Lambert,  for  which  you  stood  security,  and  that 
you  are  likely  enough  to  pay  like  a  gentleman." 

"What  do  I  hear?"  cried  Brigitte,  in  a  fury.  "You  have 
stood  security  for  twenty-five  thousand  francs  ?" 

"Yes,  mademoiselle,"  said  Cerizet.  "There  was  a  mys- 
tery behind  that  transaction, — -the  woman  had  no  more  lent 
the  money  that  I  had, — and  even  if  I  did  not  lay  my  finger 
on  the  true  explanation,  there  was  certainly  some  very  dirty 
work  at  the  bottom  of  it.  But  la  Peyrade  had  the  knack  of 
whitewashing  himself  in  your  brother's  eyes,  and  of  making 
it  appear  that  he  was  both  maligned  and  indispensable ' 

"But  if  you  have  not  seen  Monsieur  de  la  Peyrade  since, 
how  do  you  know  that  I  stood  security  for  him  ?"  interrupted 
Thuillier. 

"From  the  woman  herself,  monsieur,  who  tells  everybody 
that  she  is  sure  now  of  being  paid." 

"Well,"  said  Brigitte  to  her  brother,  "you  do  business  in 
style !" 

"Mademoiselle,"  Cerizet  went  on,  "I  wanted  to  give  mon- 
sieur a  little  fright,  but  in  reality  I  do  not  think  you  will 
lose  anything.  Without  knowing  exactly  whom  la  Peyrade  is 
to  marry,  it  seems  to  me  hardly  possible  that  the  lady's  family 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  487 

can  leave  him  under  the  onerous  burden  of  two  such  dis- 
creditable debts;  indeed,  if  necessary,  I  myself  would  inter- 
fere." 

"While  thanking  you,  monsieur,  for  your  officious  inter- 
vention," said  Thuillier,  "allow  me  to  say  that  it  surprises  me 
a  little.  The  manner  of  our  parting  was  not  such  as  to  justify 
me  in  expecting  it." 

"Indeed,"  said  Cerizet,  "did  you  really  fancy  I  could  owe 
you  a  grudge  for  that?  I  was  sorry  for  you,  that  was  all. 
I  saw  that  you  were  under  the  spell,  and  I  said  to  myself  that 
you  must  be  left  to  find  out  la  Peyrade;  but  I  knew  that 
the  day  of  justice  would  ere  long  dawn  for  me.  With  that 
young  gentleman,  a  turn  for  the  worse  is  never  very  long 
delayed." 

"Excuse  me,"  said  Thuillier,  "but  I  do  not  regard  as  a 
'turn  for  the  worse'  the  breaking  off  of  the  marriage  we 
had  intended;  the  rupture  was  in  some  degree  by  common 
consent." 

"And  the  predicament  in  which  he  intends  to  leave  you 
by  throwing  up  his  post  as  editor-in-chief?"  said  Cerizet; 
"and  the  debt  for  which  he  is  making  you  responsible?  Do 
you  regard  these  too  as  amenities  ?" 

"Monsieur  Cerizet,"  said  Thuillier,  still  cautiously  reserved, 
"as  I  once  told  la  Peyrade :  No  man  is  indispensable,  and  if 
the  place  of  editor-in-chief  to  my  newspaper  should  fall 
vacant,  I  am  quite  sure  I  should  find  many  men  eager  to  offer 
me  their  services." 

"Is  that  speech  aimed  at  me?"  asked  Cerizet.  "It  would 
be  a  very  bad  shot ;  for  even  if  you  should  do  me  the  honor 
to  bid  for  my  assistance,  I  could  not  possibly  give  it  you. 
I  was  long  since  sickened  of  journalism.  I  had  allowed  my- 
self, I  do  not  know  how,  to  be  ensnared  by  la  Peyrade  into 
one  more  campaign  with  you ;  but  this  last  experiment  being 
unsuccessful,  I  am  fully  determined  never  to  be  caught  again. 
I  came  to  talk  to  you  of  quite  another  matter." 

"Ah !"  said  Thuillier. 

"Yes,"  replied  Cerizet.     "Remembering  the  handsome  way 


488  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

in  which  you  treated  the  business  of  this  house,  in  which  you 
do  me  the  honor  to  receive  me,  it  occurred  to  me  that  I  could 
not  do  better  than  turn  to  you  for  an  affair  of  something 
of  the  same  kind  which  happens  just  to  have  come  in 
my  way.  But  I  shall  not  do  like  la  Peyrade.  I  shall  not 
say  that  I  want  to  marry  your  goddaughter,  and  that  T  am 
doing  it  all  out  of  love  and  devotion  to  you.  If  the  thing 
fcomes  off,  I  want  a  share  in  it.  Then,  I  fancy  that  you,  made- 
moiselle, must  find  the  business  of  subletting  this  large  house 
a  rather  serious  undertaking ;  for  I  observed  just  now  that  all 
your  shops  are  still  unlet.  Well,  if  you  would  reconsider  the 
question  of  the  lease  which  la  Peyrade  choked  off,  that  might 
be  a  consideration  in  the  division  of  profits.  This,  mon- 
sieur, was  the  purpose  of  my  visit,  and  you  see  that  it  is 
quite  apart  from  the  newspaper,  which  has  nothing  to  do 
with  it." 

"But  we  must  know  first  what  the  business  it,"  said  Bri- 
gitte. 

"It  is  the  exact  opposite,"  said  Cerizet,  "to  the  transaction 
you  entered  into  with  la  Peyrade.  You  got  this  house  for  a 
mere  song,  but  you  were  troubled  by  a  higher  bidder.  Now, 
in  this  case,  there  is  a  farm  in  la  Beauce  which  has  just  been 
sold  dirt  cheap,  and  for  a  small  additional  sum  you  can  get  it 
for  an  amazingly  low  price."  And  Cerizet  proceeded  to  set 
forth  the  details  of  the  business,  which  the  reader  will  excuse 
us  from  repeating,  seeing  that  they  are,  in  all  probability, 
likely  to  interest  him  less  than  they  interested  Mademoiselle 
Brigitte.  His  explanation  was  clear  and  emphatic;  it  quite 
captivated  the  old  maid ;  and  Thuillier,  in  spite  of  his  preju- 
dice and  distrust,  was  obliged  to  confess  that  the  trans- 
action proposed  to  him  promised  to  turn  out  a  capital  specu- 
lation. 

"Still,  we  must  see  the  place,"  said  Brigitte. 

It  may  be  remembered  that  when  in  treaty  for  the  house, 
she  would  not  pledge  herself  to  la  Peyrade  by  a  single  word 
before  inspecting  the  premises. 

"Nothing  can  be  easier,"  said  Cerizet.     "I  myself,  in  case 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  489 

we  should  not  come  to  terms,  want  to  know  what  I  am  doing, 
and  I  had  intended  to  make  a  little  excursion  there  one  day 
soon.  I  will  be  at  your  door  this  afternoon,  if  you  like,  in  a 
post-chaise;  by  to-morrow  morning,  early,  we  shall  be  at  the 
place ;  we  will  look  about  us,  breakfast,  and  can  be  home  again 
to-morrow  by  dinner-time." 

"But  traveling  post  is  very  lordly,"  said  Brigitte.  "The 
diligence,  I  should  think " 

"Traveling  by  diligence,  you  never  know  when  you  may 
get  to  your  journey's  end,"  said  Cerizet.  "And  as  to  the  ex- 
pense, you  need  not  worry  over  that.  I  should  make  the  ex- 
cursion alone,  if  not  in  your  company,  so  I  offer  you  two  seats 
in  my  chaise.  Well,  and  then,  if  the  bargain  is  concluded, 
we  will  share  all  the  expense." 

To  a  miserly  mind  small  advantages  are  often  a  determining 
factor  in  important  transactions;  after  making  some  little 
difficulties  for  form's  sake,  Brigitte  accepted  the  proposed 
arrangement,  and  that  same  day  the  trio  set  out  on  the  road 
to  Chartres.  Cerizet  had  advised  Thuillier  not  to  give  la 
Peyrade  notice  of  his  intended  journey,  lest  the  Provengal 
should  take  it  into  his  head  to  turn  his  absence  to  account  to 
play  him  some  scurvy  trick. 

By  five  o'clock  next  day  they  were  back  in  Paris ;  the  uncle 
and  aunt,  who  in  Cerizet's  presence  had  not  been  free  to  dis- 
cuss the  business  between  themselves,  were  of  opinion  that 
the  purchase  would  be  a  good  one.  They  had  found  land 
of  prime  quality,  buildings  and  outhouses  in  good  order, 
beasts  and  stock  that  looked  sound  and  promising;  and  to 
Brigitte  the  ownership  of  a  country  estate  was  the  crowning 
consecration  of  wealth. 

"Minard,"  said  she,  "has  nothing  but  his  town  house  and 
some  investments.  We  shall  have  land,  real  estate:  that  is 
the  only  way  to  be  truly  rich." 

Thuillier  was  not  so  much  bewitched  by  his  day-dream 
— of  which  the  realization  was  not  yet  in  immediate  pros- 


490  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

pect — as  to  lose  sight  of  his  election  and  his  newspaper. 
His  first  inquiry  was  for  the  ificho  which  had  come  out  that 
morning. 

"It  has  not  been  delivered,"  replied  the  servant. 

"That  is  good  management !"  said  Thuillier  irritably. 
"The  owner  even  is  not  duly  served." 

And  though  it  was  near  the  dinner  hour,  and  after  the 
long  drive  he  was  more  in  the  mood  to  take  a  bath  than  to 
go  to  the  office,  Thuillier  called  a  hackney  cab  and  went  off  to 
the  Eue  d'Enfer. 

Here  was  a  fresh  annoyance.  The  next  issue  was  made 
up.  La  Peyrade  and  all  the  clerks  were  gone;  and  as  for 
Coffinet,  who,  released  from  his  functions  as  messenger,  ought 
to  have  been  at  his  post  as  concierge,  he  had  gone  "of  an 
errand,"  according  to  his  wife,  and  had  taken  the  key  of  the 
cupboard  in  which  the  surplus  copies  of  the  paper  were  kept. 
So  it  was  impossible  to  get  at  the  ill-starred  print  which  Thuil- 
lier had  come  so  far  to  procure. 

To  depict  Thuillier's  indignation  is  impossible.  He 
marched  up  and  down  the  editor's  office,  talking  aloud  to 
himself,  as  a  man  does  under  passionate  excitement. 

"I  will  turn  out  every  man  of  them !"  cried  he,  and  we  are 
obliged  to  mitigate  the  vigor  of  his  furious  expressions. 

As  he  fulminated  his  anathema,  there  was  a  tap  at  the 
door  of  the  room  where  he  uttered  it. 

"Come  in,"  said  Thuillier,  in  a  voice  expressive  of  his  irrita- 
tion and  rage. 

In  came  Minard,  who  threw  himself  into  Thuillier's  arms. 

"My  dear,  my  admirable  friend,"  the  Mayor  began,  his  em- 
brace ending  in  a  vehement  hand-shaking. 

"What?  Why?  What  has  happened?"  asked  Thuillier, 
understanding  nothing  of  these  ardent  demonstrations. 

"My  dear  fellow,  it  is  the  handsomest  thing.  It  is  im- 
possible to  be  more  chivalrous  and  disinterested.  The  effect 
in  the  arrondissement  is  magnificent." 

"Of  what?  again  I  ask  you,"  cried  Thuillier,  out  of  all 
patience. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  491 

"The  article,  the  step  you  have  taken,"  Minard  went  on; 
"the  whole  thing  is  so  noble,  so  dignified." 

"But  what  article — what  step?"  said  the  proprietor  of  the 
tfcho,  beside  himself  with  irritation. 

"The  article  in  this  morning's  issue." 

"This  morning's  ?" 

"Come  now,  do  you  mean  to  say  that  you  wrote  it  in  your 
sleep ;  or  are  you  heroical,  as  Monsieur  Jourdain  talked  prose, 
without  knowing  it  ?" 

"I?"  said  Thuillier;  "I  have  written  no  article.  I  have 
been  out  of  Paris  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  I  do  not  even 
know  what  there  is  in  to-day's  number;  nor  is  there  even  an 
office  boy  in  the  place  to  find  me  a  copy." 

"I  have  one,"  said  Minard,  producing  the  longed-for  sheet 
out  of  his  pocket;  "and  if  you  did  not  write  the  article,  at 
any  rate  you  inspired  it,  and  the  deed  is  done." 

Thuillier  had  snatched  the  paper  that  Minard  held  out 
to  him,  and  devoured  rather  than  read  the  following  para- 
graph : — 

"'For  some  time  now  the  owner  of  this  regenerate  news- 
paper has  endured  uncomplainingly,  and  without  reply,  such 
cowardly  insinuations  as  are  poured  by  the  venial  press  upon 
every  citizen  who,  strong  in  his  convictions,  refuses  to  pass 
under  the  Caudine  Forks  of  the  existing  powers.  For  some 
time  now,  a  man  who  has  given  ample  proofs  of  disinterest- 
edness and  self-sacrifice  in  the  important  functions  of  a  Paris 
edile,  has  endured  the  imputations  of  being  no  more  than 
an  ambitious  intriguer.  M.  Jerome  Thuillier,  from  his  digni- 
fied preeminence,  has  scorned  to  notice  these  vulgar  insults, 
till,  encouraged  by  his  contemptuous  silence,  suborned  writers 
have  dared  to  say  that  a  newspaper,  which  is  the  outcome  of 
the  purest  convictions  and  most  devoted  patriotism,  was  the 
mere  stepping-stone  and  speculation  of  a  man  who  wanted  to 
be  elected  as  a  Deputy  to  the  Chamber. 

"  'M.  Jerome  Thuillier  has  stood  unmoved  by  these  accusa- 
tions, because  truth  and  justice  are  long-suffering,  and  he 
VOL.  14—57 


492  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

meant  to  crush  the  reptile  with  one  blow.     The  day  of  judg- 
ment is  come.' 

"The  devil  is  in  that  la  Peyrade!"  exclaimed  Thuillier, 
pausing  in  admiration.     "How  he  hits  it  off !" 
"It  is  magnificent !"  cried  Minard. 
Thuillier  went  on  reading  aloud. 

"'Everybody,  friends  and  foes  alike,  will  do  M.  Jerome 
Thuillier  the  justice  to  admit  that  he  has  done  nothing  to 
court  the  nomination  which  was  spontaneously  offered  to 
him/ 

"Quite  true/'  said  Thuillier.     Then  he  again  read  on : 

"  *But,  seeing  that  his  feelings  have  been  so  shamelessly 
misrepresented,  his  intentions  so  disgracefully  travestied,  M. 
Jerome  Thuillier  owes  it  to  himself,  and  yet  more  to  the 
great  national  party  for  which  he  is  one  of  the  humble  com- 
batants, to  set  an  example  which  shall  annihilate  the  base 
sycophants  of  power/ 

"La  Peyrade  really  does  me  great  credit,"  said  Thuillier, 
stopping  once  more,  "and  I  understand  now  Avhy  he  would 
not  let  them  send  me  the  paper.  He  wanted  to  enjoy  my 
surprise.  'Annihilate  the  base  sycophants  of  power/ "  he 
repeated,  and  went  on : 

"  'Far  from  founding  a  paper  in  opposition  to  the  Dynasty, 
merely  to  advertise  and  support  his  nomination,  M.  Thuil- 
lier, at  the  moment  when  his  return  seems  favored  by  the 
most  encouraging  prospects,  and  the  most  disheartening  for 
his  rivals,  here  publicly  declares,  in  the  most  formal,  definite, 
and  irrevocable  terms,  that  he  withdraws  from  the  con- 
test  " 

"What — what  is  that?"  cried  Thuillier,  thinking  he  had 
misread  or  misunderstood  the  words. 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  493 

"Go  on/'  said  the  Mayor. 

And  as  Thuillier,  with  a  bewildered  look,  seemed  unable 
to  go  on,  Minard  took  the  paper  out  of  his  hands,  and  read 
instead  and  for  him : 

"  'Withdraws  from  the  contest  and  requests  his  supporters 
to  transfer  to  M.  Minard,  Mayor  of  the  eleventh  arrondisse- 
ment,  his  friend  and  colleague  in  the  Municipal  Council, 
all  the  votes  which  they  seemed  ready  to  register  in  his  be- 
half.' '; 

"It  is  infamous !"  cried  Thuillier,  recovering  his  speech. 
•''You  have  bribed  that  Jesuit  la  Peyrade " 

"Do  you  mean  to  say,"  asked  Minard,  amazed  at  Thuillier's 
dismay,  "that  you  had  not  agreed  with  him  as  to  the  contents 
of  this  article  ?" 

"The  villain  has  taken  advantage  of  my  absence  to  insert 
it  in  the  paper.  I  understand  now  why  he  kept  back  my 
copy." 

"But,  my  dear  fellow,  that  will  seem  a  very  unlikely  story 
to  the  outside  world." 

"But  I  tell  you  it  is  a  betrayal,  an  abominable  trick. 
Withdraw  from  the  contest !  Why  should  I  withdraw  ?" 

"Indeed,  my  dear  sir,"  said  Minard,  "if  this  is  an  abuse 
of  confidence,  I  am  deeply  grieved;  but  I  have  issued  my 
circulars,  and  now  I  cannot  help  it.  Luck  attend  the  lucky 
one  is  all  I  can  say." 

"Leave  me,"  said  Thuillier.  "It  is  a  hoax  paid  for  by 
you." 

"Monsieur  Thuillier,"  cried  Minard,  in  a  fury,  "I  advise 
you  not  to  repeat  that  remark  unless  you  are  prepared  In 
answer  for  it." 

Happily  for  Thuillier,  whose  profession  of  civic  counigc 
we  have  already  heard,  he  was  saved  from  a  reply  by  Cof- 
finet,  who  opened  the  office  door  to  announce : 

"A  deputation  of  the  voters  of  the  -twelfth  arrondisse- 
ment." 


494  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

The  arrondissement  was  represented  by  five  gentlemen.  A 
druggist,  as  their  chief,  addressed  Thuillier  as  follows: — 

"We  have  come,  monsieur,  in  consequence  of  the  publica- 
tion of  an  article  inserted  in  this  morning's  issue  of  the  tieho 
de  la  Bievre,  to  ask  you  exactly  what  the  reason  and  mean- 
ing are  of  that  declaration,  thinking  it  incredible  that,  after 
canvassing  for  our  suffrage,  you  should  come  just  before  the 
election,  in  a  fit  of  quixotic  puritanism,  to  throw  our  ranks 
into  disorder  and  disunion,  and  probably  secure  the  return 
of  the  ministerial  candidate.  A  nominee  is  not  his  own  mas- 
ter; he  belongs  to  the  electors  who  have  promised  him  the 
honor  of  their  vote.  However,"  added  the  orator,  looking  at 
Minard,  "the  presence  on  these  premises  of  the  candidate  you 
have  chosen  to  recommend  shows  his  connivance;  I  need  not 
ask  who  are  the  dupes  in  this  affair." 

"No,  gentlemen,"  replied  Thuillier,  "I  have  not  retired 
from  being  your  candidate.  That  article  was  written  and 
printed  without  my  knowledge.  You  will  read  my  contra- 
diction to-morrow  in  that  same  paper,  and  at  the  same 
time  you  will  learn  that  the  wretch  who  has  betrayed  my  con- 
fidence is  dismissed  from  the  editorship." 

"So,  in  fact,"  said  the  speaker,  "and  notwithstanding  your 
announcement  to  the  contrary,  you  intend  still  to  stand  as 
a  candidate  for  the  opposition  ?" 

"Yes,  gentlemen,  or  die  first !  And  I  can  only  beg  that 
you  will  use  all  your  influence  in  the  quarter  to  neutralize 
officially  this  base  trickery,  pending  the  publication  of  my 
most  emphatic  denial." 

"Good  !  very  good  !"  said  the  deputation. 

"And  as  to  Monsieur  Minard's  presence,  as  my  rival,  on 
these  premises,  he  is  not  here  by  my  invitation;  indeed,  at 
the  moment  of  your  arrival  I  was  discussing  the  matter  with 
him  in  a  far  from  friendly  way." 

"Very  good,  very  good  !"  said  the  electors  once  more. 

So  after  shaking  hands  warmly  with  the  druggist,  Thuil- 
lier escorted  the  deputation  to  the  head  of  the  stairs. 

On  his  return  to  the  editor's  room  he  spoke : 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  495 

"My  dear  Minard,"  said  he,  "I  retract  the  words  that  gave 
you  offence ;  but  at  any  rate  you  see  that  my  indignation  was 
genuine." 

Coffinet  again  opened  the  door  and  announced : 

"A  deputation  of  the  electors  of  the  eleventh  arrondisse- 
ment." 

These  were  represented  by  seven  persons;  a  hosier,  as 
spokesman  for  the  deputation,  made  the  following  little 
speech,  addressing  himself  to  Thuillier : 

"Sir,  it  was  with  the  greatest  admiration  that  we  learned 
this  morning,  from  your  paper,  the  great  act  of  public  virtue 
which  has  touched  us  all  so  deeply.  By  withdrawing  from 
the  contest  you  give  proof  of  the  rarest  disinterestedness,  and 
the  esteem  of  your  fellow-citizens " 

"Excuse  me,"  said  Thuillier,  interrupting  him,  "I  cannot 
allow  you  to  proceed.  The  article  on  which  you  are  good 
enough  to  compliment  me  was  inserted  by  mistake." 

"What !"  said  the  hosier,  "are  you  not  intending  to  retire  ? 
And  can  you  imagine  that  as  a  rival  to  Monsieur  Minard, 
whose  presence  on  these  premises  is,  in  that  case,  somewhat 
strange,  you  can  have  any  hope  of  success  ?" 

"Sir,"  said  Thuillier,  "be  so  kind  as  to  desire  the  electors 
to  wait  for  to-morrow's  issue ;  in  that  I  will  publish  the  fullest 
explanations.  The  article  printed  this  morning  is  the  result 
of  a  misapprehension." 

"So  much  the  worse  for  you,  monsieur,"  said  the  hosier. 
"You  are  losing  an  opportunity  of  placing  yourself,  in  the 
opinion  of  your  fellow-citizens,  on  a  level  with  Washington 
and  the  other  great  men  of  antiquity." 

"Wait  till  to-morrow,  gentlemen,"  said  Thuillier.  "I  am 
not  the  less  obliged  to  you  for  your  visit ;  and  when  you  know 
the  whole  truth,  I  hope  you  will  not  think  that  I  have  ceased 
to  merit  your  esteem." 

"It  is  a  very  queer  mess,"  observed  an  elector  in  a  low 
tone. 

"Yes,"  replied  another;  "it  looks  rather  like  making  fools 
of  us." 


496  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"Gentlemen,  gentlemen,"  the  president  remonstrated,  "wait 
till  to-morrow.  We  shall  then  see  the  candidate's  explana- 
tions." 

And  the  party  withdrew. 

Thuillier  would  probably  not  have  attended  them  beyond 
the  door  of  the  office;  at  any  rate  he  was  stopped  by  the 
arrival  of  la  Peyrade  at  that  very  moment. 

"I  have  just  come  from  your  house,"  said  la  Peyrade,  in  a 
familiar  tone.  "They  told  me  I  should  find  you  here,  my 
dear  boy." 

"And  you  followed  me,  no  doubt,  to  give  me  some  explana- 
tion as  to  the  strange  article  you  have  taken  the  liberty  of 
publishing  in  my  name  ?" 

"Exactly  so,"  replied  la  Peyrade.  "The  man  you  know  of, 
and  whose  far-reaching  influence  you  have  already  felt,  con- 
fided to  me  yesterday,  in  your  interest,  the  feeling  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  I  saw  clearly  that  your  defeat  was  inevitable. 
I  therefore  arranged  for  your  dignified  and  honorable  retire- 
ment." 

"Very  good,  sir.  But  you  will  understand  that  henceforth 
you  can  have  nothing  to  do  with  editing  the  paper  ?" 

"I  had  come  to  tell  you  the  very  same  thing." 

"And  also,  I  suppose,  to  settle  up  our  little  account." 

"Gentlemen,"  said  Minard,  "I  see  you  have  business  to  at- 
tend to,  and  I  will  take  my  leave." 

"Here  are  ten  thousand  francs,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "which 
I  will  beg  you  to  hand  to  Mademoiselle  Brigitte ;  and  here 
is  the  paper  you  signed  as  security  for  the  twenty-five  thou- 
sand francs  due  to  Madame  Lambert,  for  which  I  here  have 
her  receipt." 

"Quite  right,  monsieur "  said  Thuillier. 

La  Peyrade  simply  bowed  and  went. 

"Viper !"  said  Thuillier,  as  he  saw  him  depart. 

"Cerizet  hit  the  mark,"  said  la  Peyrade.  "A  pompous 
idiot." 

The  blow  struck  at  Thuillier's  election  was  fatal,   but 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  497 

Minard  did  not  benefit  by  it.  While  they  were  fighting 
for  the  suffrages  of  the  electors,  a  man  from  the  Tuileries, 
an  aide-de-camp  to  the  King,  appeared  on  the  scene,  with 
his  pockets  full  of  tobacco-licenses  and  such  electioneering 
small  change,  and  stole  a  march  on  the  two  rival  candidates, 
who  thought  only  of  spiting  each  other.  It  need  hardly  be 
said  that  Brigitte  did  not  get  her  farm;  it  was  but  a  mirage 
conjured  up  to  get  Thuillier  out  of  Paris  and  enable  la  Pey- 
rade  to  play  his  stroke.  This,  while  doing  the  Government  a 
service,  was  at  the  same  time  a  piece  of  revenge  for  all  the 
humiliations  the  Provengal  had  suffered. 

Thuillier  had  his  suspicions  of  Cerizet's  complicity;  but 
the  man  continued  to  justify  himself,  and  by  negotiating  the 
sale  of  the  tfcho  de  la  Bievre,  which  had  become  a  perfect 
nightmare  to  its  hapless  proprietor,  he  made  himself  seem 
as  white  as  snow. 

The  ill-starred  newspaper,  bought  up  by  Corentin,  became 
a  weekly,  sold  on  Sundays  in  the  taverns  after  being  con- 
cocted in  the  dens  of  the  police. 

About  a  month  after  the  scene  which  had  proved  to  la 
Peyrade  that  an  error  in  the  past  had  irrevocably  sealed  his 
fate  in  the  future,  he  had  married  his  unhappy  cousin,  who 
now  had  long  intervals  of  lucidity,  though  she  could  not  en- 
tirely recover  her  reason  till  the  time  and  conditions  should 
be  fulfilled  which  the  physicians  had  counted  on. 

One  morning  Corentin  and  his  future  successor  were  to- 
gether in  the  study. 

Theodose,  sharing  in  his  labors,  was  serving  his  apprentice- 
ship for  the  difficult  and  delicate  duties  of  his  office  under  this 
great  master.  But  Corentin  did  not  find  that  his  pupil 
brought  to  his  lessons  so  much  spirit  and  good-will  as  he 
could  have  wished.  .He  saw  that  the  sense  of  a  certain  degra- 
dation weighed  on  la  Peyrade's  soul ;  time  would  heal  the 
wound,  but  the  scar  was  not  yet  formed. 

After  opening  a  number  of  letters  containing  the  reports 
of  his  agents,  Corentin  just  glanced  through  the  informa- 


498  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

tion,  far  less  often  valuable  than  might  be  supposed,  and 
tossed  them  into  a  basket  from  which  they  were  taken  to  be 
burned  in  a  heap. 

But  to  one  of  these  reports  he  devoted  particular  atten- 
tion ;  as  he  read  it,  he  faintly  smiled  now  and  again,  and  when 
he  had  done  he  handed  the  document  to  la  Peyrade. 

"Here,"  said  he,  "this  will  interest  you,  and  you  will  see 
that  in  our  business,  which  seems  to  you  so  serious,  we 
sometimes  find  comedy  in  our  way.  Eead  it  aloud;  it  will 
amuse  us." 

Before  la  Peyrade  had  begun: 

"You  must  know,"  added  Corentin,  "that  the  report  comes 
to  me  from  the  man  known  as  Henri,  placed  by  Madame 
Komorn  in  service  with  the  Thuilliers." 

"So  servants  recommended  by  you,"  said  la  Peyrade,  "are 
among  your  agents  ?" 

"Sometimes,"  replied  Corentin.  "To  know  everything, 
every  means  must  be  tried;  but  a  vast  deal  of  nonsense  is 
talked  about  such  matters.  It  is  not  the  fact  that  the  police 
makes  a  system  of  such  arrangements,  or  has  ever,  at  certain 
times,  by  a  sort  of  general  enlistment  of  footmen  and  women- 
servants,  spread  its  net  through  the  private  life  of  families. 
There  is  no  hard  and  fast  rule  in  our  methods;  we  act  as 
time  and  circumstances  require.  I  wanted  to  keep  an  eye 
and  ear  open  at  the  Thuilliers',  so  I  sent  Madame  Godollo: 
she  on  her  part,  to  help  her  out,  placed  one  of  our  men  there 
— an  intelligent  fellow  as  you  will  perceive ;  but  on  some  other 
occasion  I  might  arrest  a  servant  who  came  to  tell  me  his 
master's  secrets,  and  by  my  intervention  a  warning  might  be 
sent  to  put  the  interested  party  on  his  guard,  and  tell  him 
not  to  trust  the  people  about  him." 

"  'Monsieur  the  Chief  of  the  secret  Police,'  wrote  the  man 
known  as  Henri,  'I  did  not  stay  with  the-  little  baron.  He  is 
;i  man  wholly  given  up  to  pleasure,  and  not  once,  as  I  believe, 
did  I  pick  anything  up  in  his  house  in  the  least  worth  report- 
ing to  you.  I  have  found  another  place  where  I  have  seen 


499 

a  good  many  things  which,  as  bearing  on  the  mission  entrusted 
to  me  by  Madame  de  Godollo,  may  prove  to  be  interesting. 
So  I  take  the  liberty  of  bringing  them  to  your  knowledge. 
The  house  where  I  am  employed  is  that  of  an  old  professor, 
by  name  M.  Picot,  lodging  on  the  first  floor,  Place  de  la 
Madeleine,  in  the  house  and  in  the  very  rooms  formerly  in* 
habited  by  my  previous  masters  the  Thuilliers.' 

"What !"  cried  la  Peyrade,  interrupting  himself,  "old  Picot, 
that  penniless  old  dolt,  living  in  those  splendid  rooms  ?" 

"Aye,  aye,"  said  Corentin,  "life  is  full  of  stranger  things 
than  that.  You  will  come  to  the  explanation.  Our  corre- 
spondents— they  all  drown  the  facts  in  details — are  over- 
careful  to  dot  their  t's." 

The  man  known  as  Henri  went  on: — 

"  'The  Thuilliers  left  these  parts  some  time  ago  to  return 
to  their  Quartier  Latin.  Mademoiselle  Brigitte  was  never 
very  sweet  on  our  part  of  the  town;  her  dreadful  want  of 
education  made  her  feel  uncomfortable.  Because  I  speak 
correctly  she  would  always  call  me  the  orator,  and  she  could 
not  bear  M.  Pascal  the  concierge,  seeing  that,  being,  as  he 
is,  a  beadle  in  the  church  of  the  Madeleine,  he  has  some  man- 
ners; and  even  the  tradesmen,  in  the  market  situate  at  the 
back  of  the  church,  where  she  bought  things,  of  course,  she  al- 
ways had  some  fault  to  find  with  them,  saying  they  gave  them- 
selves consequential  airs,  only  because  they  do  not  use  bad 
words  as  they  do  in  the  other  markets,  and  laughed  in  her 
face  when  she  beat  down  their  prices.  She  has  let  her  house 
here  out  and  out  to  one  M.  Cerizet,  a  very  ugly  man  with  only 
half  a  nose,  and  he  pays  her  a  rent  of  fifty-five  thousand 
francs  a  year.  This  leaseholder  seems  to  know  what  he  is 
about.  He  has  just  married  an  actress  from  one  of  the  small 
theatres,  and  he  was  going  to  settle  on  the  first  floor  and  es- 
tablish himself  there  as  well  as  the  offices  of  a  company  for 
insuring  marriage  portions,  when  M.  Picot  arrived  from  Eng- 
land with  his  wife,  a  very  wealthy  Englishwoman,  saw  the 


500  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

rooms,  and  offered  him  such  a  good  price  that  M.  Cerizet  de- 
cided on  giving  them  up  to  him.  And  then  it  was  that,  be- 
ing introduced  by  M.  Pascal  the  concierge,  I  took  service  with 
M.  Picot/ 

"Monsieur  Picot,  married  to  a  rich  Englishwoman !"  Pey- 
rade  again  put  in.  "It  is  incomprehensible !" 

"Read  on/'  said  Corentin,  "you  will  understand  pres- 
ently." 

"  'My  new  master's  fortune  is  quite  a  long  story,  and  I 
will  report  it  to  you,  monsieur,  because  another  person,  which 
Madame  de  Godollo  was  interested  in  his  marriage,  is  mixed 
up  with  it  all.  This  other  person  is  the  man  known  as  Felix 
Phellion,  who  invented  a  new  star,  and  in  despair  at  not  be- 
ing able  to  have  the  young  lady  who  was  to  have  been  married 
to  M.  la  Peyrade — him  that  Madame  de  Godollo  tackled  so 
smartly ' 

"The  rascal,"  said  Theodose,  "how  he  speaks  of  me !  But 
he  does  not  know  yet  whom  he  has  to  deal  with." 

Corentin  had  a  hearty  laugh,  then  he  told  la  Peyrade  to 
read  on. 

"'And  who  in  despair  at  not  being  allowed  to  marry  her 
had  gone  off  to  England,  where  he  was  to  set  sail  on  a  voyage 
round  the  world ;  just  like  a  lover.  M.  Picot,  on  hearing  he 
was  gone,  for  he  had  been  his  master  and  was  interested  in 
the  young  man,  went  off  at  once  to  stop  this  silly  freak,  which 
was  not  so  very  difficult.  The  English  are  very  touchy  about 
discoveries,  and  when  they  saw  M.  Phellion  coming  to  go  on 
board  with  their  own  professors,  they  asked  him  if  he  had 
an  order  from  the  Admiralty,  which,  as  he  could  not  show, 
they  laughed  in  his  face,  and  would  not  listen  to  a  word,  but 
went  off  without  him  for  fear  he  should  know  more  than  they 
do/ 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  P01 

"Your  Monsieur  Henri  does  not  think  much  of  the 
entente  cordiale,"  said  la  Peyrade,  laughing. 

"No,"  said  Corentin.  "And  in  all  our  agents'  reports  you 
will  be  constantly  struck  by  their  general  spirit  of  contempt. 
But  what  is  to  be  done,  you  cannot  expect  that  angels  will 
take  up  the  trade  of  spy  ?" 

"  'Left  on  the  seashore,  Telemaque  and  Mentor ' "  la 

Peyrade  went  on. 

"Our  men  are  scholars,  you  perceive,"  Corentin  put  in. 

"  'Were  about  to  return  to  France,  when  M.  Picot  received 
a  letter,  such  as  none  but  an  Englishwoman  could  ever  write. 
It  said  that  the  writer  had  read  his  Theory  of  Perpetual  Mo- 
tion; that  she  had  heard  of  his  magnificent  discovery  of  a 
new  star;  tha't  she  regarded  him  as  a  genius  at  least  equal  to 
Newton,  and  that  if  the  hand  that  penned  these  lines,  with  a 
fortune  of  eighty  thousand  pounds  sterling  or  two  millions 
of  francs  might  meet  his  views,  it  was  his  to  command.  M. 
Picot  liked  the  offer;  he  went  to  the  place  appointed  by  the 
English  lady — a  woman  of  forty  at  least,  with  a  red  nose, 
long  teeth,  and  spectacles.  The  good  man's  first  notion  had 
been  to  get  her  to  marry  his  pupil ;  but  seeing  at  once  that  this 
was  out  of  the  question,  before  accepting  for  himself,  he 
pointed  out  that  he  was  an  old  man,  three  parts  blind ;  that 
it  was  not  him  that  discovered  the  star,  and  that  he  had  not 
a  sou  to  bless  himself  with. 

"  'The  Englishwoman  said  that  Milton  was  not  a  young  man 
and  was  stone  blind;  that  perhaps  M.  Picot  had  only  a 
cataract,  that  she  knew  all  about  it,  being,  as  she  was,  a 
surgeon's  daughter,  and  that  she  would  pay  for  the  opera- 
tion; that  she  was  not  particular  about  his  having  dis-, 
covered  a  star ;  that  it  was  the  inventor  of  the  Theory  of  Per- 
petual Motion  who,  for  ten  years  past,  had  been  the  man  of 
her  dreams,  and  that  to  him  she  repeated  the  offer  of  her 
hand  with  eighty  thousand  pounds  sterling,  or  two  millions 


502  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

of  francs.  M.  Picot  said  that  if  he  recovered  his  sight,  and 
if  the  lady  would  live  in  Paris,  seeing  as  he  had  always  hated 
England,  he  would  marry  her.  The  operation  was  per- 
formed, and  with  success,  and  by  the  end  of  three  weeks  the 
couple  arrived  in  our  capital.  1  have  all  these  details  from 
madame's  maid,  with  whom  I  am  on  the  best  of  terms '  " 

"You  see,  the  conceited  ape !"  said  Corentin,  laughing. 

"  'But  the  rest  of  what  I  have  to  tell  M.  le  Directeur,  are 
facts  of  which  I  can  speak  as  eye-witness,  and  to  which  I 
can  take  my  oath.  As  soon  as  M.  and  Madame  Pioot  had 
done  furnishing,  all  in  the  most  sumptuous  and  comfortable 
style,  my  master  gave  me  a 'packet  of  invitations  to  dinner,  to 
deliver  to  the  Thuillier  family,  the  Collevilles  and  family, 
the  Minards  and  family,  M.  1'Abbe  Gondrin,  priest  of  the 
Madeleine,  in  short,  for  almost  all  the  guests  that  had  met 
at  a  dinner  when,  a  month  or  more  ago,  he  had  happened  to 
drop  in  on  the  Thuilliers,  and  behaved  in  a  most  extraordi- 
nary manner.  Everybody  who  got  an  invitation  was  so  as- 
tonished to  hear  that  the  old  man  had  married  money,  and 
was  living  in  the  Thuilliers'  apartment,  that  they  most  of 
them  came  to  see  M.  Pascal  the  concierge,  to  ask  if  they  were 
not  the  victims  of  a  hoax.  The  information  proving  veritably 
true,  all  the  company  turned  up  in  due  course;  but  M.  Picot 
himself  was  missing.  They  were  received  by  Madame  Picot, 
who  speaks  very  little  French,  and  could  only  say  to  each  ar- 
rival, "My  husband  will  be  here  presently,"  and  then  could 
make  no  conversation,  so  that  the  company  was  very  dull 
and  uncomfortable.  At  last  M.  Picot  came  in  ;  everybody  was 
amazed  at  seeing,  not  a  shabby,  blind  old  fellow,  but  a  smart, 
ha\e  old  man,  carrying  his  years  gayly,  like  M.  Ferville  of  the 
Gymnase. 

" '  "I  must  apologize,  ladies,"  says  he  in  an  airy  way,  "for 
not  being  on  the  spot  when  you  arrived;  but  I  was  at  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  watching  an  election — that  of  M.  Felix 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  503 

Phellion  whom  you  all  know,  and  who  has  just  been  elected 
unanimously  but  for  three  votes." 

"  'This  news  evidently  interested  the  company.  Then  M. 
Picot  went  on : — 

" '  "I  have  also  to  apologize  to  you,  ladies,  for  the  rather 
strange  manner  of  my  behavior  here,  i?i  this  very  place,  a  few 
weeks  ago.  My  excuses  were  in  the  first  place  my  infirmity, 
the  worrits  of  a  lawsuit,  and  an  old  housekeeper  who  robbed 
and  plagued  me  in  fifty  wa}rs,  and  now  I  am  rid  of  her. 
Now,  to-day,  here  you  see  me  young  again,  made  rich  by  the 
generosity  of  the  amiable  lady  who  has  given  me  her  hand, 
and  I  should  be  in  the  happiest  frame  of  mind  to  receive  you 
as  I  ought  if  the  recollection  of  my  young  friend,  whose  fame 
is  sealed  by  his  election  to  the  Academy,  did  not  cast  a  shade 
of-  sorrow  over  my  mind.  We,  all  of  us  here,"  he  went  on 
raising  his  voice,  "have  been  to  blame  as  regards  him.  I  was 
guilty  of  ingratitude  when  he  ascribed  to  me  the  glory  of  his 
discovery  and  the  reward  of  his  immortal  labors,  not  think- 
ing that  he  would  afterwards  be  taking  me  to  England  to  be 
the  cause  of  the  happiness  that  has  come  to  me  so  late  in  life: 
that  young  lady  there,  whose  eyes  I  see  are  full  of  tears,  fool- 
ishly accused  him  of  atheism;  that  other  lady,  of  severer 
countenance,  responded  sternly  to  a  handsome  proposal  on 
the  part  of  his  old  father,  whose  white  hairs  she  should  have 
treated  with  respect;  Monsieur  Thuillier  sacrificed  him  to  his 
own  ambition ;  Monsieur  Colleville  did  not  rightly  fulfil  his 
part  as  a  father,  which  he  ought  to  have  chosen  the  worthiest 
and  most  honest  of  men  to  be  his  daughter's  husband;  Mon- 
sieur Minard  was  jealous  and  tried  to  foist  his  son  into  his 
place.  There  are  only  two  persons  here,  Madame  Thuillier 
and  the  Abbe  Gondrin,  who  ever  did  him  full  justice.  Well 
now,  I  ask  that  saintly  man,  may  we  not  almost  doubt  Divine 
Justice  sometimes,  when  we  see  that  this  generous  young 
man,  the  victim  of  us  all,  is  at  this  very  hour  tossed  by  the 
winds  and  waves,  leaving  us  for  three  long  years  in  anxiety 
as  to  his  safe  return." 

«  <  "Providence  is  most  powerful,  monsieur,"  said  the  Abb£, 


504  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

"God  will  protect  M.  Felix  Phellion  in  the  midst  of  perils; 
and  in  three  years  I  firmly  hope  he  may  be  restored  to  his 
friends." 

"'"But  in -three  years,"  said  Picot,  "will  it  yet  be  time? 
Will  Mademoiselle  Colleville  wait  for  him  ?" 

" '  "Yes,  I  swear  it !"  cried  the  young  lady,  quite  carried 
away  by  feelings  she  could  not  control. 

"  'And  then  quite  abashed  she  sat  down  and  melted  into 
tears. 

" '  "And  will  you,  Mademoiselle  Thuillier,"  M.  Picot  went 
on,  "and  you,  Madame  Colleville,  allow  this  girl  to  wait  for 
the  man  who  is  so  worthy  of  her?" 

"  {  "Yes — why  yes !"  every  one  exclaimed  ;  for  M.  Picot's 
voice,  which  is  deep  and  full,  and  sounded  as  if  there  were 
tears  in  his  throat,  had  roused  everybody's  feelings. 

" '  "Then  it  is  high  time,"  said  M.  Picot,  "to  grant  an 
amnesty  to  Providence."  And  coming  to  the  door  at  which  I 
had  my  ear — indeed,  he  was  very  near  catching  me: 

" '  "Announce  M.  Felix  Phellion  and  family,"  said  he  in  a 
very  loud  voice. 

"  'And  a  door  opened,  and  five  or  six  persons  came  in, 
who  followed  M.  Picot  into  the  drawing-room. 

"  'When  she  beheld  her  lover,  Mademoiselle  Colleville 
fainted  away;  but  the  attack  only  lasted  a  minute  or  two,  and 
seeing  M.  Felix  kneeling  before  her,  she  fell  weeping  into 
Madame  Thuillier's  arms,  saying,  "Godmother,  you  always  bid 
me  hope !" 

"  'Mademoiselle  Thuillier,  who,  as  I  have  always  felt,  is 
a  very  superior  woman  in  spite  of  her  hard  nature  and 
want  of  education,  then  had  a  happy  inspiration.  Just  as 
everybody  was  going  into  the  dining-room :  "One  minute !'' 
says  she. 

"  'And  going  up  to  M.  Phellion,  the  father: 

" '  "Monsieur,"  says  she,  "and  my  old  friend,  I  ask  you  in 
the  name  of  Mademoiselle  Colleville,  our  adopted  daughter, 
to  grant  her  your  son  in  marriage — Monsieur  Felix  Phel- 
lion/' 


THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES  505 

"  '  "Bravo,  bravo !"  cried  every  one  present. 

" '  "Dear  heaven !"  said  M.  Felix,  his  eyes  full  of  tears. 
"What  have  I  done  to  deserve  so  much  happiness  ?" 

" '  "You  have  been  a  good  man  and  a  Christian  without 
knowing  it,"  said  the  Abbe  Gondrin.' '; 

At  this  point  la  Peyrade  tossed  down  the  letter. 

"What,  you  are  not  going  to  finish  it?"  said  Corentin, 
picking  it  up.  "But  in  fact  there  is  nothing  more.  Mon- 
sieur Henri  confesses  that  the  scene  moved  him  deeply;  he 
says  that  knowing  the  interest  I  formerly  took  in  the  mar- 
riage, he  thought  himself  bound  to  let  me  know  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  its  being  settled,  and,  as  in  every  police  report 
of  any  length,  he  ends  by  a  request,  very  thinly  disguised,  for 
a  present  in  cash. — Nay,  there  is,  by  the  way,  a  further  item 
of  importance :  The  English  lady,  in  the  course  of  the  dinner, 
seems  to  have  made  Monsieur  Picot  announce  that,  as  she 
has  no  heirs-at-law,  after  her  husband's  death  and  her  own 
her  whole  fortune  will  be  left  to  Felix,  who,  consequently,  will 
be  a  very  wealthy  man." 

La  Peyrade  had  risen  and  was  striding  up  and  down  the 
room. 

"What  is  the  matter?"  asked  Corentin. 

"Nothing,"  replied  the  Provengal. 

"Yes,  yes,  there  is  something.  I  fancy  you  are  a  little 
envious  of  that  young  man's  good  luck.  But,  my  dear  boy, 
allow  me  to  point  out  to  you  that  if  you  wished  to  end  as 
he  has  done,  you  should  have  begun  as  he  did.  When  I  sent 
you  a  hundred  louis  to  go  through  your  law  studies,  I  did  not 
intend  you  to  be  my  successor.  I  expected  you  to  labor  at 
the  oar  of  your  own  boat,  to  be  brave  enough  for  hard  and  un- 
recognized toil,  and  then  your  day  would  have  come.  But 
you  insisted  on  violating  Fate." 

"Monsieur" — said  la  Peyrade. 

"I  moan,  hurrying  her, — cutting  the  hay  green.  You  threw 
yourself  into  journalism,  then  into  business;  then  you  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Dutocq  and  Cerizet;  and,  honestly,  I 


506  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES 

think  you  very  lucky  to  have  reached  the  port  where  you  have 
at  length  found  refuge.  Besides,  you  are  not  simple-hearted 
enough  for  such  bliss  as  is  appointed  for  Felix  to  be  supreme 
happiness  to  you.  These  middle-class  people " 

"The  middle  classes  !"  said  la  Peyrade.  "I  know  them  now, 
and  I  have  learned  to  know  them  to  my  cost.  They  are  full 
of  the  greatest  absurdities — nay,  and  of  great  vices ;  but  they 
have  their  virtues,  or,  to  say  the  least,  estimable  qualities :  in 
them  lies  all  the  strength  of  our  corrupt  society." 

"Your  society?"  said  Corentin,  smiling.  "You  speak  as 
if  you  still  belonged  to  its  ranks.  You  are  struck  off  its  roll, 
my  dear  boy,  and  you  must  make  the  best  of  your  billet.  Gov- 
ernments change,  societies  perish  or  grow  weak;  but  we — we 
rise  superior  to  all  that,  and  the  Police  is  eternal." 


THE  END. 


A     000  095  275     4 


